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- The rise of “trad wives” on social media may be related to the setback of Roe v. Wade.
- Traditional wives live according to traditional gender roles and often attract criticism and cause controversy.
- This has implications for contentious social media platforms.
TikTok has a question: Have trad wives become more popular since Roe v. Wade was overturned?
This was brought up by writer and media critic Caroline Burke, and the popular account “Ballerina Farm”, headed by Utah-based mother of eight, Hannah Neeleman, announced that 2022 He pointed out that he has since gained 7 million followers on Instagram.
The landmark Roe v. Wade decision in June of that year rolled back nearly 50 years of legalized abortion in the United States by allowing states to enact their own laws. For many, it felt like a step back in time.
Burke said she always had a hunch there was a connection, but this statistic solidified her theory.
“We can’t call this a coincidence. These trad wives are getting so much attention online in the last two years, when we’ve lost more reproductive rights than in previous decades. ” she said in a TikTok posted in January.
“Isn’t that surprising?”
In general, a trad wife is someone who lives a family life in a more traditional gender role. They are usually stay-at-home moms who spend their days cooking, cleaning, and waiting to greet their partners, much like the pin-up housewives of the 1950s.
Many of these women are evangelical Christians or Mormons who put God and the Bible first and maintain a submissive attitude, or conservative women who advertise their lifestyles as idyllic and peaceful.
Creators like Neeleman, Estee Williams, Gwen the Milkmaid, and Rachel Joy are known for their consistently perfect hair and makeup, dedication to baking fresh bread for their husbands, and focus on motherhood. and has amassed thousands, and sometimes millions, of followers.
They all either created TikTok accounts or were part of the majority of viral moments in June 2022 and beyond. Nieleman is the biggest on TikTok with her 6.9 million followers, and she only had four videos on her account until June 2022, after which her account exploded.
The second most popular trad wife account, Nala Smith, has amassed 2.2 million followers since opening her account in September 2022.
Neeleman, Milkmaid’s Gwen, Joy and Smith did not respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment. Williams told BI that he believes people are drawn to traditional wife content because it’s “nostalgic,” “wholesome, and fulfilling.” They are “hungry for traditional values and a slower life than ever before.”
“I think a lot of women are waking up from modern feminism and realizing that they too want a traditional lifestyle,” she said. “I believe the Trad Wife movement is a huge step in the right direction to shine a light on conservative Christian values, and America clearly wants more of it.”
Williams said she’s not surprised by the rise in Trad Wife content since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“To uphold traditional values, we must believe in the value of life and the value of protecting the voiceless and the unborn,” she said.
Fantasy for the alt-right
On the surface, the content is innocuous, but critics say the trad wives promote conservative policies and pander to those who believe women’s rights have gone too far.
Burke told BI that he witnessed a ballerina farm being blown up after Fox News published an article about the ballerinas.
“Fox News shares countless articles that are meant to provoke people, but there’s a reason why this one struck a nerve,” she says.
“Just as Roe v. Wade was overturned in the United States, Fox shared this article about a woman who was happily having her eighth child.”
Neeleman has been in the news a lot in recent months, in part because of her seemingly back-to-basics lifestyle and because of her family, whose stepfather is airline entrepreneur David Neeleman. This is because of the dissonance between the vast wealth of A person with an estimated net worth of $400 million.
“I think there was something about her description, about her natural beauty, her farm life, and her attitude that encouraged an easy life with her family, that really infuriated people,” Burke said. said. “And on the other hand, I think it really empowered and excited people.”
Comedian and commentator Tyler Bender has created a series of TikToks satirizing the lifestyle of trad wives.
She told BI that she believes the popularity of trad wives is a backlash against modern feminism. Many began on Reddit criticizing “blue-haired” childless women and supporting blonde housewives who raise multiple babies and take care of her husband’s every need.
“It’s literally a fantasy for the alt-right,” Bender said.
She describes some of the criticism she has received for her videos as “white knighting” from people who idealize women who follow this lifestyle.
“I get comments like, ‘Wow, you’re so sad and single, you think it’s okay to criticize this woman,'” she says. “Weird people on the internet feel the need to protect the only pure woman left.”
But ironically, Bender said, they’re yearning for a time that didn’t actually exist. Throughout history, women have had some sort of hustle outside the home, whether their husbands know or not. They were never living dolls who fed their partners and children, kept themselves and their homes clean, and pursued nothing else.
“These guys are just copying the post-war advertising boom of the 1950s. That’s their cosplay,” Bender said. “That’s so strange to me. You’re longing for something that never existed.”
Algorithms play a role
The shift towards conservative thinking and traditional values is only part of the story. The other thing is how social media algorithms work.
Apps like TikTok attract controversy because they increase views. People who strongly agree or disagree with a piece of content are more likely to engage with it, leave comments, add their own thoughts, and share it with their peers.
“For a conflict or a cultural moment to happen, you don’t just need love or hate; you need both,” Burke said. “Because we need people to talk to.”
Viral marketing expert Katya Varbanova told BI that TikTok is buzzing with discussions like this, and it’s a very polarizing topic, so Trad Wife’s content provides just that. Told. Roe v. Wade only added to this.
“If you grew up in a traditional family and it was a happy family, you naturally believe that’s the way to go,” she says. “And vice versa. People who grew up in happy non-traditional families believe that. So this dichotomy is created and there is conflict between the two.”
TikTok has over 16,000 TikToks with the hashtag #tradwife, many of which have millions of views.
Varbanova said the most talked about ones were the most extreme on both sides, with videos showing the 50s aesthetic of beautiful aprons and ambitious living, with comments filled with awe and disgust. Both are said to have occurred.
It is now less affordable than it used to be for many young people, so some women may find it difficult to view this content as they may feel conflicted about their lives and whether they want children. Others simply find it ridiculous and describe the traditional wife content of ethereal women drifting through life as “lobotomy core.”
“I’ve always been a person who doesn’t believe that either side is better than the other,” Varbanova said. “You can choose what makes you happy. No woman should be forced to be a trad wife, and she should not be forced not to be a trad wife.”
My fear is that extremism may creep in.
Burke said she doesn’t think the end result of traditional wife culture will be more progressive women converting to that lifestyle.
She is more concerned about the soft power religious groups are gaining in the background through more harmful ideologies about the role of women in society and messages about traditional family values, including the right to abortion.
For a long time, wealthy religious groups had little influence over many young people on social media, but now they do so behind aprons and Bettie Page curls.
“As we approach another presidential election, we have these rifts in our country,” Burke said. “So I’m thinking, what do these people represent and who do they have access to?”
As with anything on the internet, anyone’s content can slip into the radicalization pipeline without realizing it.
“Everything these women do comes from their religious indoctrination,” Burke said. “And their religion is much more powerful than we remember.”
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