Another episode of Housewife Girlfriends, Helen, 25, says in her New York accent. This woman has been trending on TikTok after exposing her daily life while her boyfriend is at work. Her videos have been viewed over 2 million times and are part of the #SAHGF trend. This refers to a woman who stays at home while her boyfriend supports her.
These women's lives consist of supporting their boyfriends and doing household chores like cooking and cleaning, while maintaining a paramilitary-like schedule for their bodies, skin care, and gym routines. Helen explains in the video that one of her most important duties as a kept woman is to always look beautiful in front of her boyfriend.
This phenomenon reflects how new generations are moving away from the girlboss and productive woman figure that defined what was essentially a millennium way of life in the world, and the Zetas are now more comfortable with it. I want a good life. Influencer Erica Wheaton has her 25,000 followers, and she showcases her definition of “real” life with her boyfriend. He withdraws money every morning, but she is not working. She goes to the grocery store, does laundry, runs errands, and cooks. She goes to Pilates in the afternoon, buys clothes at her favorite boutique, goes to dinner with her friends, and ends the day. Like many of her women, Ms. Wheaton said her boyfriend allowed her to quit her 9-to-5 job and devote some time to herself, making her the only She said her job is to always look perfect.
“I start my day with Sephora makeup that my boyfriend gives me. I walk the dog. My housewife girlfriend doesn't cook, so I eat the food the chef sends me,” Helen says in one of the videos. It is explained in. In reality, these videos are monetized by the big brands she advertises with. This proves that she has her own income, but her lifestyle and social media success is based on not working.
From a cynical perspective, a “stay at home girlfriend” is nothing more than what was once called a “kept woman.” What is new is her presence on TikTok, which fetishizes users' habits and makes them seem attractive to many followers. Janira Planes, brand strategist and internet culture expert at HAMLET Strategic Makers, says that currently, “These trends are born out of imitation. This trend comes from the desire to stay at home and not work. Their origins lie in a certain disillusionment with life. These are movements that were born at a societal level and took the form of visual expression on social media. #SAHGF is no coincidence [features] Young women belonging to late Millennials and Generation Z [and] They grew up believing in false promises of economic security. ”
Valeria Silva, a digital marketing expert at Delirio&Twain agency, highlights another aspect of TikTok that helps understand this phenomenon. It is a social media website that helps you compare your life with the lives of others. “Hashtags often trend because users are imitating the behavior of someone who has a desirable lifestyle. Many other women are also thinking about their own existence.”
Nor can we ignore the political implications of this trend and its clear connection to a phenomenon that emerged four years ago: Trad Wives, led by Alena Kate Pettit at the Darling Academy. traditional wife. In 2020, Alena was one of the most media-friendly faces of a movement that grew on the internet and then appeared in real life. At the time, she explained why she quit her job as a marketing assistant for full-time domestic work. She claimed that it was satisfying to “de-stress” and “surprise” her husband with a freshly baked cake when he came home, and according to her account, she was given a fresh cake by her husband. He insisted on the autonomy to use the monthly allowance he received as he pleased. She buys food and pays other expenses. “I'm the CEO of my company and in charge of my home,” she would say. Her statements were ideologically based. new york times The report, titled “Housewives of White Supremacy,” showed that the origins of these communities are connected to white supremacy and the male alt-right movement.
It is not yet known whether such a link exists in the case of #SAHGF. The most famous of them, Kendall Kaye, recently said: newsweek Published in magazines, it quickly became clear that all that glitters is not gold. “I'm often criticized for not being financially independent, but I feel very at ease. The questions I'm often asked are: I don't think this is a source of financial abuse. I don't always talk about this in my videos, but for anyone in a similar situation, whether you're a stay-at-home mom or a mom, it's important to have some financial security for yourself. I believe it is very important to do so. This may be different for everyone, but for me, I still earn some income from content creation. My monthly income is about $2,000, but I have savings from working hard, so I rely on that. ”
That's definitely a wise move. In 2021, Stanford University studied user behavior on social media and concluded that the most viral, or trending, content is content that violates people's cultural values. In the era of fourth-wave feminism, this may be due to the illusion of enclosure for women.
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