The New Domesticity Movement
New Domesticity is the term popularized by Emily Matchar in her latest contribution to the field of homemaking-related literature, a book called Homeward Bound. In the book, Matchar defines New Domesticity as the trend of “current collective nostalgia and domesticity-mania” (4), and goes on to describe the reasons and implications of women’s return to domesticity. Perhaps a better way to understand the term is to see a picture of the New Domestics Matchar has in mind:
She’s the Brooklyn hipster who quit her PR job to sell hand-knitted scarves at craft fairs. He’s the dreadlocked “urban homesteader” who raises his own chickens to reduce his carbon footprint. She’s the thirty-one-year-old new mom who starts an artisan cupcake company from her home kitchen rather than return to her law firm. He’s the hard-driven Ivy Leaguer fleeing corporate life for a Vermont farm. She’s the food blogger writing winsome odes to the simple pleasures of slow-roasted pork and homemade applesauce. (Matchar 4-5)
What would compel these New Domestics to flee the corporate scene and consumer culture? According to Matchar, New Domesticity boils down to anxiety. This anxiety is composed of suspicion of the government and food systems, despair in the economy, and distress for the environment (Matchar 15). Additionally, Matchar reasons that after several years of unfulfilling and mind-numbing work behind a computer, people grow tired of working for “The Man” and disillusioned by the American Dream. Hands-on work then becomes an escape (15).
Though there is an exhaustive list of reasons to practice domesticity ranging from political and economic motivations to environmental and religious convictions, one of the simplest reasons is that domesticity provides a higher quality of life. Many American individuals and families are living on the precipice of chaos. Half of all marriages in end in divorce (CDC Marriage and Divorce), 70 percent of American children live in homes in which all adults are employed (Williams and Boushey), and 69 percent of all American adults over age 20 are overweight and obese (CDC Obesity and Overweight). These numbers denote serious social problems and beg the question of if we really do have a good quality of life.
How has domesticity and lack thereof changed over time in America? The timeline of domesticity in the US illustrates.
Though there is an exhaustive list of reasons to practice domesticity ranging from political and economic motivations to environmental and religious convictions, one of the simplest reasons is that domesticity provides a higher quality of life. Many American individuals and families are living on the precipice of chaos. Half of all marriages in end in divorce (CDC Marriage and Divorce), 70 percent of American children live in homes in which all adults are employed (Williams and Boushey), and 69 percent of all American adults over age 20 are overweight and obese (CDC Obesity and Overweight). These numbers denote serious social problems and beg the question of if we really do have a good quality of life.
How has domesticity and lack thereof changed over time in America? The timeline of domesticity in the US illustrates.