The media fascination with “tradwives” may be fading, but as a social media phenomenon, it’s still going strong. Ballerina Farm, where former ballet dancer Hannah Neeleman makes a spectacle of her wifely submission, has over 10 million Instagram followers, despite a recent scandal over her company’s raw milk sales. She’s not alone. Dozens of other women draw millions of followers by performing traditional wifely duties online.
Idyllic images of blonde children and perfect homes aren’t the only selling points. The tradwife lifestyle is pitched as a way to earn men’s love and devotion. By submitting to men, tradwife proponents argue, a woman will activate his chivalric urge to protect and provide. Submission is portrayed as a fair trade to women. In exchange for giving up their autonomy, they will receive safety and joy beyond what feminists, with their petty demands for equality and anger at the patriarchy, can never imagine.
