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But what if the real danger is exposing your impressionable offspring to ideologies that are drastically different from yours?
I've been seeing a lot of videos from what are known as tradwives stitched into videos with people rebutting them.
For those of you who aren't up-to-date on the latest TikTok techniques, stitching one video to another involves clipping part of one video and including a bit of a commentary at the end.
Tradwife is a portmanteau of traditional wife. Basically, these women are spruiking the benefits of living a life of servitude to their husbands. Giving up their jobs, filling their days with domestic chores and maintaining their physical appearance.
This isn't about stay-at-home mums offering up tips to make life easier.
Last week I saw a video of a woman from one of the Southern states in America talking about some of the rules her and her husband live by.
One of them is that they're not allowed to sign up for classes (they're both still studying at university) where the teacher is a different gender.
They're not allowed to sit next to someone who is another gender.
They're not allowed to respond to people who aren't the same gender on study message boards… The list goes on.
At first, I thought it was satire. Then I looked back through her videos, and it turns out maybe it's real.
These are influencers of a different kind. They're not pushing teeth whitening or lip fillers to your kids, but a lifestyle predicated on the oppression of women.
I thought Andrew Tate was scary, but I think this is worse. It's more insidious. When he would say things about how "western women" didn't know how to behave towards their partners it's so easily identifiable as misogyny but when these sweet young ladies preach, it's more difficult to see it for what it is.
I mean, who doesn't want to hang out at home and cook yummy meals and look their best?
It's difficult to understand why these young women would want to surrender the rights that women before them fought so hard to win.
Maybe it's that they want to appeal to young men so they're telling them what they think they want to hear, a 'pick me' kind of approach.
Maybe it's that they truly believe it's their purpose.
I understand the yearning for a simpler time – this generation has had a pretty bloody rough trot. They've seen a couple of global financial crises, a worldwide pandemic, they'll probably never be able to afford to buy houses in the capital cities where the jobs are but the answer isn't to surrender to the nostalgia of a time when women had less rights.
Unfortunately the experts agree, the more power you surrender – whether it's financial or otherwise – the more likely you are to be a victim of spousal abuse.
I'm told by Lorraine Sheridan, Associate Professor and Forensic Psychologist, expert in abusive relationships, male domestic violence perpetrators tend to hold negative attitudes around patriarchy, misogyny, and the use of violence to resolve conflicts.
So, they will select a female partner who conforms to their patriarchal and misogynistic beliefs perhaps someone who looks and behaves like one of these tradwives – a more passive or submissive partner.
Unfortunately, it's a self-perpetuating cycle, the victim will behave in a certain way that attracts a certain partner and then the behaviour will be reinforced by trying to avoid being abused.
I am by no means trying to blame victims for the situations they find themselves in, just describing a dynamic that plays out in these relationships.
Look I'm not trying to be alarmist about the whole thing. I think there's a lot of joy to be found in watching reels and TikToks but I do think it's important to be aware of what is out there so you can at least counter the narrative if a young person you care about starts engaging with these sorts of ideas.
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