Why Are So Many Tradwife Influencers Running From The Trad Title?

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

No, ladies. If you're not willing to work toward equality, you need to keep what you worked so hard to attain.

Ossiana Tepfenhart Oct 20, 202621Share Photo by Lei Hwang on Unsplash

As a person who talks about the dangers of tradwife life, I often keep an eye on the women who make a living luring young girls to a life of aesthetic slavery. I've watched as women like Nara Smith and the Ballerina Farms lady make millions in what I equate to blood money.

And yes, luring women to a #tradwife life is blood money in my opinion. I've written about how tradwife living has racial dogwhistles, how voting against your own body autonomy can kill you, and how there's a tradwife-to-homelessness pipeline. Today, I'm not here for that.

No, I'm here because I noticed an odd trend among many of these influencers.

It started when the Botkin sisters came forth to apologize for a larger portion of their content.

The Botkin sisters were once deemed to be the darlings of the Evangelical, right-wing, tradwife circuit. The daughters of Tennessee-based preacher Gregory Botkin, Elizabeth and Anna Sofia Botkin were two women hailed as the future of "soft femininity."

They grew up homeschooled, often working as helpers to women who had massive gaggles of children. They were major proponents of the "Stay At Home Daughter" movement, which suggested that women should stay living with their fathers until the day they marry.

For years, they told women that their futures should be to submit to their husbands regardless of what their men told them to do. They shamed women for everything from wanting a degree to wanting to use birth control.

Their most notorious achievement was penning And So Much More , a book that outlined the basics of the modern Quiverfull, tradwife movement. They recently came out with an apology video, admitting that their ideas harmed countless women.

Then, I noticed something a little odd with Nara Smith — who suddenly seems to be pivoting with her brand.

Nara Smith is a much younger member of the tradwife arena. A famous globetrotting model with Mormon roots, the South African beauty made her rounds showing how to make elaborate treats for her kids from scratch while wearing elegant outfits.

And for a long time, she went viral. She quietly raked in the money from the Mormon church, flaunted her children, and kept making the content that glamorized that life. Then, all hell broke loose when she went on Call Me Daddy, only to say that she was "not a tradwife."

It seems like she's going through a rebrand where she's trying to show how much of a #BossBabe she is. Obviously, not many people are buying it considering that she was basically the face of high-fashion #trad at one point.

And what of her friend, Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farms fame?

If there was ever a woman who managed to gain sympathy while being a top tradwife content producer, it was Hannah Neeleman. Neeleman is famous for being a Juilliard-trained ballerina dancer, an award-winning beauty queen, as well as a woman married to a billionaire.

Oh, and she keeps popping out eight kids, educating them, and she helps work on a farm. It sounds exhausting because it is exhausting — and at times, it's really heartbreaking to watch. Neeleman first made waves thanks to a Times article where the journalist picked up on alarming signs of controlling behavior from her husband.

It didn't take long for people to realize that her own dreams of doing ballet were constantly put on the backburner for her husband's needs and her children's needs. More disturbingly, there were instances where it appeared like her husband may have been controlling her health choices as well.

Yet, she keeps performing with a smile on her face…

All while actively disputing the tradwife handle, despite being the most famous influencer on that circuit to date. She has been trying to distance herself for at least two years, from what I've seen.

Interestingly enough, she's going through a rebrand too. Neeleman recently unveiled an electrolyte drink that she's using her kids to advertise. So, rather than talk about all the "traditionalism" side of things she's doing, she's gone full-wellness, instead.

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Many other influencers have slowly backed away from the spotlight, staying silent on why.

I'll give two or three examples right here, since there are a lot of examples to choose from.

Mrs. Midwest

via Reddit r/FundieSnarkUncensored

Does anyone else remember Mrs. Midwest? She was one of those influencers who was boldly proud of her #tradwife behaviors, often going so far as to scold moms who weren't perfectly put-together at all times. She also was notorious for her low-key white nationalist associations and posts.

Much like other tradwife influencers, there were alleged concerns that she was being abused by her husband. After she had her own kids, she had a change of heart about the standards women are held to. While she still "influences," much of her content is a lot more feminist-sounding these days.

Lauren Southern

Lauren Southern was one of the real hard-hitter darlings of the alt-right movement, a FOX News favorite, as well as one of the women who heavily bought into the tradwife movement. In fact, she actually walked away from her career to be a tradwife at one point.

As it turns out, #tradwife life didn't work out well for her. Her husband was incredibly abusive, going so far as to lock her out of her home in the cold Canadian winter.

She has since realized the error of her ways, published a tell-all confessional called This Is Not Real Life , and has been vocal about women's rights. However, from what I've seen, she still happens to be heavily right-leaning.

Pearl Davis

Do I need to even say anything about this ass clown? Okay, well, her entire brand was telling the world how much she hates women and how badly she wants to be picked by a guy. Technically, she was a tradwife influencer…despite never being married.

She's slowly backed out of the mainstream eye in recent months. Whether it's because she can't be a tradwife without a man remains to be seen.

There seems to be a pattern here…

Being an influencer in this circuit gives you a lot of privileges. As long as you don't have to actually practice what you preach, you end up being respected, well-paid, and also a tool of the right-wing.

Those privileges come with a massive price, and I'm not just talking about the entry "fee" of having to find a man willing to foot the bill on your "career" and fork out money to feed as many kids as you pump out.

Tradwifing is a young woman's game, and more importantly, it's also a massive gamble. You're not just playing with money, though. You could end up losing your life — as we've seen with several pastors' wives in recent months.

The internet is a very cruel place. These women face a lot of hate from men who hate women but love tradwife content because it shows women "in their place." They also have to deal with ever-climbing standards on how to act.

Trolls aren't the only issue. Other women can get envious of what they have, even if it's all a sham put together for contents' sake. So, they also have to deal with the very real threat of having their (potentially coercive) husbands leave them for another woman.

These women are often isolated, alone, and in a financially precarious situation. And who can they complain to? No one. It's a prison of their own making.

Unsurprisingly, even the most successful tradwife influencers have a breaking point. That's often why you see these women backing away from their own brands.

And now that tradwife content is starting to plummet in popularity, a growing number of women are saying it's not worth it.

Let's be honest: the tradwife movement is no longer as popular as it once was. People don't buy the facade anymore because one too many scandals hit the once-pristine image of a "Christian, pure, family-oriented womanhood."

Much of the reason for the decline is because women have started to talk about their own experiences trying to "trad" themselves. Feminist writers have started to point out how dangerous it is — and thankfully, young women are starting to realize it's true.

Considering how hard being a tradwife is, it's not surprising to see many influencers dropping out of that industry now that the money isn't what it seems to be.

Rebrands are often a last salvo before they walk from influencing as a whole.

So, what do we make of these rebrands? Are most of these women truly changed? I doubt it. The truth is that most of them didn't really believe a lick of what they were selling. They just wanted you to believe it.

Yes, some genuinely are remorseful, but most are only upset that the dollars aren't coming in. If you like their new content, by all means, buy it — but just don't be surprised if they turn back to the right-wing grift sooner rather than later.

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