Dal dispositivo all’algopticon: sessualità, piattaforme e nuove forme di potere

Abstract

Contemporary sexuality is embedded within a new regime of power, where algorithms, platforms, and digital metrics reshape the conditions of visibility, desire, and subjectivation. This paper develops a critical dialogue between classical sociological thought (Foucault, Deleuze, Bauman) and queer and digital perspectives (Butler, Zuboff, Paasonen), in order to examine how the historical categories of dispositif, fluidity, and performativity are now redistributed within digital infrastructures that intertwine control, data economies, and algorithmic aesthetics. The argument unfolds along three analytical axes: (1) the platformization of sexuality as a government of desire through infrastructure; (2) categorized fluidity, in which identity openness is reabsorbed into grids legible by algorithms; (3) controlled hyper-visibility, where online sexual performance is exposed, yet also filtered, monetized, and at times censored. We propose an updated theoretical lexicon, including notions such as algopticon and bio-datalism, to interpret sexuality not only as a cultural practice, but as an infrastructural phenomenon. The paper calls for a shift beyond discourse-centered sociology of sexuality, toward a critical interrogation of platforms as new normative dispositifs and environments for the production of desire. The contribution’s novelty lies in the operational use of algopticon, bio-datalism, and categorized fluidity to recast sexuality as infrastructural; illustrative cases are employed heuristically rather than as empirical evidence.

Keywords: Digital sexualities, platforms, fluidity, censorship, queer theory.