Yesteryear and Tradwives: Why Fiction is *Just Now* Catching Up to Reality

Like everyone and their dog, I've read Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke and I cannot stop thinking about it. Partially because I'm a bit fascinated by the whole #tradwife trend as a media phenomenom (this is my second video on it), and partially because of what it can tell us about ourselves as an audience.

I don't think it's a mistake that there has been a rise in the tradwife character in popular genre fiction, but Yesteryear feels like the first literary fiction take on the topic and the inherent risks of performing an identity so hard that it literally breaks your brain. And possible much of society along with you!

Join me to chat about why publishing takes so long, what has changed in the social media landscape since my first video on the tradwife trend in 2024, and why I think it's good that this book has come out NOW...and why it also might be to late for a lot of people to absorb one of its key messages.

Along the way we return to my analogy of the "media Venn Diagram," (begrudgingly) visit the recent Turning Point USA convention catering to conservative American women to consider the reality of this political perspective in the wid, and the impossibilities of modern womanhood and femininity.

This is a book about media, performance, femininity and what happens when our narratives and realities fundamentally misalign.

What book (if any) should I deep dive into next?