- William Conrad, 25, and his girlfriend Levi Coralin, 26, have been together for three years.
- Conrad is the stay-at-home mom's boyfriend, while Coraline, a content creator, supports them financially.
- Conrad previously worked in the technology industry but has no plans to return.
This told essay is based on a conversation with William Conrad, a 25-year-old stay-at-home mom from Canada and her boyfriend, a content creator. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
For the past three years, I've been a stay-at-home dad. I cook, clean, and do laundry, and I've never been happier.
My girlfriend Levi loves social media and makes enough money to support both of us financially. She works from home and I do 90% of her housework. Our dynamic behavior upends social norms, but it works for us and we love it.
On a typical day, I wake up a little earlier than Levi and make him coffee. We usually grab coffee, hang out for a while, and play Wordle together. And she works while I prepare meals and do other household chores. If you're not ready to eat, you might work on the computer next to her.
She works from home so we spend almost all of our time together every day. She's my best friend first and foremost, so I love that.
We live a very communal life, and that applies to how we spend money. We've never had the perspective of, “This is my money, this is your money.” It's really a joint venture and most of our purchases are done together anyway.
As well as doing things around the house, I help her with the back end of her business, doing accounting and bookkeeping.
Thanks to my stay-at-home husband, I can do what I like.
Levi and I met on Hinge about three years ago while living in different cities. While she was in Alberta, I lived in Toronto, near where she grew up. We started talking online, but we knew we needed to meet in person, so she came to Toronto to meet me.
Our first date was for a week and we stayed at an Airbnb. Shortly after that, we moved together in Ontario and have been together ever since.
Growing up, I didn't have a strong sense of what I wanted to do, but I did know that I didn't want to sit in an office and stare at a monitor all day. I have always loved making things and working with my hands. But I ended up studying computer science in college and then getting a job at a tech startup.
When I met Levi, I was doing freelance work here and there and more consistent work in the tech world. She was deepening her career as a content creator and needed help running her business online. She thought I was the perfect fit and asked if I could work for her. So I quit my job and became a housewife.
Not that I didn't enjoy the job, but it was greener pastures for me to step out on. I think in the long run it was a better opportunity for me. Even before I met Levi, I was passionate about cooking and sewing. This allowed me to focus more on those interests and hone my skills.
I have no intention of going back to a 9-5 job, and only if my online business stops working.
I started posting online to show the world a softer type of masculinity.
In August 2022, I started posting snippets of my life on TikTok. My videos mostly feature the meals I make for Levi, but sometimes I braid her hair, hem her clothes, or fix things around her house. Sometimes. I'm soft-spoken and soft-spoken, and the comments I get from viewers, who are mostly female, are overwhelmingly positive. Anyway, these are all things I do, but it was Levi's idea to share them with the world.
It was a time when anti-feminist influencer Andrew Tate was hugely popular, and there was an oversaturation of toxic masculinity online. We saw a need and opportunity to represent kind and loving men in the online space. One of the things I'm very proud of is showing the duality that men can have. I have both feminine and masculine traits, but I'm still a man.
I grew up in a very caring household where both my parents worked and the household chores were divided equally. Living like this did not affect my sense of masculinity because everyone contributed to the household and gender was not tied to a specific role.
Social media is giving young men a distorted image of what women want
Women often comment, “Where can I buy it?” About my content. And while it's always nice to hear that someone thinks I'm a good boyfriend, it's also sad that I seem to lack the loving strength.
Many women are looking for a man who will cook them good meals and be kind to them, but there probably aren't enough men who value these things.
I think toxic masculinity on social media is giving young men and boys a distorted view of what women want. I want to encourage other men to lean more into their feminine traits without feeling like it threatens their masculinity.
