Elise Fisher L&S Arts & Humanities
Silicon Valley’s Mormon Wives: The Mainstreaming of U.S. Pronatalism
My research project seeks to reveal how the pronatalism movement in the U.S. manifests in modern popular culture, namely in the space between Mormon mom influencers and Silicon Valley tech bros.
In recent years, media has been flooded with headlines fearing the declining U.S. birthrate, and subsequent profiles on “pronatalists” who seek to address this problem by having large families and promoting such a lifestyle. A danger lies in the failure to recognize that this movement is rooted in white supremacist ideology and fascist demographic preservation, now being parroted by major leaders of the tech right, including Elon Musk.
Simultaneously, Mormon women have increasingly occupied public attention seen in their social media following—often because of their “tradwife” personas—and even in television, with The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. This cultural touchstone acts as a connector between discussions of the birthrate and “demographic collapse” by conservative elites and the tech right to the American public. I hope to draw a critical connection between either space to trace the rise of fascist ideology, via religious and “gender war” rhetoric, in the U.S. today.
Message To Sponsor
To donors of the Adam Z. Rice Foundation, I am extremely grateful and honored to be the recipient of this summer’s award. Thank you endlessly for your support of my project and students in the American Studies department. My professors often share stories of Adam, reflecting on his passionate contributions to American Studies and dedication to campus so I am humbled to spend this summer doing research in honor of his legacy.