Reminder that βtradwifeβ is not a synonym for βstay at home mom.β Itβs specifically a part of an antifeminist, white supremacist, antiblack, antisemitic, lesbophobic, transphobic hate movement. The concept comes from Neo-Nazis who believe that Jews are trying to get white women to have children with Black men, stay single, date other women, or be trans men β instead of what they believe is white womenβs βnaturalβ role of being subservient to a white man. They believe this is because Jews are trying to orchestrate a white genocide by lowering white gentile birthrates and creating more mixed-race kids, and that they can fight this by marrying tradwives who will have lots of white babies.
Yes, I understand that language changes and that this word has shifted, but I think we should think twice before casually adopting Neo-Nazi terminology. I do think most people who use this term are describing a concept that is specifically regarding the gendered power dynamics of conservative antifeminist couples where the wife stays home, and is ideologically probably genuinely a descendant of the Neo-Nazi concept. So I understand, but I also donβt think we should be doing white supremacistsβ work for them by normalizing their ideas even more.
Makes me headdesk when people talk about βJewish tradwivesβ or βBlack tradwives.β Definitionally neither of these can be a thing. Yes there can be conservative SAHMs who homestead in any community, obviously. But they are not tradwives.
And like, yeah, maybe at some point I will have to accept that the definition has shifted because I am actually a linguistic descriptivist, but that will just be a sign that Nazis have successfully normalized one of their concepts. And in any case, people should know where this term comes from.
And it's anti-science!
These chucklefucks support the notion that birth control is harming women. Can it be harmful? Sure, talk to your doctor about that. But as a whole, birth control has enabled women to stay in school longer, to have higher paying jobs, to have better economic status, to keep from unwanted marriages, to keep their health in many cases, and, most importantly, to not have unwanted children. This has led to a declining birth rate, and white supremacists are convinced that white people not having babies is allowing people of color to "out-breed" and overtake the white population. Tradwives and their supporters push the idea that birth control irrevocably changes your brain chemistry (it doesn't), makes women manlier (it doesn't), makes men into women via trace birth control in the water (it doesn't), and causes sky rocketing rates of heart disease, embolisms, and cancers (mostly untrue... Birth control can sometimes cause clots but that's a rare side effect. Again, talk to your doctor).
They also push the "all natural birth" bullshit. At its least dangerous, that means forgoing epidurals during labor. On the other end of the spectrum, that means having a baby and receiving NO. NEONATAL. CARE. At all! Not a sonogram, no vitamins, no genetic testing, no glucose testing, nada. There's a big push to have no medical care and then do a home birth. So if the baby is breech, there's no way to know about it beforehand.
Did we lose the term housewife somewhere?
If you want to refer to a stay at home mom who runs the house but isn't ideologically aligned with the neo-nazi tradwife concept, could you not just call her a housewife????
The tribe wife movement which is part of the larger "traditional family" movement, and that's important to know, is not just anti-science when it comes to birth control, obstetric and neonatal care, it's also anti-science when it comes to vaccinations. The anti-vaxxers immediately found common cause with these people whose goal is to reject modernity.
They also reject basic and well settled science on nutrition and food safety. It should be no surprise that the raw milk movement is directly connected to the traditional family movement.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a stay at home mother. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have a piece of land where you can raise some chickens and a nice sized kitchen garden. There's nothing wrong with wanting to live as naturally as possible and avoid unnecessary medicine or medical treatments. But that's not all this movement is, and they take it all to the worst extreme and for the worst reasons.
And let's be really truthful. Convincing young women to discard higher education and personal development to undertake this extremely labor intensive, health eroding, intentionally isolating and fully dependent lifestyle within a year or two of graduating from high school is setting them up for physical, emotional and financial abuse that will also be meted out to their children.
And when their husbands tire of them because they have put their foot down about no more babies or because they have complained "too much" about their workload or simply because a middle aged woman with life experience isn't as enjoyable to a "traditional husband" as a naΓ―ve, nubile teenager, they are left with nothing. No skills, no income except whatever support they are ordered, (which will be paid begrudgingly, slowly, or not at all) and no good way to start all over again with limited money and a bunch of kids they'll still be primary parent for. And that's a part of the movement too, keeping women compliant, agreeable and silent through fear of what happens if they are left.
Nobody wins in the traditional family movement except men.
Remember all those cartoons and sitcoms where a dad tries doing chores for the day to give the woman a break? They are always shown to be incompetent with incredibly epic failures.
Let's not go back to those days where it was normal. Goofy didn't get kissed by the mailman for this shit.
