"Tradwife influencers such as Hannah Neeleman might bake bread, tend chickens, and pick from their orchards much like Stewart did, but they also take care of an impossibly large brood of children and declare themselves contentedly, even ecstatically, subservient to one very lucky man."
"Burke eventually started her own TikTok criticizing the tradwife, whom she defines as 'someone who adheres to norms that we understand as traditional, so subservience, taking care of children, staying within the home, obeying your husband.'"
Tradwife influencers represent a contemporary target for feminist critique, similar to how Martha Stewart served as a symbol of problematic domesticity for previous generations. While tradwives engage in homemaking activities like baking and tending animals, they explicitly embrace subservience to husbands and celebrate large families within traditional gender roles. Author Caro Claire Burke encountered tradwife content on TikTok and was simultaneously drawn to and repelled by the aesthetic. She began creating critical content defining tradwives as those adhering to traditional norms including subservience, childcare, domestic confinement, and spousal obedience. Burke transformed her critique into her debut novel Yesteryear, featuring a modern tradwife transported to 1855, which became an instant bestseller with film rights acquired by Amazon and Anne Hathaway attached to star.
Read at The Atlantic
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