Selling Submission

The Multimodal Rhetoric of TikTok Tradwife Influencers

Bibliographic Data

ID12099366
AuthorsEmma S Sullivan (0009-0003-7043-5800, Wake Forest University), Juliana Simonfalvi (0009-0003-9623-1849, Wake Forest University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume49
Issue3
Pages1-24
Publication date2026-03-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWomen s Studies in Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0749-1409 • E-ISSN: 2152-999X
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07491409.2026.2633719
OpenAlexW7140284538
LanguageEN
References cited42

Amid backlash against feminism and economic precarity, the “tradwife” has emerged on TikTok as a nostalgic fantasy figure, presenting domestic submission as soothing, aspirational, and politically uncontroversial. While framed as personal lifestyle branding, such content circulates within the “femosphere,” where domestic aspiration fuses with entrepreneurial self-promotion. This study examines how U.S.-based tradwife influencers represent feminist vocabularies in order to sell domesticity as fulfillment. Drawing on 11 TikTok videos from self-proclaimed tradwife influencers, we employ multimodal rhetorical analysis to trace visual, sonic, and affective strategies. We identify four recurring themes: disillusionment with feminism, submission as self-fulfillment, care as moral destiny, and domestic labor as leisure. Across these strategies, tradwife content selectively appropriates feminist discourses of choice and empowerment while obscuring structural inequality, thus reframing dependence as luxury. We argue that tradwife rhetoric rebrands patriarchal and nationalist ideologies through the affective aesthetics of calm, care, and nostalgic femininity.

Commodification · Influencer marketing · Rhetoric · Visual rhetoric · Digital Communication and Language · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Public Relations and Crisis Communication

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