Read these if you want to understand tradwives and women in the far-right

My third book Pink-Pilled: Women and the far-right is now at the printers. I’ve spent the last 4 years researching women’s online radicalisation in various forms, from creating an initial podcast series to spending 18 months daily monitoring the far-right digisphere and infiltrating various Telegram groups, to absorbing so much tradwife content you could probably Gau Sha it out of my pores.

In that time, discussions about women and the far-right have become much more relevant and urgent, particularly as the term ‘tradwife’ has broken into mainstream consciousness. Devouring the general coverage, I was often frustrated at some of the misunderstandings around the tradwife movement, its origin (it definitely pre-dates 2021), and its key players (you can’t understand Ballerina Farms without knowing about Mrs Midwest).

So, I’ve put together a capsule reading list of resources which, even if you don’t read anything else on the topic, will give you a broad understanding of tradwives and women in the far right. This list is broadly organised from the most accessible resources — trade books — through to academic research and articles, with some blogs and essays along the way.

Or, you can wait until February and read my book Pink-Pilled: Women and the far-right.

Books:

None of these links are affiliates.

The women of the far right, Eviane Leidig

is one of the leading researchers of women’s radicalisation and online extremism in general. Her book is based on her doctoral thesis, researching what she dubs ‘female far-right influencers’ (FFIs) and how the public-facing women of the far-right build personas and platforms for themselves. I draw on Dr Leidig’s research at great length in Pink-Pilled, pulling from her previously published research papers, this book, as well as interviewing her directly. Honestly, if you had to choose between her book and mine, you should choose The Women of the far right (don’t tell my publisher I said that).

Bodies under siege, Sian Norris

Focusing on the anti-abortion movement, investigative journalist tracks how extremist beliefs about restricting bodily autonomy, such as banning abortion and gender-affirming care, travel from internet forums and pub backrooms right into the halls of Brussels. To do so, Sian follows the money, meticulously exposing well-funded religious groups and self-serving billionaireswho bankroll the work of extremist and far-right groups. This book is key to understanding the money and power behind the anti-feminist movement, how it uses natalism to appeal to women, and the pipelines through which far-right ideas break into mainstream politics.

White Feminism, Koa Beck

In order to understand the tradwife movement, as well as women’s radicalisation into the far-right more generally, you need to understand the victim complex and entitlement at the heart of White Womenhood. In her book White Feminism, journalist Koa Beck traces how White Womanhood and white women have derailed and centred themselves in the struggle for women’s liberation and continue to do so in modern feminist movements. She also offers examples of alternative, collectivised models of feminist organising that are paramount to countering arguments used by anti-feminists online: particularly the narrative that feminism means women are now expected to work in paid labour while still doing the majority of domestic, unpaid labour.

Me, Not You, Allison Phipps

Phipps explores how the MeToo movement, which was started in 2006 by Black feminist Tarana Burke, but catapulted into mainstream recognition by actress Alyssa Milano in 2017, was co-opted by White Womanhood and, as a result, furthered rhetoric. Given how central the (often perceived) threat of sexualised violence is in narratives around white women in the far-right, Me, Not You is vital to understand how White Feminism derails discussions around sexual violence and women’s liberation to re-assert the power and privilege of white women over people of colour and people of other marginalised genders.

Post-internet far-right, Sam Moore and Alex Roberts

The far-right digisphere is intentionally esoteric and opaque to outsiders. Creating a dense memetic language and sociolect has helped create a strong sense of in-group status among adherents but also — somewhat ironically — helped far-right ideas to seed across the internet. Understanding the landscape of the post-internet far-right, from its ideologies, conspiracy theories, and groups is core to also understanding how the internet has helped reshape politics and fascist parties. Moore and Roberts, the hosts of the have created an indispensable field guide for anyone looking to better understand or report on digital radicalised communities.

