A Note on Homemakers and Homesteaders, "Traditionalism", and the World of NeoNazism

As a Hearthkeeper, once upon a time I fell head-first right down the "Traditionalist" rabbit hole. So much so that I was the OG "Liberal Tradwife" of Tumblr; I very unfortunately created and spread the lie that you could be a so-called "Liberal Traditionalist"- and it was disturbingly easy to.

I'd just gotten married. We'd just moved into our first house alone, together, as newlyweds and had a whole slew of renovations ahead of us. I'd just really started exploring what "femininity" meant to me for the first time in my life due to a number of reasons and factors. And eventually I also had to come to terms with the fact that I was disabled in some way (though we didn't know how yet) and could therefore no longer work- and thus was forced to become a Homemaker without having a choice in the matter ... I had no community, no friends, no idea who I was or wanted to be, and no idea what my new place in the world entailed. It was far too easy to fall into the world of Traditionalism and Gender Essentialism, even as someone who considered themself a Liberal and Progressive; it was me exercising my choices (what I could, anyways) over my life, right? And as long as I wasn't bothering anyone else, what was really the harm in believing these ideologies?

Baruch HaShem, however, I had good friends and an amazing support system to help educate me. Because of their support, I learned better about Traditionalism very quickly; they shared resources with grace and patience, and taught me about how Traditionalism is directly tied to Eurocentrism and White Supremacism and incorporates significant amounts of Nazi ideology; they warned me especially about how Nationalists frequently coopt motherhood and homemaking in order to target new mothers and newlyweds looking to start families- preying on their fears for their children, and their anxieties about the changing world around them, in order to sway them to their side, often without them knowing or realizing it.

It's a sinister radicalization. A disturbingly quiet one which sneaks in when you're least aware of it. I was lucky in that I had a support system to help pull me out of it before I fell in too deep. Plenty of others aren't as lucky, however. I've been fighting back against the active harm that I caused the homemaking community on several platforms nearly every single day since as a result. Unfortunately there's an equally disturbing penchant of people wanting to shove their heads in the sand and ignore the problem; to say "live and let live", as if Neo-Nazism isn't something which actively harms real people; to rub it off as "just the ramblings of a madwoman". This behavior is dangerous, however, because it is all around us and has real effects on people.

Without realizing it, increasingly familiar terminology often descends directly from these very same ideologies- especially the very use of "traditional" to refer to ourselves Homemakers and Homesteaders, and to the "simple living" lifestyle in general. Much of the increasing anti-globalist and anti-modernist rhetoric we use likewise stems from it as well- such as the desire to isolate ourselves from the greater world; the desire to be wholly self-sufficient and unreliant on any form of community; and so on ... Even the very things we think of as being "traditional" altogether are completely artificial constructs which stem directly from their propaganda and rhetoric.

Does that make us all inherently nationalists by default, simply because we're Homemakers or Homesteaders, or because some of us actively dream about those lives? Absolutely not. Though we always need to be careful of romanticism, at its very core, there isn't anything that's inherently wrong with (or dangerous about) wanting a simple- especially agrarian based- lifestyle which is free from the confines and stressors of modern day capitalism and hustle culture. Indeed, it's arguable that our society, as it currently stands, actively needs this shift; the reverse of calling every Homemaker a Nazi or Nationalist simply because of the fact is an extremism of another sort that is likewise destructive (just in a different way). And there are certainly plenty of people in the community who were like I once was, who just don't know any better- especially because, broadly speaking, as a society, we aren't taught the tools to identify these kinds of dangerous and destructive ideologies, nor the ways in which indoctrination into extremism works in general.

However: It is indisputable that even in all of this dreaming, we still need to recognize these facts. We simply can't ignore their presence. And the first step to that? Is actually taking this threat seriously instead of blowing it off as a "limited minority problem"; whether we want to recognize it or not, this is a serious issue that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. There are near-literal mountains of evidence about this trend which has been collected over the course of decades- numerous articles and studies written about the active co-option and weaponization of motherhood, homemaking in general, and homesteading (and plenty more topics besides), in order to further nationalist, alt-right, Neo-Nazi, and white supremacist (and so on) ideologies in the modern age ... These actions, and the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) propaganda which facilitates it, stretches as far back as WW II, and even further. And when it actively harms people, that should actively concern us.

