<p>This article proposes a rhetorical reading of Eva Hofman’s novel <i>Josephine</i> (2024) as a fabulative extension of rhetorical theory, grounded in feminist rhetorical methodologies that foreground subjectivity, invention, and dialogue. Analysing <i>Josephine</i> “through the detour of art”, the novel is approached both as an object of rhetorical study and as a site of rhetorical-theoretical reflection on how digital aesthetic practices are lived, experienced, and affectively shared. Drawing on Kenneth Burke’s concept of identification, rhetorical theories of aesthetics by Justin Hodgson and Christian Kock, and feminist rhetorical frameworks, concepts are bridged to argue for a shift beyond formalist understandings of aesthetics toward an ecological and pedagogical perspective. This framework allows for a more relational and affective understanding of aesthetic practices. Through this reading, the aim is to illustrate how online aesthetic practices can foster complex processes of affective identification and community-building. Against dominant moral panic narratives about young women’s engagement with social media, it is argued that these aesthetic practices offer crucial insights into how individuals learn to relate to themselves and others through form and affect. Through the analysis of <i>Josephine</i>, feminist digital cultures emerge as valuable and innovative sites for rethinking aesthetic experience through a rhetorical lens as affective, relational, and pedagogical — enabling new understandings of how aesthetics shape identity, belonging, and social engagement in contemporary (digital) life.</p>