Queer Foretold: Sociological Futurology and Sexual Futurities

In this essay, I produce a sociological futurology of sex and sexualities. First, I review the evolution of queer discourse to provide a parameter for forecasting. Next, combining “horizon scanning” and the “Futures Cone,” I formalize a model of sociological futurology to generate and evaluate predictions concerning sociopolitical futures within this parameter. To do so, I conceptualize sociological futurology as an “input/output” system. I “input” data garnered via internet and database searches of variations of the terms “sex” and “future.” I “process” this data through the sociological futurology model to produce systematized prognostications about the future of sexualities. I find that sexual futurities will likely dimensionalize around sameness–difference, hegemony–counterhegemony, and assimilation–dis-assimilation.