‘I’m the Wifeiest Wife Material That There Is’: Mainstreaming Alt-Right Femininities Through Reality TV

Abstract

This article explores how the tradwife, an Alt-Right version of femininity, is becoming increasingly popularised throughout contemporary media texts. Specifically, a thematic analysis of a recent season of the finding-love reality TV programme – Married At First Sight (MAFS) Australia – is undertaken to interrogate the ways in which a tradwife participant is showcased and promoted to a mainstream audience. Such exposure to tradwife ideologies to a wide-reaching audience is concerning. This article will explore these concerns as well as the deeper implications of mainstreaming extreme versions of femininity that are associated with the Alt-Right’s promotion of misogynistic, antifeminist and White nationalist ideologies.