Sometimes I long for the life of a tradwife. Then I remember it's a reactionary fantasy | Emma Beddington

It's easy to get lost in the idea that the traditional housewife role is a soothing existence of baking bread and Agas. The reality is so much darker

I've been dipping pruriently into a kerfuffle that kicked off in the ruddy-cheeked and sourdough-scented world of the tradwife lifestyle influencer recently. Its brightest star, Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, has just prepared for and then competed in a beauty pageant, two weeks after giving birth to her eighth child.

Even some fans of this corner of social media - where stay-at-home mothers document their lives as helpmeets to strong, outdoorsy gents, exalting labour-intensive domestic chores, child-rearing and churning your own butter - have found this a touch, well, much. At odds with Neeleman's shots of folksy simplicity; a harmful and unrealistic example for other new mothers, that kind of thing. But most think it's so inspiring!"

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