Shifting the focus towards “tradhusbands”: a black feminist examination of the visible tradwife and the invisible but integral role of the tradhusband

Scholarship has seen recent growth in the study of the tradwife movement, yet the “tradhusband” has received almost no mention. Although tradhusbands rarely appear in tradwives’ content, when they do, they are only seen through the gaze of the tradwife. The tradhusband plays an integral but largely invisible role in facilitating the more visible figure of the tradwife. Adopting a postmodern and Black feminist lens, this theoretical article argues for the importance of locating the tradwife movement within hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity, suggesting that the tradwife and the tradhusband are two mutually co-constructed roles. This article offers the first definition in feminist academia of the “tradhusband” to describe the spouse or romantic partner of a tradwife. The tradhusband serves as a symbolic mechanism to display and prescribe the benefits of a traditional lifestyle, depicting the tradhusband as a “saviour” and “protector.” By excluding the tradhusband in the analysis of tradculture, we risk oversimplifying the construction of traditional gender roles in the tradwife movement.