Sad trad wives

Everyone is talking about Yesteryear. 

TL;DR (but probably will read), a tradwife influencer wakes up to find herself transported back to 1855 and is forced to actually live a “traditional” lifestyle. 

It’s tapped into a cultural phenomenon, undoubtedly helped by the fact Anne ‘Andy Sachs’ Hathaway has already optioned the rights. Tradwives are everywhere.

A study by EduBirdie found that the girlboss era is decidedly over, with 47% of female Zoomers choosing a stable, traditional life over luxury, money, and fame. The only leaning in these women are doing is to get a cake out of the oven. 

As much as tradwife influencers want you to believe that their lives are one long episode of ‘With Love, Meghan’, the reality is (obviously) very different.

At its core, being a tradwife is the removal of choice. It’s not preferring to stay at home, cater to your husband, and raise kids. It is believing that this is the only right and true path. There are even ‘wife schools’ that are teaching women to be submissive.

This is (again, obviously) being both driven and exploited by some pretty unsavoury men.

Researchers have found that the strongest predictor of support for women staying at home and deferring to their husband is hostile sexism. Men on dating apps are now increasingly looking for a ‘traditional’ woman. Some are even moving abroad because the dating landscape is “stacked against men” in their home countries. Turns out there’s plenty of fish in the sea, they just all hate you.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a devoted partner and spend all day baking. But as with anything, being forced to do it makes it rather less fun.