Feminist Spaces Summer 2023

The Legacy of Cottagecore: A Sapphic Tradition C. Montgomery As the world shut down during the spring and summer of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the influx of free time due to closures and cancellations led to a renewed involvement with the natural world. This manifested especially clearly in the popularity of the so-called “cottagecore” aesthetic, which gained increased attention through social media platforms such as TikTok and encouraged participants to return to a simple, nature-based lifestyle. This lifestyle became especially popular among queer women, who saw it as a way of living a historical, nature-based fantasy without compromising those parts of their identity that would have been viewed as inferior or punishable in the past when such dependency on the natural world was an essential part of life. While this particular trend existed within the modern context of social media and a global pandemic, the relationship between women and nature exemplified by cottagecore’s glorification of the beauty of the natural world has long existed. Women and the queer community have historically had a special connection to the natural world, as argued by scholarly criticisms such as ecofeminism and as evidenced by efforts on the part of the queer community to return to a more nature-based way of living over the years. This connection, as encapsulated by the trend of cottagecore, allows women (and particularly those who identify as queer) to develop a sense of community centered around the ideals of simple living and a renewed relationship with the natural world.

This sense of simple, natural living based on historical depictions is something I’ve long sought to increase in my own life, up133