11 Comments

Great article, Kate. It’s a big be careful what you wish for thing. 😘

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I too have had similar thoughts. To me it’s an indicator of how damn tired I am of the world and people. It represents more of a stepping away from all the horrible things in the world and the horrors of being a women. Granted, I’d be insanely bored inside of two weeks, but is certainly a nice place to dissociate to from time to time.

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I’ve been thinking about this post since I read it yesterday, especially about your therapist’s comment about freedom meaning a restriction of autonomy. I grew up with my own trad wife (my mom), and the tenets of this ideology definitely took a toll on my psyche + our relationship. Definitely not a fun thing to be/live up to in real life! I can definitely see the allure, though - so much of life is chaotic and uncontrollable, it would be nice to tune out sometimes and just bake. Or clean. Or whatever. Then again, I feel like the trad wife life would be a lot less enticing if we all just got more sleep lol!

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Alt title: Do I want to be a tradwife or am I just sleepy? (I'm just sleepy)

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I wonder if there’s a link between this and the rise of smut fiction tropes like reverse harems, billionaire romance series etc?

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Adore how hard you hit the patriarchal nail on the head towards the end there. I definitely used to joke about having a kid with someone so I could be β€˜kept’ and just write all day. Obviously that would be a toxic lifestyle choice and I didn’t do it, but it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who thinks that submission as β€˜freedom’ is still just submission.

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<3 <3 <3

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I LOVED this - you’ve summed up a feeling I have also felt and wondered why. Wanting is so exhausting but the alternative is... scary? Thank you for writing this

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So glad to hear itβ€”thank you for reading!!

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Oh I feel this so deeply. This desire to be taken care of I think exists in us all. Freedom means suffering as much as happiness, and that can be scary, especially as a woman in the patriarchy, as you point out.

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"Freedom means suffering as much as happiness" hit me hard! TY <3

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