Ballerina Farm: Exploring the Rise of ‘Trad Wives’ and Their Viral Popularity | US News

August 2, 2024 TruthUSA

If you are familiar with Ballerina Farm, you may have seen an influx of ‘trad wife’ content on your social media feeds recently.

Ballerina Farm is the Instagram handle of 34-year-old Hannah Neeleman, a mother-of-eight residing on a dairy farm in Utah with her 35-year-old husband Daniel.

She is among a growing number of women advocating for the ‘traditional wife’ lifestyle on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

However, a recent interview with Neeleman has sparked controversy due to the extreme demands of her homemaking schedule, leading many to express concerns about her well-being and the message being conveyed to young women.

Neeleman, on the other hand, views the article as an “attack on her family” and denies feeling oppressed by her husband, stating that the portrayal is far from the truth.

What defines a trad wife?

Trad wives are women who embrace traditional gender roles, focusing on homemaking, childcare, and supporting their husbands.

They draw inspiration from early 20th-century American housewives, often align with Christian beliefs, and express politically Conservative views.

Through platforms like Instagram and TikTok, they share their lives in full make-up and often with a child in tow while engaging in household tasks like cooking, cleaning, and offering relationship advice.

Estee C Williams, a self-professed trad wife with over 100,000 Instagram followers, explains in one of her videos the deeper meaning behind being a traditional wife: “Being a traditional wife involves more than just household chores and wearing house dresses; it’s about creating a warm and inviting home environment.”

She mentions that “aprons serve as our house uniforms, allowing us to wear our best clothes at home while still protecting them.”

On Nara Smith’s Instagram, a typical post is captioned: “Here’s everything my husband cooks in a day/what I cook for him.”

Professor Linda Kaye, a cyberpsychologist and associate head of psychology at Edge Hill University, notes: “These views have always existed, but we are more aware of them now.”

She explains that social media provides a platform for individuals to assert and reaffirm their social identities in novel ways

A study by Media Matters America found that consumers of trad wife content are more likely to encounter online conspiracy theories.

Professor Kaye cautions that online algorithms can connect individuals with similar worldviews and political ideologies, sometimes leading to detrimental outcomes.

Nevertheless, she acknowledges that human behavior online and offline is complex, involving multiple decision-making processes to prevent blind imitation of online content.

Who is Hannah Neeleman?

Hannah Neeleman resides with her eight children and husband Daniel on a 328-acre dairy farm near Kamas in Utah.

Their business, ‘Ballerina Farm,’ offers meat, dairy products, and household goods, supported by a team of around 40 individuals ranging from farmers to web designers.

Hannah was raised as a devout Mormon in Utah but left home at 17 to pursue ballet studies at the prestigious Julliard School in New York City.

In a recent interview with The Times, she mentioned: “I excelled as a ballerina, but I always knew that my life would take a different course once I started having children.”

Neeleman met her husband through a mutual acquaintance when he was 23 and she was 21. He expressed a desire to marry her from the start, but she declined his advances for six months.

Her husband, also raised as a Mormon in Connecticut, comes from a wealthy background with his father being a billionaire who founded several airlines, including JetBlue.

Hannah eventually agreed to go on a date with him when they coincidentally ended up on the same flight from Salt Lake City to New York. He used his father’s influence to seat them together, leading to their engagement a month later and marriage two months after that, as detailed in the interview.

While continuing her ballet studies, Hannah became pregnant three months after their wedding, becoming the first pregnant student in the history of her institution.

The couple later relocated from their Upper West Side home in New York to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Daniel took up a position in one of his father’s companies.

They eventually returned to Utah, where their family expanded to include eight children: Henry, 12, Charles, 10, George, 9, Frances, 7, Lois, 5, Martha, 3, Mabel, 2, and Flora, 1.

Neeleman is also a beauty pageant participant, making headlines for competing as Mrs

Source link