Why tradwives are fleeing the movement: ‘I can’t undo my past – but I can warn other women’

In recent years, some of the most vocal tradwives have left their husbands, renounced their religious faith and promoted financial independence. What is behind this sudden and seismic shift? When Bernadine Bluntly posted a video earlier this year renouncing the tradwife movement she had championed, it caused shockwaves through the “alt-right” social media world. Previously, posts of her and her six children had flooded feeds as the Maga movement gained ground.

She was one of the defiantly anti-feminist influencers who promoted a return to patriarchal gender roles, pronatalist ideals and fundamentalist Christian values – particularly around the sanctity of marriage. Bluntly, whose real surname is Barber, had, in the past, sold T-shirts reading “RIP Feminism”, supported Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the supreme court and developed a course, Simply Smitten, to help young women attract husbands who were “traditional masculine men”. Then, last year, she left her husband. Her divorce was finalised this year. In the proceedings, she got a restraining order against her ex, whom she said was abusive (he denies this). In April, the 36-year-old posted a video titled: “ What I got wrong about the trad movement ”, in which she…