"I was a trad wife. I'm sharing my story so other women can learn from the way my life was destroyed."

I received a message from someone who had first hand experience being trapped in a submissive marriage. We talked for a long time, and this is what she told me...

I usually write on a completely different theme every week, but the piece I posted a week ago on trad wives and the content they make has interested a lot of you on here and my instagram. And, because I feel so disturbed by the messages they are so effectively putting out - especially that subservience and submission to a man is a better, safer place for a wife to be than out in the world, earning her own way or at the very least having her own voice - I’ve found it hard to move on to something new. And once you start looking for them, you see that kind of content all over social media.

And after I posted the piece, I received a message from someone - let’s call her Sarah - about her own experience as a trad wife. “Your piece absolutely speaks to me of my experience of marrying a US serviceman and becoming a patriarchal stay at home mother. I know from experience that glorification of trad wives is so dangerous, taking us backwards because of this crazy erosion of women’s rights, and in America this is especially dangerous. But we all have a responsibility to speak out against this.”

We talked for a long time, and Sarah kindly agreed to share her story with us all. I’ve changed some details to protect Sarah’s anonymity, including her ex-husband and children’s names. This was her experience.