Evening, as the setting sun paints the sky red. The savory aroma of soybean paste stew fills the house, and as the front door opens, a wife and children greet with, "Welcome home." Such a warm evening is likely the scene that traditional male breadwinners once dreamed of. However, these days, with the collapse of awareness about traditional gender roles and the prevalence of dual-income households, such scenes have become a thing of the past.

Last week the movement got a reality check. Psychology of Women Quarterly published a paper from UNLV that pulled a hand-knotted rug from under the foundation myth of tradwives - that her (trad) husband will guide and protect her. No, far from the 'benevolent sexism' exhibited in this idea that women are vulnerable and need protection, the study revealed the 'hostile sexism' of husbands.

When our grandmothers were young, the entire point of being a woman was to become a perfect, happy little homemaker. To take care of the kids and the house, but ultimately, to take care of a husband, who deserved to end the day in a domain exactly fluffed to his liking. It’s a very specific nostalgia for that kind of energy that has fueled the #tradwife movement. The social media “trend” has pushed women to do things like cater to their husbands’ every need, spend all of their time and energy on the home and their family, and put themselves last. And a study published in Psychology of Women Quarterly has found that the men who most want a #tradwife... are also men who seem to view women the worst.

“These findings indicate that men who perceive the #tradwife movement favorably believe that they rely on women for intimacy and simultaneously resent that this is the case,” Rachael Robnett, one of the report’s authors, told PsyPost. “This mentality could put tradwives in a precarious position considering the amount of control–both financial and otherwise–that they yield to their husbands.”

A growing online trend encourages women to quit their jobs, run the home and defer to their husbands. This “tradwife” movement urges a return to traditional roles and, when researchers in the US recently set out to examine what kind of men support it, they expected to find a cohort fond of old-fashioned chivalry. The reality, they say, was rather different.

The feminist scientific journal Psychology of Women Quarterly recently put out a whole issue centered entirely on the #tradwife phenomenon, and it is fascinating.

A recent study published in Psychology of Women Quarterly suggests that young men who favor the internet subculture known as the tradwife movement tend to hold hostile and patronizing sexist attitudes. The findings provide evidence that the appeal of this lifestyle for men is rooted in a desire for traditional power dynamics rather than a simple preference for a stay-at-home partner.

The image is carefully curated: sourdough cooling on a scrubbed wooden counter, a woman in a floral apron, a husband greeted at the door. The #tradwife movement has attracted millions of followers across TikTok and YouTube since it began gathering momentum during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, and it presents itself as a domestic idyll, a nostalgic retreat from the grinding complexity of modern life. You might reasonably reckon the men drawn to it are the chivalrous sort. The ones who believe women deserve protecting, cherishing, putting on a pedestal. Turns out, no.