Everything to Know About the 4B Movement (Because We Know You’re Searching It)

The majority of white women voted for a political future that will further disenfranchise women. But for those who didn't, if South Korea's 4B Movement provides them with some autonomy in their personal lives, then "go off," as they say.

By Kady Ruth Ashcraft | November 14, 2024 | 11:32am

Photo: Getty Images In Depth

Everything to Know About the 4B Movement (Because We Know You’re Searching It)

South Korean women and men hold signs reading “Stop assuming women as false accusers” and “Denouncing the secondary victimization,” during a pro-#metoo protest, that was organized to combat an anti-#metoo protest in Seoul in October 2018. Photo: Getty Images

In the week since Trump’s election victory, between the numbness and overall dread, maybe you’ve heard or read the phrase “4B movement” and thought, Movement of any kind feels difficult at the moment. Hey, no judgment, that was many of us last week. But now that some of the immediate panic has settled into a more concrete and permanent apprehension, you hopefully have the capacity to learn more about the phrase and why it’s being thrown around so much.

First of all, you wouldn’t be alone in your curiosity. Searches for the “4b movement,” which originated in South Korea in 2016, spiked nearly 100% in the last seven days. Social media is ablaze with users explaining it, decrying it, or suggesting the U.S. get on board with it. “Women are refusing to have kids until they’re treated equally,” Drew Afualo explained on Rainn Wilson’s podcast. That is certainly part of the movement. In general, the nature of online discourse and the reactionary buzz following Trump’s re-election has simplified the 4B movement into merely being a sex strike—which in turn has allowed it to become more of a punchline. But I think the question to grapple with isn’t how effective a U.S. 4B movement would or wouldn’t be, but why some women feel it’s a worthwhile endeavor at all.

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But let me back up…The 4B movement is a South Korean feminist movement that centers around four main tenets: “Bihon” (no heterosexual marriage), “Bichulsan” (no childbirth), “Biyeonae” (no dating), and “Bisekseu” (no heterosexual sexual relationships). It began to emerge around 2018 when gender tensions reached a fever pitch after years of a growing cultural demonization of feminism. In 2014, Ilbe, an online alt-right, misogynistic community began to grow more and more popular among young men. In 2016, a young woman was murdered in a public bathroom in Seoul by a young man who was angry that women kept ignoring him. (Despite his alarming reasoning, police did not label the murder a hate crime.) That same year, triggered by the low birth rate, the government released a “National Birth Map,” which showed where all the women of reproductive age lived. (Women, understandably, were furious to be labeled like livestock.) In 2018, another movement emerged called “escape the corset,” which rejected the laborious beauty efforts expected of Korean women.

It’s a safe bet that when women make decisions with only themselves—be it their safety, their economic power, or their bodies—in mind, people will get very, very angry.

The backlash to and convergence of these moments galvanized a large group of women to really reckon with Korea’s societal expectations of them, and the 4b Movement was born. Now, some women living in Korea’s exceptionally patriarchal society (the wage gap is one of the widest in the world, and gender-based and domestic violence is increasingly common) have adopted the practices along with shaving their heads, opting out of wearing makeup, sharing economic advice, or choosing to live domestically with other women. It isn’t exactly clear how many women actively participate, but in 2019, the group claimed to have around 4,000 members.

But one thing that’s very clear is that the country’s birth rate has continued to rapidly decline; South Korea currently has the lowest fertility rate in the world. While this isn’t solely due to the 4B movement, overlapping factors like the gender pay gap (women in Korea are mostly responsible for child rearing on top of their low-paying jobs) and a decreasing marriage rate (along with negative perceptions of marriage in general) are certainly at play.

So, when Donald Trump clinched victory last Tuesday (or was it officially Wednesday? Idk I was under the sweet relief of sleeping pills), social media users began posting about the movement, with some suggesting women in the U.S. begin our own version. There are a lot of similarities in the underlying issues motivating women to create sexual separatist communities. Young men in the U.S. are growing increasingly conservative, blaming their woes on the rise of feminism. Women’s earnings, on average, decrease when they have children while men’s remain unaffected. And, like Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol, who pledged to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and blamed the low birth rate on feminism, we have reelected a president whose reputation is stained by his personal and political attacks on women.

But don’t interpret the aforementioned spike in interest as support. Search the phrase on TikTok and you’ll have to dig through thousands of videos of American women mocking the movement, calling it a disgrace, and declaring that they won’t be shaving their heads anytime soon, before you’ll get to anyone saying they’re opting into it. (Again, even in South Korea, 4B is considered fringe.)

It’s a safe bet that when women make decisions with only themselves—be it their safety, their economic power, or their bodies—in mind, people will get very, very angry. But I think that vocal backlash reveals the power the tenets of the movement hold. Plus, I don’t believe the merit of a movement is solely tied to its widespread success (or how many people support it on TikTok).

The realistic argument for supporting a U.S. version of 4B is less about making it a national movement to decrease the birth rate and win support for the feminist fight, and more about individual women staking out autonomy for themselves in a society hellbent on stripping them of it.

When men like Elon Musk, who are creepily obsessed with birth rates to an unsettling degree, are rising the ranks in a country where forced birth is incrementally becoming the law of the land, there is integrity in opting out of having sexual relationships with men and/or birthing children. I don’t believe 4B will ever catch on enough in the U.S. to make political change—plus, the majority of white women did vote for the political future we’re facing that will further disenfranchise women. But for those who didn’t choose that future, if this is a movement that provides them with some autonomy in their personal lives, then “go off,” as they say.

Ideally, more politically and communally engaged actions would take place, in addition to the decision to abstain from childbirth and/or sex and romance with men. But, if nothing else, the movement can inspire folks to consider that they do not have to settle for the status quo—especially as the status quo is about to get even more dystopian.