In the days after U.S. election, the South Korean feminist 4B movement has gone viral online, fuelled by American women dismayed at the re-election of Donald Trump, a man who has been found guilty in a civil court of sexual abuse.
The 4B philosophy urges women to boycott dating, sex, marriage and childbirth with men as an act of resistance against misogyny.
Born out of South Korea’s version of #MeToo several years ago, 4B has found renewed traction and a new audience on social media as women express their concern that Trump’s Republican administration will further restrict women’s reproductive rights, which have been severely impacted since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“This isn’t about rejecting love or relationships; it’s about reclaiming the power to live life on our terms. It’s about focusing on self-fulfillment, freedom, and creating new paths for women in a world that often pressures us into certain roles,” wrote one woman on Instagram yesterday. “Are you ready to redefine what empowerment means? Join the 4B Movement and connect with women who want to live life by their own rules.”
4B has reportedly been mentioned 50,000 times on X alone since Tuesday’s election result, reaching 45 million users.
Here’s what you need to know about the viral rise of 4B.
What does 4B stand for?
This movement is named after four B-words in Korean: Bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, and bisekseu. They translate to the four things that women are boycotting: Heterosexual dating, sex, marriage and childbirth. It’s sometimes known as “the Four Nos,” after the fact that those four Korean words all start with “bi,” or in English, “no.”
“It is both an ideological stance and a lifestyle, and many women I spoke to extend their boycott to nearly all the men in their lives, including distancing themselves from male friends,” wrote a New York Magazine journalist who interviewed South Korean women who adhere to the 4B principles.
What are the origins of the 4B movement?
It’s believed the 4B movement arose after a series of national 2018 South Korean protests against women being filmed without their knowledge in public bathrooms or while having sex using “spy cams.”
4B is seen as a more extreme version of several feminist movements that have arisen over the past few years in South Korea, like the “escape the corset” movement that sees women take a stand against oppressive beauty standards, often by cutting their hair short and wearing baggy clothing.
It’s also a descendent of the “no marriage movement,” which emerged around 2014 and saw South Korean women rejecting the traditional expectation that they would marry and leave the workforce to have children. At that time, Korean women outnumbered men in higher education.
In 2016, as the country’s birth rate was falling to one of the lowest in the world, the government launched an online map that showed the number of women of reproductive age within local areas; it was taken down after outcry from women’s groups.
Fast forward to 2022, and South Korea elected president Yoon Suk Yeol, who essentially blamed feminism for the fact that the country now has the world’s lowest birth rate. “Some say feminism is too politically exploited [to the point] it prevents healthy relationships between men and women,” Yoon said in the run-up to the election. “From a social standpoint, the conditions are ill-suited for having and raising children.” 4B came to be seen as a channel of protest against a state that seemed to see women primarily as potential breeders.
Why is the 4B movement going viral right now?
The American women posting about 4B on social media are saying they see echoes of South Korea’s experience with what they believe is happening in their country.
“Girls, it’s time to boycott all men. You lost your rights, and they lost the right to hit raw!” says one TikTok poster in a video that was has racked up over 3 million views in two days. “4B movement starts now!”
In a Reddit thread discussing 4B coming to America, one commenter wrote: “Is anyone else starting to feel like 4B is the only way? Stop giving birth to your oppressor. Stop having sex with your oppressor. Stop being friends with your oppressor when you could just spend that time making connections with women instead. Stop doing anything that benefits your oppressor.”
Another user called for four years of celibacy. “[Men] no longer get access to us until they can prove they’re capable of caring about our basic rights, health, and safety,” they wrote. “The ‘good men’ failed us by letting the bad men proliferate. They all have to be punished in a way they can understand.”
“Girls, it’s time to boycott all men. You lost your rights, and they lost the right to hit raw!” read one TikTok video that was has racked up over 3 million views in two days. “4B movement starts now!”
There is, of course, another side to this discourse, notably on X, where women are mocked for their interest in the 4B movement. “As a Trump voter, I fully endorse the 4B movement. Men will have a much easier time weeding out the crazies,” reads a tweet with over 40,000 views. “Congrats everyone — sometimes problems just fix themselves.”
