Donald Trump’s election has sparked a rise in interest in the 4B movement in South Korea, a radical feminist movement advocating for the four B’s: bi-hon (no marriage), bi-yeonae (no dating), bi-sekseu (no sex), and bi-chulsan (no having children).
Since November 5, the term “4B movement” has been searched over 500,000 times on Google, while posts supporting the movement have gone viral on TikTok, Instagram, and X, especially among young female voters who are pledging to avoid men.
“Ladies, we need to start thinking about the 4B movement like women in South Korea and give America a serious drop in birth rates,” one post on X read, with over 450,000 likes.
“We cannot allow these men to laugh last… we must fight back.”
“A reminder that the 4B movement and separatist movements are not just about avoiding men—they are also about supporting and investing in women,” stated another post.
Here’s what you need to know about the movement and its impact in South Korea:
What is the 4B Movement and When Did It Begin?
Although the exact origins and founder are unclear, scholars and activists agree that the 4B movement started in South Korea sometime after 2015, as part of a broader wave of radical feminism that gained traction through online forums.
Its emergence coincided with several significant events that sparked broader discussions on gender inequality in the workplace and violence against women in South Korea.
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One of these events was the 2016 murder of a young woman in a public restroom in the wealthy Gangnam district of Seoul. The attacker, a 34-year-old man with a history of mental illness, later testified to police that he killed the woman, whom he didn’t know, because he had been rejected by women in the past.
The movement was further fueled by the arrival of the #MeToo movement in South Korea in 2018, a year that also saw mass public protests against the widespread circulation of illicit pornography.
“For women, love, dating, marriage, and childbirth are no longer seen as sanctuaries of peace and safety but as places of exposure to male violence and subjugation,” feminist theorist Yun-Kim Ji-young wrote in 2020, describing the 4B movement as “a complete severance of any emotional, mental, financial, or physical dependence on men.”
In recent years, some supporters have expanded the movement into a variant known as 6B, which also calls for bi-sobi (no consuming products that support misogyny or engage in sexist marketing) and bi-dop-bi — solidarity among unmarried women.
Despite occasional waves of virality and media coverage, the movement is still far from mainstream, and due to its decentralized online nature, there is no concrete data on how many women in South Korea actively identify as “4B.”
One of the most common ways supporters signal their commitment is by sharing posts on social media with hashtags related to 4B, such as tips for female financial independence and images of happy lives without marriage.
Some cities, such as Daejeon and Gwangju, also have offline 4B-themed communities where followers can socialize through sports, book clubs, or skill-development workshops.
Some feminist theorists and activists in South Korea have criticized these lifestyle-oriented aspects of the 4B movement, arguing that individual acts of abstention ultimately do little to significantly improve women’s rights in the areas of sex and reproduction within the broader social context. “At the heart of young women’s dedication to 4B is a desire to focus on themselves,” feminist theorist Cho Joo-hyun wrote in 2020.
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Source: Los Angeles Times
Photo: JUNG YEON-JE / AFP via Getty Images / AP / Evan Vucci (STF)