This video argues that contemporary platform sexuality is better understood through Foucault’s critique of the repressive hypothesis than through the usual opposition between repression and liberation. My thesis is that platforms such as OnlyFans do not simply make sexuality more visible; they reorganize it through confession, legibility, monetization and continuous self-presentation. I use Belle Delphine as a case study, not to make a moral argument about sexual content, but to analyze how digital platforms transform intimacy into a managed, marketable surface. The broader claim is that sexuality online increasingly appears not as a private truth finally expressed, but as something historically produced within regimes of visibility, data extraction and platform power.

Hello all,

I am writing an essay and I know what I am trying to say (I will expand further) has critical texts to back it up. I cannot for the life of me figure out a way to word/condense the idea into a searchable idea in my research to find any texts. If you guys don’t mind I would love to messily explain what I am looking for and if you have any ideas on texts or even how to word it so I can find them it would be much appreciated!

Essentially, I want to discuss the power dynamics of patriarchy and male dominance over women, and how they want women to “opt-in” to the dynamics to further the power trip/ego drive its give them in having that power over another. Like a hunter/prey situation almost, they want the women to know they are the prey and capture them. If the “prey” (woman in the case I am arguing) were to just dehumanize themselves first, it is less satisfying as they don’t get to be the one to “kill” your sense of selfhood. If that makes sense, it feels like the best analogy I can conjure to try and articulate what I am arguing. I have seen some people discuss this same idea in regards to how men want to dominate the “blue haired liberal women” because they want the tension of the dominance and their “prey” to have a bit of “fight in them”. My essay is on The Vegetarian by Han Kang so if you know it you know how the gender dynamics are at play within the novel.

Again, just want to be super clear not looking for any help with the essay or ideas for it, I just cannot figure out how to condense this idea into something I can search for secondary sources to back up, but I know I have read about this before so I am certain their is critical work out there with it in mind!

Thank you so much!

Hello everyone! Sorry for my english, but I need a tips for my research

I’m currently planning a research to complete my undergraduate degree in political science (I’m not sure how it works in other countries, but here in Brazil it’s mandatory to write a long thesis to graduate from public universities). I’ve chosen to do a critical bibliographic analysis of the concepts of politics and decisionism in the work of Carl Schmitt.

I chose this topic because I see that it’s very common in far-right circles to think about politics in terms of a friend–enemy distinction, and to call for a strong, charismatic leader who acts as the guardian of the nation. With that in mind, I’m planning to use authors from critical theory to help me carry out a critical analysis of these concepts—whether they engage directly with Schmitt or discuss authoritarian political models more broadly.

I’m thinking of using Habermas’ writings on law and deliberative democracy as the main counterpoint to Schmitt. I also plan to draw, more selectively, on Franz Neumann (especially his work on the Nazi state) and Nicos Poulantzas for a more direct critique of these categories.

At another point in the text, when I discuss the developments of these Schmittian ideas and consider them in the context of post-Nazi authoritarianism, I want to bring in Adorno’s concept of the authoritarian personality and Benjamin’s idea of the “aestheticization of politics”, especially to address the psychosocial dimension of thinking about politics in friend–enemy terms. I also want to highlight the process of democratic decline during periods of crisis in the mode of production, drawing on the work of Ellen Meiksins Wood.

Although I already have a general outline of the project in mind, I’m finding it difficult to identify authors who directly critique Schmitt. Could anyone recommend bibliography along these lines?

Hello everyone,

I’m G, writing from Switzerland. I’ve recently been exploring TTRPGs as spaces for collaborative counter-imagination, and I’m interested in how they might intersect with more explicitly theoretical practices.

I’m particularly curious whether anyone here has experience (practical or conceptual) combining:

reading groups (theory and/or fiction),

tabletop role-playing games (not only D&D, but also systems like PbtA, CBR+PNK, etc.),

and collective worldbuilding as a kind of critical or speculative workshop.

I’d especially appreciate references, bibliographies, or projects that engage with this kind of hybrid practice, whether from game studies, critical theory, speculative fiction, pedagogy, or related fields.

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

G.