The Paradoxical Freedom of Tradwife TikTok

A willowy blonde labors in a rustic bedroom. Her hair is gathered in a single braid that drapes over one shoulder, long enough that the end of it grazes, paintbrush-like, over the swell of her distended belly. She paces to the rhythm of her contractions, hips swaying, hands pressed to her lower back. This isn't her first time giving birth—her other six children dance in and out of frame, blonde like their mother, their feet as bare as the wooden floor—and maybe this is why she's so calm, so smiling, even as her forehead creases with effort and sweat starts to bead on her brow. After 15 seconds, the video cuts: she's squatting in an old-fashioned bathtub now, naked from the waist down, and even with the lights turned low you can see that the water around her is already beginning to turn pink.