Homeward Bound

There's no doubt about it: domesticity is enjoying a major comeback, with the explosion of “stitch n’ bitch” knitting circles; our sudden fascination with canning, cheese-making, and grinding our own flour; and a tidal wave of memoirs in the “I quit my corporate job and found fulfillment on a Vermont goat farm” vein. Why are women embracing the labor-intense domestic tasks that our mothers and grandmothers so eagerly shrugged off? Why has the image of the blissfully domestic, vintage-clad supermom become the media’s feminine ideal?

In The New Cult of Domesticity, Emily Matchar offers an investigation into how New Domesticity is fundamentally reshaping the role of women in society, and what the consequences might be. With research spanning from coast to coast, Matchar introduces us to a diverse cast of characters—Southern food bloggers, “radical homemakers” on the East Coast, Etsy entrepreneurs in Provo, members of urban knitting circles in Austin, and many more. She identifies the negative elements of these trends along with the positive, ultimately suggesting that this return to domesticity goes a step too far, to the detriment of both men and women alike.