Abstract
Within the risky space of YouTube, female-identifying creators are in a position of perceptible vulnerability in their presentation of authority on the screen. This project approaches the rhetorical implications of YouTube video essays as a technofeminist space that intersects rhetoric, film, and new media studies. Through qualitative phenomenological content analysis of nine YouTube video essays, this project proposes that the habits of being of (1) lived experiences, (2) personal connections, (3) breaks in the fourth wall and (4) on-screen performance all position female-identifying video essayists as authorities on their chosen subject of interest. This fourth habit, on-screen performance, has not been acknowledged in technofeminist scholarship as of yet and must be considered as a method of post-technofeminism.