Expanding Femininity: Critical, Collaborative Autoethnographic Narratives on Fat, Nonbinary Experiences

Abstract Using a critical, collaborative autoethnographic approach, we, as two fat, masculine-aligned nonbinary individuals assigned female at birth ( afab ), one from the Global South and one from the Global North, explore how our situated knowledges (Haraway, 1988) expand femininity. As a feminist methodology, collaborative autoethnography places autoethnography alongside critical theory, allowing us to interrogate personal experiences within a wider cultural context (Joy & Davies, 2024; Taylor & Coia 2019). Thus, referencing scholars from Fat Studies, Trans/Queer Studies, and Femininity Studies, we wrote and analyzed personal narratives for moments of convergence and divergence related to our race, culture, age and fat distribution. We discovered the following overlaps in our narratives: being a tomboy, lengths of feminine performances caused by internalized patriarchal femininity (Hoskin, 2017), representation inspiring self-acceptance, and fat distribution influencing gender presentation. Finally, we discuss how femme failure (Hoskin & Taylor, 2019), through rejecting patriarchal femininity, encourages acceptance of our femininity.