Analyzing feminism and traditional gender roles on social media
In a new paper, Annenberg School for Communication Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser and doctoral student Sara Reinis analyze popular ‘tradwife’ social media accounts, which embrace traditional gender roles and the rejection of ‘the rejection of hustle culture.’
2 min. read
Frilly aprons, spotless kitchens, and homemade bread fresh out of the oven are some of the hallmarks of the online tradwife movement. Tradwives (short for “traditional wives”) document their lives on Instagram and TikTok, calling for a return to “simpler times,” but a powerful emotion simmers beneath the surface: rage.
In a new paper, “The rage of tradwives: Affective economies and romanticizing retreat,” published in Feminist Theory, Sarah Banet-Weiser, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, and Sara Reinis, doctoral student at the Annenberg School, analyze tradwives’ dissatisfaction with women’s place in society that mirrors feminists’ frustration with living within a patriarchal and inequitable system.
“Tradwives perform serenity, but their message is often fueled by a quiet fury—not against patriarchy, but against feminism’s perceived failures,” Banet-Weiser says. “What’s striking is that the issues they point to—hustle culture, the lack of care infrastructure, and the devaluation of reproductive labor—are the very concerns mainstream feminism also addresses. Both groups are responding to the same broken system, but in very different ways. While each is rooted in women’s rage, the direction and consequences of that rage diverge sharply.”
From April to September 2024, the researchers analyzed 50 accounts across Instagram and TikTok that directly embrace the title of tradwife and create posts explicitly promoting a lifestyle characterized by “traditional gender roles.” In analyzing this content, Banet-Weiser and Reinis document the many ways that tradwives and feminists mirror one another: each group frustrated with gender inequalities, but each advocating a radically different solution to these realities.
Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines
New research involving Penn Engineering shows detailed variation in lipid nanoparticle size, shape, and internal structure, and finds that such factors correlate with how well they deliver therapeutic cargo to a particular destination.
A generous gift from alumni Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman brings the work of internationally acclaimed artist Jaume Plensa to the University of Pennsylvania. The latest addition to the Penn Art Collection expands Philadelphia's public art.
A massive chunk of ice, a new laser, and new information on sea-level rise
For nearly a decade, Leigh Stearns and collaborators aimed a laser scanner system at Greenland’s Helheim Glacier. Their long-running survey reveals that Helheim’s massive calving events don’t behave the way scientists once thought, reframing how ice loss contributes to sea-level rise.
