It's a tiny niche organic thing from social media, but drew significant backlash and opposition from mainstream media because it was so opposite to the views of the writers and editors of those publications on multiple axes (urban vs rural, career focus vs family focus, independence vs partnership/community, etc). I've seen anti-tradwife content at a 100-to-1 ratio of any actual tradwife content.
It took common leftwing, anti-capitalist ideas like "working a BS job to create shareholder value while barely affording rent sucks, spend your time doing meaningful things instead" but because those meaningful things were raising kids and gardening instead of yoga, matcha brunches and ayuhuasca retreats it got conservative-coded instead of liberal-coded along culture lines.
It's a modern echo of "Tune in, turn on and drop out", but for a new generation of women raised in a post-feminist world, rejecting the default path society expects of them and who are reclaiming aspects of femininity which have been stigmatized, but because it has a veneer of similarity to pre-feminist norms it's seen as regressive rather than progressive.
If I was younger, I'd be doing a sociology thesis on it. So many fascinating bits of nuance and interaction between different groups.
You are being disingenuous here. The primary and most important thing it did, was religion driven complete submission to husband and complete dependence on him.
> who are reclaiming aspects of femininity which have been stigmatized,
Which would primary be that submission and dependence part. Not gardening vs yoga, plenty of progressives have gardens and don't do yoga. Also, having kids is not stigmatized.
> but because it has a veneer of similarity to pre-feminist norms
If he beats you, it is your fault for not being obedient enough is definitely pre-feminist norm. Which is part and parcel of the culture these women embraced and are from.