I was talking with a cousin of mine who is in her late 40s and she was telling how her daughter and all her friends are conservative girls, and some of them are getting married in their early 20s
My cousin is a social worker and VERY liberal and also lives in a blue city so I found it strange that her daughter is more conservative.
But my cousin said that she’s seeing a lot of young people and young women becoming more conservative especially when it comes to relationships.
I’m curious if anyone else out there is seeing this in their family or friends daughters under 25?
I’m single and late 30s so very detached from the youth.
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No I’ve noticed the opposite but I think it depends on the groups you run in.
We are truly defined by our friends
I don’t have any young women in my family who are old enough to be thinking of their political identity (my oldest niece is 7), but this sadly doesn’t surprise me. And I don’t think it’s just women either, look at the rise of incel culture in young men. I personally feel that this isn’t just a “natural” swing of the pendulum either, it feels like social media has been optimized to program young people in this direction.
Whenever an alignment or way of thinking becomes more “mainstream”, the inverse of that alignment becomes “rebellious” and experiences a resurgence (see the conservative culture moment of the 80s following the 60s and 70s).
Social media also plays a role, tradwife and tradcath content is huge rn.
No
Hi. 25 year old here.
Yes and no. If a woman around my age does lean conservative, she is far more likely to be pulled far right because of socioeconomic factors and social media. We are seeing more polarization than ever before in terms of political values.
However, women my age are more likely than men my age to be progressive. That’s something?
Random thought: you may have heard of “sprinkle sprinkle” or “feminine vs masculine energy,” which are basically 1950s nuclear family propaganda repackaged for 2025. We have more debt, fewer jobs opportunities, and less optimism for the future. Given that, and social media amplification, it’s likelier that a Gen Z woman would be enchanted by a life not associated with US corporate culture. They just don’t explain that being financially dependent on one person is so so risky.
Yes, and I find it alarming. I hope it doesn’t lead to more archaic and push to back-warding laws. I’ve notice there’s a lot of romanticizing of the trad life/wife.
Can you be more specific? Do you mean more conservative, as in, they don’t go out and drink and choose a relationship younger? Or maga conservative? Because these are different things.
I haven’t seen this. I’ve only seen single men and women in their 20’s for the last 10 years.
I think its the cycle. We millennials and gen x have seen our mothers enduring unhappiness in marriages. They encouraged us to become more independent and manage our own finances. Now Gen z and alpha are more conservative because they have been watching our struggles as independent women .
No, I have daughters who are 16 and 22, and while my 22-year-old does have a few conservative friends (because she goes to college in a red state, has rural hobbies, and met people through those) I’m not noticing any shift rightward among GenZ women.
My son’s peer group is another story. He has lost several friends over the past couple years because they started expressing right wing views that made him uncomfortable, and got hostile when he tried to have a conversation with them about it.
I worked in a Mid-Atlantic liberal state with a lady about 5 or 6 years ago who’s daughter was trying to go against her mother and be a conservative. She went to college down south and was surprised to learn, she was in fact not conservative. It’s all fun and games until you come across really conservative people and don’t want to associate with them. She considered herself a moderate after that.
You need to specify what exactly do you mean? Marrying earlier could be a rational response to hearing Millennial women constantly talking how there are no good men in their 30s left, for example. It’s a fact that you have a much bigger choice of never married men with no kids in your mid to late 20s than 5-10 year later. It’s something often discussed even on this sub.
Same with deciding that they don’t want to live with a man without at least being engaged. Or more skepticism of hookups, apps etc. Yes, you could code it as conservative, but to me it’s simply the pendulum swinging.
The tradwife thing is still niche, I wouldn’t draw conclusions about the entire generation based on some IG content. It could change, but it’s not widespread in the real life.
I don’t remember which podcast I was listening to but a journalist was saying that there is a noticeable shift in young women in the U.S. becoming more conservative. The hypothesis is a combination of the trad wife movement and the manisphere influencing their peers.
Whether or not this is a reality is yet to be seen but we should not be surprised that it is possible. There has been a concerted effort to shift the politics and ultimately the culture.
As it becomes more difficult to live on one income, and men are shifting to the right, I imagine many young women are tempted to gain financial stability by catering to conservative men and their ideology. A lot of these women also didn’t grow up with conservative families and don’t realize how shitty the dynamic can be. I imagine in 20 years or so there will be some regrets.
Yes and no. It also depends on your definition of “conservative”
I think younger people are a lot more disillusioned by work, capitalism and life in general. So the whole “girl boss” thing that was popular in my teens/20s doesn’t really resonante. I do think there is a gentle return to tradition in terms of dating and desired family structure.
But I don’t see a broader political swing. I don’t think conservatives really present answers to the problems described above, other than wishful thinking. And I don’t think people are falling for it. Even the stats that get rolled out now and then showing the growing political divide between young men and women, basically show men being centrists and women moving further left. That’s not exactly the massive swing to the right some headlines would have you believe. Not on the part of young men and certainly not young women.
Nah my kid and her friends are all queer leaning atheist therians and they’re only in elementary school. Your cousin is a social worker which means the pool of data is skewed by troubles.
Kids in unhappy or complicated homes turn to things like religion, the military, or long term relationships to cope or escape.
Hispanic women, younger women, and white evangelicals all showed shifts towards the Republican Party data wise.
I am noticing the opposite where I live, I suspect it’s very geographical. I have many cousins who all live in a different area and they are skewing very conservative but I also think their parents have more conservative views.