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An illuminating look at the world of cleanfluencers that asks why the burden of housework still falls on women.
Housework is good for you. Housework sparks joy. Housework is beautiful. Housework is glamorous. Housework is key to a happy family. Housework shows that you care. Housework is women’s work.
Social media is flooded with images of the perfect housewife. TikTok and Instagram ‘cleanfluencers’ produce endless photos and videos of women cleaning, tidying and putting things right. Figures such as Marie Kondo and Mrs Hinch have placed housework, with its promise of a life of love and contentment, at the centre of self-care and positive thinking.
And yet housework remains one of the world’s most unequal institutions. Women, especially poorer women and women of colour, do most low-paid and unpaid domestic labour. In The return of the housewife, Emma Casey asks why these inequalities matter and why they persist after a century of dramatic advances in women’s rights. She offers a powerful call to challenge the prevailing myths around housework and the ‘naturally competent’ woman homemaker.
'Emma Casey's important book dissects the "cleanfluencer" -- a form of female digital celebrity that unifies the romanticization of domesticity, the supercharging of self-promotion and the circulation of mental health and wellness mandates in response to austerity conditioning, Contributing equally to feminist sociology and feminist media studies, this is a compelling and timely account.'
Diane Negra, Professor of Film Studies and Screen Culture, University College Dublin
'Drawing on decades of sociological and feminist thinking, Emma Casey offers us an entertaining and coruscating analysis of the re-glamourisation of housework in the digital age. This highly readable book will be invaluable for students; its scholarly polemic will help reignite debates on domestic inequalities; and its fluid prose will be of interest to anyone who has ever cleaned -- or avoided cleaning -- a kitchen sink.'
Jo Littler, Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
'I devoured this book in two sittings. I absolutely loved it. Casey captures the complexity of domestic labour - as a burden we should be grateful for as it is linked to love and family - so well. It is so timely and important.'
Gemma Carney, Reader (Associate Professor) in Social Policy and Ageing, Queen’s University Belfast
'Those of you who have spent hours at the kitchen sink will know exactly what Casey is talking about and will find her book a fascinating read.'
Sylvia Hikins, Morning Star
'It is essential reading across the humanities and social sciences, as well as for anyone interested in understanding the gendered and racialised division of labour in contemporary society.'
New Books Network
Introduction: Why are women still cleaning up?
1 ‘I really wanted to share this with you all!’: The commercial success of the cleanfluencer
2 Housework turned inwards: Cleanfluencing and the self
3 ‘I’m broken and it’s beautiful’: Digital housework and the promise of happiness
4 ‘Laughter can get you through the hard days’: The cultural politics of housework
5 The return of the housewife: Housework in the aftermath of crisis
Conclusion: Killing housework
Index