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New ‘Tradwives” Trend Labeled ‘White Supremacy’ As Traditional Homemaking Makes A Comeback On Social Media Post Covid Lockdowns


Women who choose to stay at home to care for their families and households are hardly unique to American society, but social media users today appear fascinated with “tradwives” (short for traditional wives) and the lifestyle content they’re creating for others.

That obsession has shown itself mostly through unfavorable commentary.

“Many [people have] questioned the tradwife philosophy and why any sentient being would adhere to it,” said Deborah Etienne, a content specialist from Boston.

“Many others [have] deemed the trend alarming, frightening, creepy, a too-good-to-be-true alternative to life, a way to cheat your way out of hard work, a form of anti-worker activity similar to union busting and a ‘White supremacy’ concept,” Etienne also told Fox News Digital in an interview.

But those who apply the tradwife lifestyle are pushing back on the critics. Said one tradwife from Virginia to Fox News Digital, “Honestly, I love this lifestyle. And I feel like I always wanted it.”

What is a ‘tradwife’?

Tradwives, a newly coined term for traditional wives, is a subculture of housewives who believe in clear gender roles, the importance of homemaking and a patriarchal marriage, according to many women who self-identify as tradwives.

Tradwives are women who honor femininity, care for their husbands, children and family, and value the state of their home more than they do a salary, yet are not subservient, according to the Darling Academy, a British website.

“Though a traditional housewife may submit to her husband, she is not considered of lesser importance to him, or allows herself to be in a position that threatens her right,” says the group’s “What is a Trad Wife?” guide.

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“A traditional woman’s place is not under a man’s feet, but under his wing, by his side.”

The term tradwife grew in the last year and reportedly had its “largest conversation spike of more than 25,000 mentions” — a 128% growth in monthly conversation expansion surrounding tradwives, said Etienne of Brandwatch data.

From December 2021 to December 2022, the social media hashtag #tradwife received over 4.6 million impressions, Brandwatch found.

 

Yet 92.73% of searchers had a negative view of tradwives — while just 7.26% of searchers had a positive attitude, according to Brandwatch data.

Tradwives have been “pushing back” on this, said Etienne. They believe society could improve from adopting elements of the tradwife lifestyle because “the most important duty is taking care of one’s children.”

Online posts about tradwives apparently “skyrocketed” after the COVID-19 pandemic as people engaged in social media more uniquely than before, according to Brandwatch.

“Some social users expressed that platform algorithms are boosting both tradwives and sex work … instead of women workers fighting back for better rights,” Etienne said.

On top of that, many stay-at-home moms have stated that “being a housewife is not the same as being a tradwife.”

Other online conversations include discussions about “old-fashioned values” and women who want to get married and have children while still having careers, Brandwatch found.

Fox News Digital spoke with two tradwives and a former tradwife about the increase of traditional wife material on social media.

“I keep those pictures up to not just show the end transformation,” Williams told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. “I try to show the whole path.”

For Williams, being a stay-at-home wife was an early desire. It likely happened, she said, after she saw her mother struggle to juggle child care and jobs after her divorce.

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“I got inspired mainly by the way I grew up and wanting the opposite of what I grew up with,” said Williams, who described her childhood and upbringing as “hectic” due to frequent family moves.

“The little time that we saw my mother, I really took it to heart,” Williams recalled. “I just remember thinking that I never want this life.” 

Williams says her personal style changed after she cut her hair and got engaged. She only wears gym attire now when working out, she said. She hopes her tradwife TikTok content shows women they can give themselves room to evolve if they’re not content with life. (Estee Williams)

“I want to call a place home,” she continued. “When we have children, I want our children to feel at home.”

Williams said she believes she “suppressed” her stay-at-home wifely desires because society “frowns upon” it. Instead, she pursued a college education after high school.

That changed when she met her husband, Conner Williams, 23, three years ago, and discovered on their first date that he, too, admired the traditional.

“Before we got engaged, I dropped out of college and took on nannying,” Williams said. “When we got engaged, we talked about this whole [tradwife] lifestyle, and he gave me the option to stop working and start with the lifestyle now or wait ’til we got married. I chose the former.”

Her husband works as an electrician; the couple lives in a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house in the suburbs.

As a newly married homemaker, Williams does cooks and bakes most of their meals from scratch, which usually takes her four to five hours a day. She also cleans and gardens.

 

 

 

 

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Ella Ford is a mother of two, a Christian conservative writer with degrees in American History, Social and Behavioral Science and Liberal Studies, based in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area.

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