“I put my husband’s wishes first” – Traders, an ultra-conservative movement advocating for women to return home;

He comes face to face with the camera, very prepared. Her makeup is always flawless, her skin so smooth it looks unreal. She wears pleated midi skirts, long corset dresses, and when she serves in the kitchen, she wears an apron; Esty Williams is a 25-year-old American from Virginia. With nearly 84,000 followers on TikTok, she is one merchants most popular at the moment. English contraction”traditional“and”the woman“, the French term can be translated as “the traditional womanIn obedience to her husband, she does not have a job and devotes her time to taking care of her home. A fully assumed and even pretentious position.

Estee Williams in the video Translations: On Tik Tok

Digital subculture

THE: merchants appeared and flourished on social networks. Born in 2017 at the start of Donald Trump’s tenure as US President, the phenomenon has continued to grow in 2022. With over 152,000 mentions on social media, the term “merchantBrandwatch data analyst Deborah Etienne points to last year as its peak. When interacting with embedded screens, their appearance is important.

But not all of them look shiny, much connect 1950s by Estee Williams. Others, like French Hannah Gaz, 36, creator of the blog Learn good manners , take less retro “sex-symbol” codes than the very wise women of the early 20th century. And join the movement!modest fashion“, a”modest fashionand which consists of showing as little skin as possible. So Hannah Gaz wears long dresses, well-cut but never tight, with no cleavage and three-quarter sleeves. He who describes himself asetiquette coachhas also created a line of women’s clothing, where there are no pants.

domestic life

Cooking, cleaning, shopping, ironing and taking care of children when there are any; this is what a typical day looks like merchant. Estee Williams, for example, spends three to five hours a day in the kitchen, where she accomplishes feats like vareniki (Russian ravioli) with fennel, Persian rice pilaf, venison stew that her husband, Connor, went hunting, and not. note the homemade bread and countless smoothies made from dozens of ingredients.

An attitude that is part of the “cottage curve” trend is the development of images on social networks that convey a romantic vision of agrarian life. Tired of the modern, noisy, dangerous and therefore anxiety-provoking world, merchants often life-savingmore simple”, consists of gardening, reading and knitting.

“Feminine, not feminist”

Marriage is one of the pillars of philosophy merchants. And for it to work perfectly, you need to develop your femininity. Instagram account @thetradwivesclub describes the attitude of adoption:In order for a woman to attract a quality man, she must be feminine, obedient, beautiful and kind.“. An activity on its own, at least as time-consuming as dusting the living room and bedroom. Belted waists, plunging necklines, crimson lips… In a two-part video on good marital practices that has amassed over 800,000 views on TikTok, Esti Williams explains: “I dress well and put on makeup even if I stay at home. House . (…) I wear his clothes (her husband Conor, Ed) loves the most, I style my hair the way she likes and I cook for her what she likes. I put my husband’s wishes before my own. The most beneficial thing for a marriage is to meet the husband’s needs.” Several of her posts have the hashtag #femininenotfeminist (feminine, not feminist, Ed).

“I put my husband’s wishes before mine.. »

Estee Williams, American businesswoman

Agreed merchantsModern feminism would indeed make women more vulnerable, namely by multiplying the prescriptions applied to them; besides taking care of the house and children, they also have to build a professional career. In addition, the feminist movements that have emerged since the end of the Second World War, according to them, have participated in the degradation of the status of the “Right”.housewifeto which so-called traditional women, like Alena Kate Petit, intend to restore its noble letters. This Briton was one of the first merchants and has been feeding since 2016 with a blog titled The Darling Academy where she reveals her family values, shares good vintage recipes and tips on the art of keeping your home looking elegant in all circumstances.

Against the flow

But what drove these young women to lock themselves in their kitchens? And swim against the tide of the era preaching liberation andempowerment female? The answer is not to be found in their education. Apparently, we were not born merchant, we become “I didn’t grow up in a traditional home,” explains Estee Williams, who joined by mail. My parents were divorced and at a very young age I watched my mother juggle multiple jobs while providing for her children. Alena Kate Pettit, meanwhile, said in an interview with The BBC: In 2020, not identifying with the ‘girly’ culture that was dominant when she was at university in the late 1990s. Which was conveyed through serials and movies like: Sex and the city (1998) or: The Devil Wears Prada (2006), the idea that women should be ambitious, sexually liberated while pursuing prestigious careers.

Hannah Gaz, a self-proclaimed “learner Madam modern times”, offers a series of monetized courses that teach elegance; fromCatholic MumPreneur“to”Seduce without making the first move“passing”Prince charming goalwhich are all listed on his website. During the interview given to the news platform The Conservative Enthusiast, he describes his journey to this lifestyle. “I was a convinced feminist. I was the second man in the relationship. I knew better than my husband how to behave, what to say, what to do, etc. It was a dark time. I wanted to end it. And that’s when Jesus came to get me. Everything changed. The cleaning was abrasive. But what graces afterwards? I learned about femininity, male/female complementarity. I learned to take my place.”

the time translations, the idea of ​​submitting to one’s husband is true”head of householdoften finds its roots in the Bible. Estee Williams, like Hannah Gass, was also inspired by it;I am a Christian, and it is true that growing up in a spiritual family, I was drawn to this way of life. The Bible talks about working women as well as those who take care of the home, and the passages about housewives really spoke to me.“.

“I learned to take my place. »

Hannah Gass, Disciple Catholic Lady

Modern anxiety

There merchant can also reflect withdrawal and a lifestyle marked by fear of others. Estee Williams is categorical. she never goes to the gym without her husband, wanting to avoid male gazes and predators. Generally, as soon as she goes out, she warns her husband and informs her location through the phone. In his video BBC:Alena Kate Pettit explains that her approach is:using the best of what made the UK great when you can leave your front door“:”Times are changing and we no longer know the identity of our country“Adds the Briton. A watermark then emerges: far-right discourse imbued with dark nostalgia.

Flirting with extremes

Because beneath their harmless and reassuring appearance, merchants born with the radical right and masculinist movements. Some even conduct nationalist, even superior discourses on social networks. Like Ayla Stewart (aka @Wifewithapurpose), who came under fire in 2017 for starting the White Baby Challenge. Calling on the Aryan generation in the now-deleted video, he chanted:I six! Pass or equal me.“.

According to Annie Kelly, an American doctoral student whose research focuses on the far right and anti-feminism on the Internet, the retro aesthetic; merchants even participates in mitigating the underlying authoritarianism, consciously or not. “No one considers himself a criminal and calculating client. those who label their ideology as “neo-Nazi”, merchants they answer that they just want a cleaner and happier world to raise their children in,” adds the expert. With all innocence, apparently.

In the video, Morgan Miele. “There’s a Thing Called Women and Money”