On TikTok, we’ll find all kinds of micro-subcultures and fashion aesthetics. We see tradwives, golden retriever boyfriends, pick-me girls, coquettes, gamer boys, and countless, countless others. It’s honestly a bit tiring.
But for many people, these trends reflect their actual lifestyle. Tradwives and their more recent cousins, the “stay-at-home girlfriends,” directly show how some people choose to live, often romanticizing these lifestyles in the process. Mel Ryder, a self-proclaimed “ex-tradwife,” on TikTok is one of them, but her life turned upside down when she could no longer rely on her husband to fund it.
