RStaying at home, in ski socks and thick jogging pants, provides a certain (re)comfort, especially when you don’t have any annoying imperatives on the agenda. For the “Stay at Home Girlfriend” (or SAHG, literally the “girlfriend who stays at home”), this often white twenty-something, without children or a ring on her finger, it is even a whole art of living. Until, as her loved one’s return home approaches, she swaps her shapeless t-shirt and her furry slippers for a flattering bodysuit and leopard-print ballet flats.
Cooking a good meal, vacuuming up dust, scrubbing and polishing are part of his daily life, to which must be added the essential sports sessions and the well-oiled routine of facial treatments, including facial yoga to prevent wrinkles.
The Stay at Home Girlfriend therefore bends over backwards to take care of the household and its appearance, while waiting for the loved one to reappear. Because the more she does in his absence, the more she will be able to spend “quality time” by his side, without their perfect couple being parasitized by the little problems of everyday life, such as: “Hey, it’s your turn to do the dishes!” »
Golden Dungeon
Since the pandemic, young women claiming to be #SAHG have been posting videos on TikTok of their idyllic daily life as unemployed girlfriends, oscillating between idleness and unpaid domestic tasks, far from the careerism of the #girlboss of the 2000s. In 2022, the trend takes the name of #StayAtHomeGirlfriend (356 million views on the Chinese platform).
But this medallion, proudly displayed and which would be so enviable, has its reverse side: in reality, these young ladies spend their days alone and sometimes experience it badly, as if imprisoned in a golden dungeon. These privileged people only rediscover their beautiful enthusiasm and their beguiling smile when they hear their loved one’s trousseau jingle. They restrain themselves from jumping off the sofa to welcome him at the height of their joy.
Except that, after a tiring day of work, the jules in question will often end up pushing them away to enjoy his personal hobbies (the new Prince of Persia just released on PS5). Moment of uncertainty: is he still in love? The worst hypotheses then race through the minds of the SAHG.
In a situation of financial and emotional dependence, she places her relationship at the center of her life. Far from being anti-feminist, this young woman preferring the hugs of her partner to the bullying of a boss raises the question of the choice to be a housewife and its economic implications. In The Couple and the money (L’iconoclaste, 2022), journalist Titiou Lecoq demonstrates that women become impoverished in the marital home, to the benefit of their spouse’s career ambitions, emphasizing that economic studies “are not interested in women or the free work they provide”. Let us recall in passing that economic domination is an insidious facet of domestic violence.
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