We as humans are always evolving. In the last hundred years, we have evolved farther than we ever did in the last 500. Humanity builds on the inventions of others. Henry Ford built on the ideas of Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver built on the ideas of Henry Ford, and FDR built on the ideas of George Washington Carver. We may be evolving faster than ever technologically, but socially? We’re going backwards. 

With modern technology comes social media. With social media comes with a faster spread of information, culture and ideas. Although this can be great for small businesses and news outlets, it can lead to backwards thinking through the use of trends. One trend in particular was the phrase “I’m just a girl”, derived from the song “Just a Girl” by No Doubt. Portrayed as a silly trend for a teen to young adult audience, the trend consists of young women using the throwaway phrase as a humorous excuse for irresponsible or chaotic behavior. This trend was originally a way for women across the globe to embrace femininity but quickly derailed into a lazy excuse to excuse toxic behavior and put down women in power. It feels like internalized misogyny. The trend is damaging for both sexes, confining men into a box of masculinity and women into a box of incompetence. 

This social media trend is a part of a larger picture: the rise of conservatism. Through social media, there have been multiple content creators pushing a ‘tradwife’ lifestyle for women. This sort of content would be fine on its own, but the connotations that come with it lean into a far right agenda. The movement pushes the image of women as caretakers and homemakers, showing an overall traditional way of living. With the push of the lifestyle comes the risk of promoting dependence on men and outdated gender roles. A lot of the ‘tradwives’ on social media sites aim their romanticized content at developing young women. This sort of lifestyle is shown through rose-tinted glasses, with many young women not fully understanding the limitations that this life-style can have. These women dress like they’re in the 1950s, hand-making everything, fawning over their husbands and taking care of their 4 kids all by themselves. Is this really traditional motherhood, or a beautified version crafted for an audience to digest? The tradwife lifestyle is a tempting one for most, but can lead to a way for husbands to control ‘their’ women, to subject them to nothing but a housewife.

The common denominator between both trends on social media is the villainization of feminism. This includes the idea that feminism is antagonistic to femininity, that the idea of ‘boss babes’ is an attack on their simple way of living. They fail to understand that the feminists that they despise are the ones that allowed them to make the choice of becoming a tradwife. They aim to dumb women down, making them reliant on their male partner. These trends lead people down to an alt-right pipeline, as many right-winged influencers promote these stereotypes. Now, why are these trends harmful?

Both of these trends go directly against the women’s equality movement, putting women at harm. At its core, both trends are built on the acceptance of heteronormative cisgender relationships that pride a woman’s value in being a wife. In their eyes, a woman should be a mother, appealing to their husbands and maintaining a perfect family image. This causes the woman to not engage in the outside world, making her reliant on her husband for every aspect of her life. Of course, two things can be true at once. A woman can be a housewife and still have autonomy over her bearings. This is not what these trends push though. These trends push the idea that women are helpless without a man, that they are best valued as a homemaker. This harms the core root of feminism, the idea that both genders should have equal rights, opportunities and treatment.

Ultimately, there is no problem in not wanting a career or wanting to be a housewife full-time. It is only when one puts down other women, subjecting them to toxic ideals of the past, where a major problem arises. 

This Article was Edited by Amaan Musani.