French philosopher Michel Foucault and French writer Simone de Beauvoir were both
interested in how
sexuality and the body
had become the sites of power and politics in Western society. Both focused on the socially imposed structures that objectified sexual identity and gender differences. Foucault became
interested in the language that was used by elites to objectify
sexuality. Thus, he was more focused on the elites that appointed themselves as the arbiters of what was "normal" and "abnormal" in sexuality. De Beauvoir, meanwhile, was interested in how elites shaped sexuality to the disadvantage of women.