Staying at home, in ski socks and thick jogging pants, provides a certain comfort, especially when there are no annoying imperatives on the agenda. For the "Stay at Home Girlfriend" (or SAHG), often a White woman in her twenties with no children and no ring on her finger, it's a way of life. Or so it is until she trades in her shapeless T-shirt and fuzzy slippers for a stylish bodysuit and leopard-print ballet flats when her beloved is due to return home.

Cooking, vacuuming, scrubbing and polishing are all part of her daily routine, along with the inevitable gym sessions and a well-oiled facial routine, including face yoga to prevent wrinkles.

The Stay at Home Girlfriend bends over backwards (literally) to take care of both the household and her appearance while she waits for her loved one to reappear. The more she can do in his absence, the more "quality time" she can spend with him, without their perfection as a couple being interfered with by everyday annoyances, such as "Hey, it's your turn to do the dishes!"

Since the pandemic, young women claiming to be #SAHG have been posting videos on TikTok, showing their idyllic daily lives as unemployed girlfriends, oscillating between idleness and unpaid domestic chores, a far cry from the careerism of the #girlboss of the 2000s. In 2022, the trend took the name #StayAtHomeGirlfriend (356 million views on the Chinese platform).

But this medal, so proudly worn and seeming so enviable, has its downside: In reality, these young ladies spend their days alone and sometimes have a hard time of it, as if imprisoned in a golden dungeon. These privileged ladies only regain their enthusiasm and charming smiles when they hear the jingle of their man's keychain. They have to stop themselves from jumping off the sofa to welcome him at the height of their joy.

Except that, after an exhausting day's work, the man in question will often end up putting them off to enjoy his personal leisure time (the new Prince of Persia has just been released on PS5). A moment of uncertainty: Is he still in love? The SAHG's mind is filled with the worst possible hypotheses.

Financially and emotionally dependent, she makes her relationship the center of her life. Far from being antifeminist, this young woman, who prefers her partner's hugs to the bullying of a boss, raises the question of the choice to be a housewife and the economic reasons for it. In Le Couple et l'argent ("The Couple and Money"), journalist Titiou Lecoq demonstrates that women become impoverished in the marital home, to the benefit of their spouse's career ambitions, pointing out that economic studies "are not interested in women or the free labor they provide." Let's not forget that economic domination is an insidious facet of domestic violence.

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