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I've been exploring how AI sees 
our modern social trends and I 

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asked no book LM and AI system 
from Google to explain the trad 

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wife movement. 
Given our conversations here 

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about gender roles, I felt this 
was something you had to hear. 

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It challenged some of my own 
thinking and I'd love to hear 

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your thoughts. 
You can leave me a comment on 

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Spotify or YouTube. 
This is the first episode from 

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my new series AI Explains Love 
and Romance. 

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I started the series on sort of 
a whim, and some of the episodes

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are deeply amusing, but some are
incredibly insightful. 

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I've produced 17 episodes so far
and I am publishing them weekly.

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The series name again is AI 
Explains Love and Romance. 

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Here is episode 1. 
So if you've been online at all 

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lately, you've you've definitely
seen it. 

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Oh, for sure. 
That soft lighting, the, you 

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know, 1950s floral dress. 
Yeah. 

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And someone spending hours 
making homemade sourdough. 

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Right, you've stumbled into the 
trad wife world. 

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Today we're diving into this 
whole Internet subculture. 

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You're thinking influencers like
Nara Smith or Ballerina Farm. 

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Exactly. 
And they're all about a return 

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to these pretty strict mid 
century gender roles. 

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So the mission today is to 
figure out, is this like a real 

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return to traditional values? 
Or is it just a beautifully 

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curated digital fantasy? 
That's the question. 

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It really feels like a fantasy. 
There's even a word for it. 

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For that feeling these videos 
give you, it's Anna Moya. 

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Anna Moya, right? 
Nostalgia for a time you've 

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never actually lived. 
And that's a really powerful 

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psychological hook. 
Our sources suggest that for a 

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lot of people, this isn't even 
really about, you know, politics

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or submission. 
It's a reaction. 

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A reaction to modern burnout, 
which I get it, it makes so much

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sense. 
We've just come out of this girl

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boss era hustle culture, lean 
in, break every ceiling. 

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It's it's exhausting it. 
Is so when you hear someone like

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Elena Kate Pettit, who's a big 
voice in this movement, describe

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it as being under his wing 
instead of under his feet. 

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It sounds like a relief. 
It does. 

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It frames this whole division of
Labor as like a safe harbor from

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that double burden of having a 
career and running a household. 

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But that's where the dream 
crashes into reality, isn't it? 

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The hard data. 
This is exactly where it 

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happens. 
The sources we looked at show 

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this just massive economic 
disconnect between the 1950s 

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fantasy and, well, 2024. 
If you are enjoying this look at

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the trad wife phenomena, please 
consider subscribing to my 

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newest podcast series, AI 
Explains Love and Romance. 

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It's available on all major 
podcasting services. 

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That's AI Explains Love and 
Romance from Elton Sherwin. 

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Now let's return to our AI 
dynamic duo. 

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Yeah, let's unpack the math. 
Yeah, because the numbers are 

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stark. 
They are the whole living on one

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income idea. 
It relied on an economy that 

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just. 
It doesn't exist anymore. 

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A. 
Completely different world. 

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Exactly. 
After World War Two you had 

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strong unions, housing was 
affordable. 

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The system was built for single 
income families. 

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They now. 
Well, look at the Housing 

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Affordability index. 
In the 1970s, that number was 

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over 85%. 85 Wow. 
By 20/24 it had plus limited to 

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just 31% so you. 
Literally can't live like your 

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grandparents did because the 
economy that let them do that is

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gone. 
It's just gone and that creates 

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this huge paradox to actually 
pull off the slow living 

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aesthetic you see on TikTok, the
beautiful farmhouse, the organic

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food. 
The time to actually churn your 

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own butter. 
You need a significant amount of

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modern money, a lot of. 
It. 

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And that's the detail that 
always gets me. 

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We see someone like Hannah 
Neelaman on screen as just a 

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homemaker, right? 
But the research shows she's 

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really the Co CEO of a huge 
agricultural business. 

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Nara Smith is a professional 
model. 

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Correct. 
They're not women who just opted

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out. 
They're very successful 

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businesswoman. 
Their home making is funded by 

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very modern, very lucrative 
revenue streams. 

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So it's not an accessible 
standard, it's a luxury product.

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It is, and we we do have to 
touch on the broader political 

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side of this too. 
Right, because the sources show 

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it's not just about baking 
bread. 

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There's a whole spectrum. 
There is a lot of it is just 

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innocent, you know, aesthetic 
enjoyment. 

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But some sources do note that 
this cottage core imagery can be

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a sort of gateway. 
A gateway to what? 

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It can sometimes overlap with 
alt right or even white 

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supremacist ideologies. 
The soft, gentle aesthetic can 

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be an entry point to much harder
politics. 

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And then there's just the 
personal risk. 

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We call it choice feminism. 
It's her choice, so it's 

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empowering. 
But the legal world has changed 

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so much, hasn't it? 
Oh, significantly, in the 1950s,

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marriage came with very 
different legal protections. 

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Things like alimony guarantees 
50 nuts. 

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Exactly. 
Today, if a woman leaves the 

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workforce entirely to depend on 
her husband, she's taking a huge

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financial risk. 
Without those same safety Nets. 

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If it doesn't work out, she's in
a much more vulnerable spot than

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her grandmother would have been.
So what we're looking at is a 

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trend that correctly identifies 
a real problem, burnout, but 

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offers a solution that's 
basically impossible for most 

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people to actually achieve 
safely. 

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That's a great way to put it. 
It's a psychological escape 

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hatch, but it hides all the 
labor and frankly, the privilege

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that's required to keep it 
going. 

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Which leaves us with the final 
thought to chew on If the trad 

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wife lifestyle online requires 
filming, editing, brand deals 

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and managing a huge social media
presence to even be possible, is

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it actually traditional at all? 
Or is it just a new kind of 

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demanding job, just one that's 
disguised as leisure? 

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A question definitely worth 
asking. 

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Thanks for diving in with us. 
This is Elton Sherwin, thanks 

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for making this podcast part of 
your day. 

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I invite you to follow my new 
series, AI Explains Love and 

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Romance. 
It's available on all major 

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podcasting services. 
That's AI Explains Love and 

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Romance from Elton Sherwin. 
Please subscribe and recommend 

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us to your friends and family. 
Join us next time. 

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Meanwhile, stay safe and stay 
healthy.