Essays

From Scratch, Sarah Brouillette and Astrid Lorange

Researchers and authors Sarah Brouillette and Astrid Lorange explore why cooking and creating things ‘from scratch’ is such a core motif in tradwife content, and how this exemplifies the movement’s anti-government and conspiracy-theorist worldview, as well as the role food production plays in entrenching white nationalist views. (If you want to read more on gastronationalism, I recommend this .)

The Agoraphobic Fantasy of Tradlife, Zoe Hu

Writer and researcher Zoe Hu explores the ways in which the tradwife movement — while seeming at odds with it — follows ideologically from feminist separatist movements by offering a fantasy of total retreat and isolation from patriarchal violence. This is by far one of the most interesting and thought-provoking essays on the ideology of tradwives out there.

Double-Shift: Dialectic of the Tradwife, Sophie Lewis

Family abolitionist Sophie Lewis examines failures of trying to reckon with tradwives through a liberal feminist lens, using an episode of Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over as a jumping-off point to explore what feminist opposition to the tradwife movement might actually look like.

The Misogyny Paradox and the Alt-Right, Tracy Llanera

Llanera examines how female members of far-right and white nationalist movements are treated, proposing that these women face a unique and paradoxical type of misogyny; the more closely they align with the views of the group, the more overt and aggressive the misogyny they experience from their male peers. This essay is incredibly useful for understanding the experiences of tradwives and far-right women.

TERFism is white distraction, Alyosxa Tudor

/

Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS, Alyosxa Tudor contextualises the rise of transphobia within white feminist reactionism in the face of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Academic papers/reports

Misogynist Incels and Male Supremacism, Megan Kelly, Alex DiBranco, Dr. Julia R. DeCook

Tradwives, TERFs, and anti-feminists are all male supremacists. These movements all evangelise a worldview in which (cis) men are stronger, smarter, and more capable and dominant than (cis) women. These movements believe that (cis) men will always overpower (cis) women and that therefore (cis) women need (cis) men’s protection. In order to understand any of these movements, you must understand the ideology of male supremacism and this report is the most in-depth and accessible introduction out there.

Tradwives: The Housewives Commodifying Right-Wing Ideology, Sophia Sykes and Dr Veronica Hopner

Researchers and share their taxonomy of tradwife influencers, which they call ‘The Tradwife Landscape’, categorising based on what type of content they produce (political, religious, counterculture) and maps them based on how extremist they are. It’s an incredibly useful tool for understanding how women who post about stockpiling guns and canning are part of the same movement as those who have stand mixers to make homemade oreos. This blog of the paper is very readable and accessible if you’re short on time.

Beyond Fish and Bicycles: Exploring the Varieties of Online Women’s Ideological Spaces, Utkucan Balci, Chen Ling, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Megan Squire

This appears to be one of the first attempts to research the so-called ‘femosphere’; a digital network of women-dominated communities analogous to the manosphere. The researchers identify several sub-communities of the femosphere, including Gender Criticals, Female Dating Strategy, and Women Going Their Own Way. In doing so, the researchers were able to map the type of content most popular in each community, as well as the toxicity of each. Some of the most interesting findings are the overlap in rhetoric between Gender Critical and far-right digital spaces.

Make Women Great Again: Women, misogyny and anti-capitalism on the right, Catherine Tebaldi

Academic Catherine Tebaldi explores how tradwives and other anti-feminist women weaponise the language of anti-capitalism to re-entrench women’s role as unpaid labourers outside of that system. If you’ve found yourself wondering why some tradwife content manages to feel anti-capitalist while being adamantly right-wing, this essay will explain.

Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube, Rebecca Lewis

While this report is not just about women, it’s a vital resource for understanding how the far-right influence network functions; how digital propagandists use marketing principles including SEO tactics and interlinking to spread their rhetoric and break into mainstream discussions.

If this round-up was helpful, I read literally hundreds of sources for this book and would be happy to put together reading recommendations for more specific aspects of far-right digital culture. Let me know if that would be useful or interesting. Happy reading.

is available to pre-order now.

Things I’ve written recently:

Things I’ve read recently:

• , Dan Brooks
• , Patrick Fealey
• , Myriam Lacroix

.