Date of Fellowship Completion
5-2-2025
Major Department
English
Second Major
Sociology
First Project Advisor
Dr. Bhoomi K. Thakore
Graduation Date
5-2026
Abstract
Social media platforms have seen a rise in content created by female influencers who display their domestic and family lives, from “homefluencers” and “mommy bloggers” to media sensationalized “tradwives.” Among these content creators, “homemaker” influencers curate and present their lifestyles in ways that reflect and question broader discourses on gender roles, women’s labor, and traditionalism. This study analyzes the content of ten self-identified “homemaker” influencers on Instagram to understand how they construct and maintain a self-brand amidst adjacent online communities like crunchy and far-right networks, and in a wider neoliberal, postfeminist cultural context. This paper explores how Instagram’s platform features facilitate the (re)production of this aestheticized content, and how the influencer content compares to historical representations of the homemaker ideal in normative white, Western culture. Finally, this study will consider the social implications of the popularization and depoliticization of this genre of feminine domestic influencer content.
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Social Media Commons