Wife Guys

About

Wife Guys refers to a phenomenon of men online who post devotedly about their wives, often to a suspicious degree, as though they were doing so for some means of personal gain. The term grew in popularity after a string of humorous controversies involving men and their wives happened within a few years in the late 2010s.

Origin

Both the New York Times and the New Yorker^[3] cited the resurgence in popularity of Borat Voice 'My Wife' as a contributing factor to the spread of "wife guy" humor. In the New Yorker, Jia Tolentino wrote that "My Wife" "highlights a ludicrous aspect of both heterosexuality and our more general desire to possess those we love. And, once you’ve been around it enough, it is fairly irresistible."

In 2017, Twitter saw a spike in jokes built off inserting "Borat Voice My Wife" into song lyrics. Some popular examples include a post by @LeftAtLondon which used the lyrics to The Killers' "Mr. Brightside", gaining over 70 retweets and 360 likes (shown below, left). A tweet posted by @KeiferLirette on November 12th made the joke with Hozier's "Take Me To Church," gaining 13 retweets and 113 likes (shown below, right).

Precursor

On June 6th, 2013,^[1] Redditor igotskraped uploaded a picture of a garage door with the words "Stop! Don't e-mail my wife!" spray-painted on it. This itself has been cited as one of the early examples of when "wife" jokes started growing popular online by the New York Times, New Yorker, and The Outline.^[4]

Spread

MarkusJ's Email to My Girlfriend's Husband

MarkusJ's 'Email to My Girlfriend's Husband' was cited by The Outline^[4] as a seminal "Wife Guy" moment. On April 15th, 2016, Twitter user @MarkusJ (account since deleted) posted a tweet that said "real shit: this is the email i sent to my girlfriend's husband about me moving to the area," followed by an email in which he outlines his passionate love affair with a woman named Laura to her husband (email shown below with a redaction by hipinion user generic). This led to widespread parody of the email, often in the form of song lyrics, and was popular on Weird Twitter.

I Love My Curvy Wife

The template for what would become known as a "Wife Guy" started with Robbie Tripp, aka "Curvy Wife Guy," known for the I Love My Wife and Her Curvy Body meme. On July 30th, 2017, author Robert Tripp posted to Instagram about his wife, Sarah Tripp, a body-positive fashion blogger and owner of Sassy Red Lipstick (shown below). In the post, he lauded his wife's curves, and spoke about his attraction to women who did not fit the social standard for attractiveness (i.e., not skinny).

When Buzzfeed wrote about Tripp's post in an article titled "People Are Applauding This Man For Celebrating His Wife's Curves On The Internet," Twitter users bemoaned the fact that Tripp was getting applauded essentially for being in love with his wife, a curvy woman, while noting that his wife was not very overweight, if at all. For example, popular Twitter user @OhNoSheTwitnt compared the praise the man was getting to the praise Donald Trump gets when he delivers a speech without insulting anyone (shown below, left). Twitter user @StewCElliott tweeted "The bar has been so lowered that "finding wife attractive" is now considered an achievement" (shown below, right).

Tripp went on to further monetize the success of his viral fame with sponsorships and merchandizing deals, culminating in a music video in which he raps about his appreciation for "curvy" women.

In the New York Times on June 5th, 2019,^[2] journalist Amanda Hess wrote "(Tripp) is pioneering a whole new online ethnographic group, one at the center of a deeply ambivalent state of heterosexual coupling in America: 'wife guys.'" She defined the term thus:

(The Wife Guy) is sexually attracted to his wife, and he talks about it as if he were some kind of hero. The wife guy is a mutation of the “Instagram husband,” the man who exists to take flattering photos of his wife, except that the wife guy is no longer content behind the scenes. He is crafting a whole persona around being that guy. He married a woman, and now that is his personality.

"Fake Wife" / ElleOhHell Gender Hoax

@ElleOhHell's Gender Hoax refers to the revelation that Twitter user @ElleOhHell, a well-known Twitter account thought to be an anonymous female comedian, was actually a man posing as a woman online. Twitter user @ElleOhHell was a relatively popular Twitter account, amassing over 23,000 followers and appearing on several "best tweets by women" lists online. On February 23rd, 2019, the person behind the account revealed over a series of tweets that he had been a man posing as a woman, using a portrait of his wife as his avatar, and that he and his wife were getting a divorce so he was ending the charade. The tweets were saved by user @dreamghoul.

Other Twitter users made jokes about the reveal. User @McLeemz tweeted a snowclone version of the Pagliacci joke, gaining over 80 retweets and 970 likes (shown below, left). User @marieberd made a Tired / Wired joke about the situation, gaining over 280 retweets and 4,500 likes (shown below, right). The event was covered by The Daily Dot. In the "wife guy" lexicon, the @ElleOhHell scandal became known as "fake wife."^[2][3][4][5]

"Elf Wife" / Projared Cheating Scandal

ProJared Cheating Scandal refers to allegations that YouTuber ProJared, real name Jared Knabenbauer, cheated on his wife Heidi O'Ferrall with YouTuber Holly Conrad, also known as Commander Holly and the ex-wife of Game Grumps alum Ross O'Donovan. Furthermore, O'Ferrall alleged that Knabenbauer solicited and sent nudes to fans, some of whom were underage, via Snapchat while they were together. This was corroborated by several Twitter users who shared their messages with Knabenbauer on Twitter. The scandal was referred to by New York Magazine,^[5] The New York Times,^[2] and the New Yorker^[3] as the "elf wife" event, as O'Ferrall will often cosplay as an elf.

Cliff Wife

Cliff Wife refers to Jenny McBride, wife of YouTuber Shonduras (Shaun McBride) who fell off a cliff in a Shonduras YouTube video while hiking. On May 23rd, 2019, Shonduras uploaded the video "JENNY FELL OFF THE TRAIL.. scary moment for our family" to YouTube. The video has gained over 617,000 views in five days (shown below). In the video, Jenny McBride tumbles off a trail down onto some rocks in, what looks like, a seven foot drop. The couple reflect on the how scary the incident was for them and the reveal the reaction of their friends and family members when showing them the clip.

The event for many cemented the character of the "wife guy." Many began to form the character "cliff wife," similar to that of Curvy Wife or Elf Wife. That day, Twitter user @boring_as_heck tweeted, "Today is another Wife Day on Twitter. In this case it's the classic 'Cliff Wife.'" The tweet gained over 2,800 likes in three days (shown below, left). That same day, Twitter user @spindlypete commented on the recent "endless parade of wives" in a tweet that gained over 4,000 likes in three days (shown below, right).

Analysis

Following "Cliff Wife," many publications began writing articles on the various "Wife Guys" of the internet. The New York Times wrote of "The Wife Guy":

(He) exists at the intersection of relationship status and influencer branding, and he exhibits a heady combination of privilege and desperation.. the wife guy seems to expect to be congratulated for entering into (a sex life), sometimes with literal rewards. The wife-guy identity is often not just a personal choice but a professional gambit.

In the New Yorker, Jia Tolentino wrote:

The Wife Guys (have) actively taken steps to embarrass themselves and their life partners. These stories, in other words, ultimately revolve around the needs and neuroses of men. And yet they are, nonetheless, a gratifying pleasure to behold.

Tom Whyman of The Outline wrote:

But something about the quality of the word “wife” continues to feel like it belongs to the old, pre-internet world. Mention “online” and “wife” in the same sentence and one starts to imagine a man attempting to hide the internet from his wife, like it’s a scene from a classic stage farce, the Wife Guy rushing on from stage left to stash the internet in a closet, which he must now dedicate all his energies to preventing his suspicious wife from opening.

Search Interest

External References