Twenty years ago, the figure of the femme appeared on a book cover wielding a knife; more recently, the femme has appeared on Instagram crying in a Polly Pocket skirt. Online, femme is increasingly called “tender,” “radically vulnerable,” and “soft.” In this article, I examine soft femme digital culture on Instagram, and argue that the discourse of “softness” is used to articulate belonging and to resist neoliberal, masculinist logics. Through an analysis of Instagram images and interviews with femmes, I develop an understanding of softness as a combination of emotionality, vulnerability, relationality, and hyperfemininity. I argue that soft femme is an aesthetic form and a theoretical position that expands the category of femme to be more inclusive of diverse subjects. Soft femme theory fills the gaps in femme theory left by critiques of existing femme identity theory that centers performance, irony, and the figure of the hard femme. Through the discourse of softness, femme becomes something one can be like, rather than something one just looks like.

二十年前，蛇蝎的形象出现在拿着刀的书的封面上。最近，这只蛇蝎在Polly Pocket裙子上哭泣地出现在Instagram上。在网上，蛇蝎越来越被称为“嫩”，“极易受到伤害”和“软弱”。在本文中，我研究了Instagram上的女性软弱的数字文化，并认为“软性”的话语是用来表达归属感和抵制新自由主义，阳刚之气的逻辑。通过对Instagram图像的分析和对女性的采访，我对情感，脆弱性，人际关系和女性气质的结合形成了对柔软的理解。我认为，柔软的女性是一种审美形式，也是一种理论立场，它扩大了女性的范畴，以涵盖更多学科。柔和的女性主义理论填补了对现有女性认同理论的批评留下的空白，这些批评以性能，讽刺和坚硬的女性形象为中心。通过柔和的话语，女性变得像人一样，而不是像人一样。