From ‘I’ve Always Wanted to be a Homemaker’ to ‘Feminism is Cancer’: Performing tradwife identity in Instagram Reels

Drawing on Thematic Analysis and Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, this exploratory study investigates tradwife identity performance on Instagram Reels, a relatively recent techno-semiotic mode. Mediated identity constructions and impression management as carefully curated performances of self are particularly pertinent in (political) social media influencers, whose ‘product’ is their lifestyle and the ideologies they promote. The 11 profiles of female mega, macro, and micro socio-political influencers represent some of the most widely discussed tradwives in North America. These young influencers form part of a growing macro-trend of re-traditionalization, anti-gender ideology and anti-feminism movements in the digital momo/femosphere and society at large. Focusing on the multimodal portrayal of tradwife identity on Instagram Reels, we investigate what kind of femininities and ideologies these social media influencers promote and how the themes they put forward contribute to larger socio-cultural discourses of re-traditionalization and anti-feminism. More detailed critical linguistic analyses can build on this emerging mediated and multimodally constructed ideological landscape of tradwives on Instagram Reels.