The nuclear family stereotype of the 1950’s has mostly disappeared in today’s day and age, but certain “tradwife” content-creators are challenging the For You Page, and unintentionally encouraging the domestic female standard.
Nara Smith: a 23 year-old model, content creator, and mother to three young children constantly finds herself battling the “tradwife” title surrounding the lifestyle content she posts. Smith consistently posts satirical videos on Tiktok, reaching her 11.4M followers with a soothing voice and ridiculously expensive outfits. They often focus around making elaborate things from scratch, such as candy, soda, toothpaste, or a five-course German meal. While the majority of viewers enjoy this type of content and are dedicated fans, many attack her for “glamorizing the domestic sphere” with the traditional get-up and behavior, and celebrating a time when women had few rights (People). These complaints were met with a sharp response from Smith, who explains that these videos are only a snapshot of her busy life, and they come from a place of wanting to share what she loves with others.
Similarly, another entrepreneur-turned- content creator faces tradwife allegations and backlash. Known as Ballerina Farm on most platforms, 34 year-old Hannah Neeleman is a successful business owner and mother of eight. Her brand centers around the large farm that she and her husband own, which sells a variety of goods, from freshly-packaged meat to flower subscriptions. She has received large support on all platforms, racking up around 20 M followers, but faced controversy after an article revealing her “tragic” backstory was published. Neeleman was painted as a young Juilliard ballerina with dreams of dancing interrupted by a demanding husband with dreams of a large family; having her first child at 22 and growing her family to ten members in the last decade, she hasn’t looked back.
In July of 2024, The Times released this article centering around Neeleman and her role in the family, taking an offensive stance on her life and priorities. The title reads, “Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children)” spending the whole time talking about how possessive Neeleman’s husband Daniel is, mentioning key moments when Neeleman “escaped” from her family to talk with the interviewer. Fans found shock in some of the more concerning things Neeleman shared about her life, like when she walked the stage of a beauty pageant only 12 days postpartum, or how quickly Daniel proposed to her and she fell pregnant, even after she claimed that she wanted to year at least a year before getting married and having children. While this article highlights some not-so-glamorous moments and claims to “bring awareness” to what is happened on the Ballerina Farm, it prompted a response from the family, claiming that the writer had an agenda and that the trad-wife stereotype pushed on the family “couldn’t be further from the truth” (Times).
Both of these women faced trad-wife accusations and fought-back, stating that they only wish to share their lives and families, but the effect remains. Even if they do not intend to leave a domestic standard message behind, they do. Smith and Neeleman’s reasons for posting are both completely justified, but still pose some problems in today’s world of delicate gender roles. This appearance of a housewife can be damaging to young viewers, who can’t read between the lines of the individual success these women have found for themselves.
Today, in a society where rejecting the female stereotype and the nuclear family is increasingly common, the fact that these videos are as popular as they are is surprising. It seems that the satisfying aesthetic of both creator’s videos draw audiences in and glorify a seemingly simple life, when in reality both women are extremely wealthy and successful. On Smith’s side, behind every casually-filmed video is a whole camera crew and huge business production, all meant to create the appearance of a calm and collected woman who spends her days baking healthy goods in her stunning kitchen, with a model husband and beautiful kids. Neeleman on the other hand takes a more rustic approach to content creation. She has a homely, realistic aesthetic with her kids constantly running into frame and interrupting her, building her image as a wonder-woman who excels in homemaking and motherhood.
These differing methods of home-making content create a spectrum of traditional to modern. Both have different effects on their viewers and are going mostly unchecked up by both Smith and Neeleman. While they have addressed the hate comments received about their “trad-wife” content, the possible effects have not been discussed, leaving room for damaging mindsets to grow. I believe that while these videos and women have good intentions, if left unchanged they will cause unhealthy thinking in the younger generation.
