Heteronormative bodies, queer futures: toward a theory of interpersonal panopticism

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the policing of sexual bodies via interactive online technologies. We draw from scholarly discourses regarding surveillance, queer theory, and affect to construct what we call interpersonal panopticism. Interpersonal panopticism serves as a theoretical account of the fluid nature of watching and being watched in relationships, especially in consideration of how intimate relationships and sexualities are surveilled and controlled in a digital era. To articulate the utility and potentials of this theoretical approach, we offer five cultural propositions that serve as a basis for interpersonal panopticism. Collectively these propositions illustrate the utility and potentials of unpacking the interplay of surveillance, heteronormativity, and affect through an interpersonal panoptic lens.

KEYWORDS:

• Affect theory
• interpersonal communication
• queer theory
• sexuality
• surveillance/privacy

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Katherine Sender, Jennifer C. Dunn, and Adrienne Shaw for their thoughtful feedback on this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jimmie Manning (PhD, University of Kansas) is Associate Professor of Communication and Affiliate Professor of Sexuality Studies at Northern Illinois University [email: [email protected]].

Danielle M. Stern (PhD, Ohio University) is Associate Professor of Communication at Christopher Newport University [email: [email protected]].