The Trump-Era Gender Wars, Brought to You By Neoliberalism
We’re seeing an alarming revival of archaic gender role ideas, from the manosphere’s remasculinization crusade to trad wives’ rejection of public life. Veteran historian of gender roles Stephanie Coontz explains the moment’s deep economic undercurrents.
Nearly everyone agrees that society has gone off the rails — and a growing portion ardently believes that the path to restoration runs through men’s and women’s re-embrace of our innate sex-determined purpose. (Jeff Swensen / Getty Images)
In Dallas, Texas, a wellness influencer urges the crowd at a conservative women’s conference to turn away from work and toward the family. “Less burnout, more babies!” podcaster Alex Clark says to raucous applause. “Less feminism, more femininity!”
Outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, suburban families are building a commune suffused with the ethos of Make America Healthy Again, emphasizing natural living and traditional gender roles. “Whatever this feminist BS is — chase a career, leave your family — it’s not working,” says one community member, a former small business owner who’s now a stay-at-home mother and vaccine skeptic.
From Washington, DC, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boosts an interview CNN conducted with his church’s pastor, Doug Wilson. “Women are the kind of people that people come out of,” Wilson says, not the kind of people who should be allowed to vote. “The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three or four or five eternal souls.” She’s got enough on her plate already.
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