Femme
Scholarship
The majority of my scholarship is situated in the emerging field of critical femininity studies, first defined by Dr. Ulrika Dahl in her 2012 article “Turning Like a Femme: Figuring Critical Femininity Studies.” My approach is informed by Dahl’s prolific scholarship on femme and critical femininities, as well as the teachings of my PhD supervisor Dr. Chloë Brushwood Rose, particularly that a tremendous amount of femme theorizing can be located in memoir, poetry, and prose.
I work with the capacious definition of femme as a “queer identity marked by a critical engagement with femininity that manifests in one’s style and values” and understand femme theory as a mode of knowledge production that challenges the masculinist standard of inquiry by “1) questioning the hierarchy of “high” and “low” theory; 2) challenging femmephobia; and, 3) utilizing collaborative methods” (Schwartz, 2018a).
My major contributions to the field so far have been this insistence on low theory, first taught to me by Brushwood Rose (Schwartz, 2018a, 2020a), and the development of the concept “softness” and the soft femme, which I have been writing about since 2015 (Schwartz 2018b, 2020b). I have also developed the concept “femmeship” in collaboration with femme librarian and zine-maker Karina Hagelin.
Collaboration and citational practice are extremely important to my femme scholarship and praxis. I’m invested in developing and nurturing supportive relationships with femme scholars, and would love to connect with you!
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CURRENT
On Our Own Terms: An Oral History and Archive of Femme Cultural Production, 1990-2000
Using a combination of documentary and archival research and oral history interviews, On Our Own Terms explores the proliferation of queer and trans femme politics and culture in 1990s Toronto, and the nature of femme experience, identity and culture at that time.
This project is in collaboration with Chloë Brushwood Rose (PI) and The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives. It is funded by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant.
COMPLETED
Low Femme, Low Theory: An Ethno-Archive of Femme Internet Culture
My PhD research was an online ethnography of femme internet culture that took Instagram as the primary site of inquiry. Examining femme-created digital media like selfies and memes, I argued that femme theory can be located in low cultural artefacts. Further, I argued that the discourse of softness is one of femme internet culture’s key contributions to the broader field of femme theory.
This research has been published in:
Social Media + Society Feminist Media Studies Psychology and Sexuality
Femmes in Cyberspace: New Iterations of Femme Identity
My MA research analyzed femme blogs, focusing on the construction of femme identities and femme politics in online spaces to answer the primary research question: what does being “femme” mean in a contemporary context?
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IN PRESS
“Generation: A Critical Femininities Issue.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice. Co-edited with Hannah Maitland and Laura Brightwell.
Submissions are closed. Anticipated publication 2027.
PUBLISHED
“Excess: Mad Queer Femme Abundance.” Feral Feminisms 14 (1&2). Co-edited with Dr. Shayda Kafai.
Volume 1 (2024) Volume 2 (2025)
Irreverence: Proceedings of the Third Annual Critical Femininities Conference. 2024. Co-edited with Hannah Maitland, Kathleen Cherrington, Mackenzie Edwards, Ramanpreet Annie Bahra, and Allegra Morgado.
Liminal: Proceedings of the Second Annual Critical Femininities Conference. 2023. Co-edited with Hannah Maitland and Ruth O’Sullivan.
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Critical femininities is an emerging field of study that aims to examine and theorize femininity in complex and nuanced ways. The Critical Femininities Network organizes an annual conference, edits special issues and conference proceedings, and hosts a writing group and other events.
The annual Critical Femininities conference is organized by the Critical Femininities Network. The sixth annual conference is organized around the theme “Temporalities” and will take place in August 2026.
The Critical Femininities Conference
The Femme Scholars Series
The Femme Scholar Series was hosted by the Centre for Feminist Research at York University in 2021.
Publications
I’ve published my femme scholarship in several academic journals and books, but you can also find my work in my zines and in Xtra, Herizons, Shameless, Flare, and more.
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(2026). With Kathleen Cherrington. “Fast Femme-inism and the Femme Phallus: Femme Erotic Artforms as Gender and Sexuality Theory.” Porn Studies, 1-16.
(2023). “‘Any cosmo girl would’ve known’: Collaboration, feminine knowledge, and Femme theory in Legally Blonde.” Sexualities, 1-15.
(2021). With Morgan Bimm. “Opening up the pit: Negotiating a punk ethos with PUP.” Punk & Post-Punk, 11(2), 213-227.
(2020). “Soft femme theory: Femme internet culture and the politics of ‘Softness.’” Social Media + Society. 1-10.
(2020). “Low Femme, low theory: Memes and the new bedroom culture.” Feminist Media Studies. 1-17.
(2020). “Radical Vulnerability: Selfies as a Femme-inine Mode of Resistance.” Psychology & Sexuality, 1-14.
(2018). “Locating femme theory online.” First Monday, 23 (7).
(2018). “Low Femme.” Feral Feminisms: An Open Access Feminist Online Journal, 7.
(2016). “Critical Blogging: Constructing Femmescapes Online.” Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, 9.
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(2025). “Outlandish Femininities: Interrogating Feminism, Femme Theory, and Settler Fantasies in Outlander Fandom.” In Outlander and Scotland: The Way, the Truth, and the Life, edited by Lisa Kelly, Gillebrìde MacMillan, and Willy Maley. Edinburgh: Luath Press.
(2019). With Morgan Bimm.“Canadian Crybabies: Radical Softness, Feminized Fan Publics, and the Politics of Carly Rae Jepsen.” In The Spaces and Places of Canadian Popular Culture, edited by Victoria Kannen and Nick Shyminsky. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.
(2018). “‘Put On All Your Make-Up And Cry It Off In Public”: The Function of Femme Grieving Practices.” In On The Politics of Ugliness, edited by Sara Rodrigues and Ela Przybylo. Switzerland: Palgrave-MacMillan.
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(2022). With Morgan Bimm. “Review of Secret Feminist Agenda, Season 4.” Engaged Scholar Journal, 8(2), 199-214.