Another issue remains, unfortunately, that that is how people frequently take it; when you say "Beware, there's Nazi's here" they read that as if you have said "You are a Nazi". Or, they believe that means being a Homemaker is completely tainted and you want to take it away from them entirely ... That somehow they are not allowed to Homestead, or believe that life and society needs to slow down even a little. They must abandon everything and go back to modern Hustle Culture Capitalism, and grind away their soul until nothing is left, and are not allowed to find or live the lifestyle that brings them joy. And yet that is not the case in the slightest; it is not the lifestyle that is in question. It is a warning about the people who may be sitting alongside you, and what they may be whispering in your ear- and how we need to be paying attention to it, because it is dangerous and actively hurts people (even if you yourself are lucky enough to not be the one being harmed by it in this moment).

There's a stark difference between saying "Hey, there’s historic links to Traditionalism and Nazi / Nationalist ideology and propaganda. The Homemaking, Homesteading, and general 'Slow Living' communities hides Nationalists / Nazis who actively seek to take advantage of people like new mothers and those looking for anticapitalistic lifestyles; the weaponization of motherhood and homemaking especially for nationalist purposes is a very real and well documented phenomenon. Y'all're also constantly reblogging from a lot of these Nationalists / Nazis without realizing it. We need to not only be aware of this and educate ourselves on the warning signs of Nationalism / Nazism, but also actively start doing more to combat it within our communities” ... And saying "You actively have to completely abandon everything about your lifestyle, your values, your dreams, and everything else about homemaking and homesteading and slow living that you enjoy or hold dear in any form".

If your first reaction to someone saying "Hey, beware of and educated about the warning signs of Nazis / Nationalists, and help us actively fight them within our shared community" is to believe that people are somehow telling you that you must abandon your lifestyle, your values, your dreams, and everything else that you hold dear- and that they're calling you, personally, an active and intentional nationalist by proxy? Then you need to be examining why “beware of Nazis / Nationalists here” reads to you as “abandon everything”- and not what it literally says right there on the tab. Which is: “Beware of Nazis / Nationalists”.

It's very concerning that's your first reaction to a statement asking you to be careful where you're stepping, educate yourself, and help us take out the trash. And I hate to tell you this, but if that's the case then you might actually be unintentionally aligning yourself with Nazis / Nationalists without realizing it ... Or, at the very least, you're really close to getting there, even if you don't mean to be. And from very personal experience, that's a very dangerous rabbit hole to fall down.

We need to educate ourselves as much as we can on the history of nationalism- especially where it intersects homemaking and homesteading.

We need to educate ourselves as much as we can about nationalist dogwhistles and what White Supremacy looks and sounds like- even in its most cushiony, pink lace forms designed to attract us.

And we need to begin to actively do more to combat those legitimate nationalists and white supremacist elements which currently sit comfortably within the homemaking and homesteading communities, spreading this rhetoric and propaganda without any recourse.

That means keeping an eye out for that kind of behavior and rhetoric, and doing your due diligence to confirm it- and then clock, report, and warn others whenever you see it. And yes ... It also means actively changing the terminology and rhetoric that we use so that we're not quietly aligning ourselves (even accidentally) with what is still an active and ongoing belief system that causes harm to others.

Speaking as the person who unfortunately originally popularized the idea that you could even be "Liberal Traditionalist" in the first place (you cannot be): This goes double and triple for anyone who currently still claims to be a "Liberal Traditionalist", or a "Non-Trad Homemaker"; if you truly care about the values you claim? This isn't optional for you, especially. It's a mandatory requirement.

We cannot continue to ignore nationalism in the homemaking community; we cannot continue to stick our heads in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist. Because it does. It's well documented that it does, and we don't get to just decide the truth doesn't exist, or try to change it because it makes us uncomfortable.

Not ignoring it means that you have to do this. It's not an option; it's not "live and let live" or "just let people enjoy their life" like it doesn't have very real and serious consequences. It is something we all need to do for our safety, and for the safety of our community.