WTF Is A "Trad-Wife" And Why Is This Now A Political And Ideological Thing?

What is going on here? It's actually pretty logical.

Right when COVID first hit, I was living in a rental house in the Alamo Heights section of Fort Worth. Down the street a few blocks from me was a couple with three young kids. I honestly forget their names; I think his was maybe Dave or Eric or something. She was what I’d call “conventionally attractive,” give or take (insofar as that term exists): she was blond, and tall/fit/busty. Once COVID slapped us all in the mouth and gyms closed, she used to work out along the street with her kids — i.e. running with a stroller, doing dips on the curb, etc. I had this random across-the-street neighbor, whose name I also now forget (Tom?), and he had gone to bars with me a couple of times before COVID. We had each other’s phone numbers. I was maybe 39 at the time, and he was probably 62. Masculinity and male friendship is nuts.

Whenever this wife was working out and doing dips on the curb or running and “bouncing,” my sketch neighbor would text me and be like “She’s at it again!” with some weird emoji of like, mouth watering. Meanwhile, society seemed to be on fire and Trump was saying “14 days to stop the spread.” It was a confusing time.

One time I got bored, as was wanton to happen during COVID, and I found out the lady’s name and Googled her. Within two minutes, I realized she was big in her church, and, in fact, she led groups of women at the church about “submitting to your husband” and being “a more traditional woman.” I cross-checked her LinkedIn and she had basically worked at a non-profit for 2–3 years after college, then started having kids.

I live in Texas, so all this readily checked out.

I hadn’t thought of whatever-her-name-is in three years, but this morning I watched a Wisecrack video on “tradwives,” which is apparently some kind of TikTok trend: