Suburban Reactionary: An Interview with Peachy Keenan

Peachy Keenan is the author of Domestic Extremist: A Practical Guide to Winning the Culture Wars (Regnery, 2023). She is a regular contributor to The American Mind.

1. Peachy, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Your new book, Domestic Extremist, has a very provocative title. However, in it, you advocate a return to more domestic, “everyday” life for women. What is so extreme about your proposal?

My proposal is extreme in the current era because these timeless, eternal truths are now taboo, and trigger words. Suggesting these things to women marks you instantly as an extremist, an outlier, and a radical.

2. You identify has a member of Generation X, a generation that has the burden of having seen the death of the “American Century” as well as the new emergent “post-America” world. What has it been like to see the decline of America in real time?

Heartbreaking. My husband and I never stop talking about how much worse everything is, from the streets we grew up on, to the state of raising children.

3. You note in your book that Gen X is the last generation of Americans to form (relatively) stable lives. Why do you think this is true?

Two reasons: we had no Internet, and we were also close in age to our boomer parents, who had us when they were in their 20s, so we still absorbed the idea that marriage was good, divorce was not, and having a bunch of siblings was the norm.

4. You mention that you yourself imbibed post-60s revolutionary decadence when you were younger. You mention that some of your friends were casualties of this lifestyle. At the same time, you note that the Gen X rebellion was relatively tame compared to the free fall degeneracy of Millennials and Zoomers. How was the Gen X rebellion different than that of the Millennials?

The decadence was still relatively benign. Without social media and fentanyl, there was a hard floor on how badly your life could go awry. You could make a lot of mistakes but still stick the landing in the end. There were still important guardrails in place. Now, those guardrails have all been demolished.

5. You write that you do not advocate a return to a premodern lifestyle of knitting and chicken-raising, which other “trad wives” advocate. Yet, these other trad wives argue that modernity is precisely the problem. What would your response be to these other women who argue that happiness is found in homemade baking as opposed to Duncan Hines?

As I say, I am totally in favor of a purist “trad” or homesteading lifestyle – those are wonderful if that’s what you want to do. But since I was raised among the urban swine and am not a true domestic goddess yet, it would be inauthentic of me to claim otherwise. My goal is to present an attainable lifestyle for wannabe domestic extremists – a lifestyle that does not require you to be Martha Stewart or a pioneer woman. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

6. You note that you have converted to Catholicism. The Church has traditionally been seen as a source of stability and structure in the West. However, we are currently living through one of the most difficult periods in Church history in which the Church is torn by rival ideological factions and has suffered the burden of revelations of clerical scandals. What is it like to be a Catholic in 2023?

It is a constant challenge to try to fight the liberal tide within the institution. The church is really now just a political advocacy org for globalist policy interests – and it hates conservative Catholics. Which makes me all the more confident in living my faith! The key is to find a conservative parish with a priest who preaches truth, and it all will work out fine.

7. You mention in Domestic Extremist that you would like to see a return to the 1980s of your youth. The 80s were a time American self-confidence and strength, but they also were a time of decadence and unraveling of American social life. Why do so many people in the twenty-first century want to go back to the 80s?

Because it was fun, wholesome, and the Peak American decade. We were innocent, kids were not obese or depressed, and we loved our country and were full of hope. As I said, even the coke-snorting decadence in the big cities was still less destructive than the implosion of the heartland thanks to the opioid crisis of the 90s. 1984 was the best year in human history.

8. In your work, you quote from controversial figures such as Bronze Age Pervert and Ernst Junger. These men have advocated a return to a steely and powerful masculinity. However, they do not usually project the virtues of humility and kindness. What makes a well-rounded man?

The people I quote I do so because their words are high impact- not that they are some kind of moral leaders. In terms of what makes a well-rounded man, I don’t know that I care if a man is “well rounded.” Too much humility in a man may even be unattractive. Probably the most successful men are not well rounded – they excel in a few areas only and are great because of it.

To be good husbands and fathers, of course, demands that one of the areas they excel in is love, loyalty and devotion – which, of course, requires a man to be strong and courageous to withstand temptations or distractions.

9. What kind of woman does a man really want to marry?

See above.

10. What is the first step to becoming a “domestic extremist”?

First, someone must simply decide to be one. They become aware that current strategies are not working. They are missing out, or lonely, or dissatisfied. Then, once you become aware, you just have to lean in to the old ways that you rejected in your younger days. It is a leap of faith!

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