Level up, ladies

Femininity as a total project and the rise of Queen feminism

Bibliographic Data

ID24230430
AuthorsHeini Salminen (0000-0002-1302-6539, University of Helsinki), Juulia Heikkinen (0000-0001-7669-3251, University of Helsinki)
Year2026
Pages1-18
Publication date2026-10-09
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Media Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14680777.2026.2745988
OpenAlexW7221183807
LanguageEN
References cited47

Critiques of liberal feminisms are increasingly emerging from the women-led “femosphere,” calling for a revised understanding of feminism through a revaluation of femininity. This article examines one such voice: a group of social media influencers who cultivate and commercialize “queen” femininity as a lifestyle, advising women on how to “level up” their lives and attract provider-minded men. We follow 14 Finnish “queen” influencer–entrepreneurs and ask how they define and practice femininity. Drawing on digital fieldwork and content analysis of 303 Instagram captions, we show how femininity is constructed as a total and infinite project—one that extends across all fronts of life. The study further demonstrates that the cultivation of a “feminine lifestyle” is not merely a set of personal preferences but also implies a broader vision of social order. We term this ideological project “Queen feminism”: an essentialized, spiritualized, and platformed articulation of neoliberal feminism, in which the entrepreneurial ethos is (re)located in the total, perpetual, and crucially impossible project of the feminine self. Beyond analyzing a (counter)movement within feminism, this paper contributes to discussions on influencer politics by showing how the entanglement of ideological work and influencer economics may hamper collective feminist projects yet contribute to wider ideological shifts.

Femininity · Gender identity · Women's empowerment · Feminist Theory and Gender Studies · Gender and Feminist Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media

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