Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Communication

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

This study uses visual thematic analysis and a semiotics lens to examine how trending tradwife content on Instagram constructs domestic femininity through recurring signifiers of whiteness, homemaking, motherhood, and hyperfeminine aesthetics. Current rhetorical analysis of the tradwife movement argues that the imagery of sweet, nostalgic traditionalism functions to mask visual and semiotic codes associated with patriarchal hierarchies, anti-feminism, pronatalism, and alt-right ideologies (Proctor, 2022). Drawing on the theoretical models of Saussure, Peirce, and Barthes (1972), this research analyzes how strategically curated visuals of domesticity and femininity function as ideological signifiers within digital culture. Analysis of 100 posts under #tradwife found that curated domestic spaces, modest styling, and family-centered imagery work together to frame traditional womanhood as natural, desirable, and morally ordered. The findings suggest that this branding strategy commodifies traditionalism through a process that can be described as ideological cultivation through microdosing, wherein audiences are gradually exposed to conservative values embedded within lifestyle imagery (Sykes & Hopner, 2024). In essence, tradwife imagery functions as a mediatized lifestyle aesthetic with broader ideological implications.

Date

2-6-2026

DOI

https://proquest.com/docview/3347830244

First Committee Chair

Lauren Van Gerwen

First Committee Member

Amal Bakry

Second Committee Member

T. Madison

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