The podcast delves into the rising phenomenon of the 'trad wife' trend, showcasing influencers like Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman, who embrace traditional domesticity while captivating millions online. It critiques the tensions between modern femininity and these age-old roles, considering choices women make in light of societal pressures and economic realities. The hosts also explore the Hulu series featuring Mormon wives, raising questions about empowerment and authenticity in an era where personal choices may not be as free as they seem.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Ballerina Farm
Naomi Fry discovered "trad wife" content through a friend who followed Ballerina Farm.
Ballerina Farm, aka Hannah Neeleman, showcases her eight-child family's rural Utah farm life.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Dairy Date Night
Hannah Neeleman, a former ballerina, married into wealth and now promotes farm life.
Her videos portray an idyllic life of dairy dates and homemade goods.
question_answer ANECDOTE
OnlyFans to Milkmaid
Gwen the Milkmaid, a former OnlyFans model, transitioned to trad wife content.
She promotes traditionalist views, raw milk, and natural remedies.
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The Little House on the Prairie series consists of nine novels that follow the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder from her childhood in the Big Woods of Wisconsin to her adulthood in the Dakota Territory. The books chronicle the Ingalls family's experiences, including their moves to various parts of the American frontier, their struggles with disease and natural disasters, and their daily life as pioneers. The series includes titles such as 'Little House in the Big Woods,' 'Little House on the Prairie,' 'On the Banks of Plum Creek,' 'By the Shores of Silver Lake,' 'The Long Winter,' 'Little Town on the Prairie,' 'These Happy Golden Years,' and 'Farmer Boy,' which is about Almanzo Wilder, Laura's future husband.
This summer, scrutiny of the figure of the “trad wife” hit a fever pitch. These influencers’ accounts feature kempt, feminine women embracing hyper-traditional roles in marriage and home-making—and, in doing so, garnering millions of followers. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss standout practitioners of the “trad” life style, including the twenty-two-year-old Nara Smith, who makes cereal and toothpaste from scratch, and Hannah Neeleman, who, posting under the handle @ballerinafarm, presents a life caring for eight children in rural Utah as a bucolic fantasy. The hosts also discuss “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a new reality-television show on Hulu about a group of Mormon influencers engulfed in scandal, whose notions of female empowerment read as a quaint reversal of the trad-wife trend. A common defense of a life style that some would call regressive is that it’s a personal choice, devoid of political meaning. But this gloss is complicated by societal changes such as the erosion of women’s rights in America and skyrocketing child-care costs. “In American society, the way choice works has everything to do with child-care options, financial options,” Schwartz says. “When you talk about the idea of choice, are we just talking about false choices?”
Critics at Large | The New Yorker 