People weren’t happy with the BBC’s Tradwife report – the 12 best reactions
If you’ve ever seen The Stepford Wives, you’ll have some sense of the ideals of a movement encouraging women to take up what they claim to be the traditional role of women, as mothers and homemakers.
The Tradwife agenda not only pushes the idea that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, but also requires wives to obey their husbands, leaving the men to make the decisions.
Incredibly, many of those espousing this lifestyle are women, like this Alena Kate Pettitt, featured on BBC’s Talkback.
We'll introduce you to a #tradwife, a young woman who has chosen to be a traditional wife, staying at home to take care of the household chores while her husband works, and she is fine with submitting to her husband as he makes the key decisions in their lives. pic.twitter.com/4kbviYulcD
— BBC Talkback (@BBCTalkback) January 21, 2020
A lot of people pointed out that the described arrangements don’t represent many people’s experience of a traditional household.
The whole traditional wife thing was only a reality for a narrow middle class group. The vast majority of woman worked. The work just wasn't valued.
BBC News – ‘Submitting to my husband like it's 1959': Why I became a #TradWife https://t.co/vQbu7CbFXy— Tony Macklin (@MacklinTony) January 17, 2020
What is traditional about this? For the overwhelmingly majority of history women have contributed to the family income through farming etc. This family model is relatively modern and was only ever for some
— Treasa (@Treasa5555) 21 January 2020
That wasn’t the only problem people had with it; there was also the small matter of it being inextricably linked to the far-right, something dismissed as a misconception by the BBC in the six-minute Talkback clip.
1.
Fascism always creates and extols traditional roles for women. And right on schedule BBC promoting it. https://t.co/FLWeub4Tzq
— Loreli (@LoreleiLiBan) January 21, 2020
2.
This is neo-Nazi propaganda, you absolute tossers! https://t.co/UCymvfTQyg
— (@4kshatra) January 21, 2020
3.
"submitting"?
"submitting"?
Fucking "sub-fucking-mitting"?
If this is true (& not just the headline writer) I pity her daughters and the female partners of her children. https://t.co/M12zgmInyg— KS (@ks_1968) January 21, 2020
4.
Next on the BBC, we'll introduce you to Dolph, who will explain why he believes in what he calls the "master race". You'll never guess what his name is short for! https://t.co/Brs6bPGy38
— katie is back and still supports trans rights mfs (@supermathskid) January 21, 2020
5.
Hey girls, stay at home, look for a good husband and look after him Forget about feminine empowerment, you don't have to work on it
In fact, you don't have to work at all! This is a great Tory idea for making unemployment disappear #Surreal #BBCPropaganda https://t.co/s6yiKMMUZa— Pilar Fernandez (@pilaraymara) January 21, 2020
6.
Looking forward to Talkback covering how I do my own washing without flirting with a fringe group of white nationalists on the Internet https://t.co/vWJIUxTDfM
— Brendan Harkin (@brendanjharkin) January 21, 2020