Ever since Donald Trump won the 2024 United States presidential elections, progressives, climate activists, pro-democracy champions, free speech advocates, LGBTQ+ members and their allies, and, most importantly, women have expressed significant concerns. There are fears that the progress of the conditions of women in the USA and much of the world through American influence in the last four years will be negatively impacted once Trump assumes office. As a result, some women in the USA are considering the adoption of a radical but brilliant feminist strategy from South Korea – the 4B movement.
But before we come to that, it is important to understand the heightened level of anxiety women (and many others) have as the Trump 2.0 administration is now upon them. Though there are several posts from the general public and celebrities expressing their frustration and fears over what they believe will be a brutal atmosphere for people who stand up for truth and feminism, one of the most viral ones is the opening monologue by renowned American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel on the first Jimmy Kimmel Live episode after Donald Trump won the election.
Kimmel summed the situation up perfectly, both in words and through tears, saying that Americans “chose the criminal” instead of a prosecutor – comparing Trump, who was convicted of a felony, to Vice President Kamala Harris, who is hailed for her integrity as an attorney.
“It was a terrible night for women, for children, for the hundreds of thousands of hard-working immigrants who make this country go, for health care, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech… for our allies in Ukraine, for NATO, the truth,” he said.
You can watch it in full here:
It is under this impending dark atmosphere that women in the USA are increasingly talking about the 4B movement.
What is the 4B movement of South Korea?
The 4B movement is a unique feminist push for gender equality in the highly patriarchal South Korean society. The meaning of the ‘4B’ in the movement comes from four South Korean phrases, each starting with the word bi which translates to ‘no’ in English.
Jieun Lee and Euisol Jeong, two researchers from the Institute of Humanities, Yonsei University, published a research paper in 2021 describing the movement and its standpoints.
According to the paper, the four phrases are as follows:
Bihon (no heterosexual marriage)
Bichulsan (no childbirth)
Biyeonae (no romance)
Bisekseu (no sexual relationships)
“The 4B movement encompasses not only criticisms of the pro-natalist turn in state policy and protests against it, but also various forms of self-help discussions and practices that are explicitly oriented towards women’s individual futures,” explained the researchers in the paper.
When did the 4B movement begin?
Most reports suggest that the 4B movement began in South Korea in 2017 but gained traction in 2019. Some reports indicate that the movement spread rapidly during Korea’s #MeToo movement and in protest of the spycam epidemic that threatens the privacy of women in Korea.
A key contributor to the movement was the release of the critically acclaimed Korean movie Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 (2019).
Starring Jung Yu-mi and Gong Yoo, the movie is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Cho Nam-joo. It tells the story of a stay-at-home woman who suffers a mental breakdown due to discrimination both at home and at her former workplace.
The movement continues to hold significance in Korea, especially since it is one of the worst-performing among the OECD countries on gender equality.
According to a 2024 report by The Korea Times, the most recent ‘Women in Work Index’ placed South Korea 32nd out of 33 surveyed OECD countries based on five indicators: gender wage gap, female labour force participation rate, gender gap in labour force participation rate, female unemployment rate, and female employment rate in full-time positions.
“Chile (31st place), Korea and Mexico ranked at the bottom of the index. All three countries displayed low female participation rates in 2022, at 58 per cent, 62 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively. This compared to an average female participation rate of 72 per cent across the OECD,” the report said.
Of the indicators, Korea’s gender wage gap was the worst – in fact, twice as high as Mexico’s, which was 32nd based on the indicator.
But the 4B movement isn’t exactly a street demonstration. Much of it is online and there is no leadership. While it has been praised by much of the world, some aspects of it have been criticised in South Korea largely because the country is witnessing a rapidly declining birth rate.
How are feminists in the USA reacting to the 4B movement?
The 4B movement is an iconic protest in favour of feminism which is coming to increasing notice in the USA.
“Ladies, we need to start considering the 4B movement like the women in South Korea and give America a severely sharp birth rate decline,” wrote a user on X (formerly Twitter). The post had received nearly 470,000 likes at the time of writing, indicating strong support for such a move.
Ladies, we need to start considering the 4B movement like the women in South Korea and give America a severely sharp birth rate decline:
– no marriage
– no childbirth
– no dating men
– no sex with menWe can’t let these men have the last laugh… we need to bite back
— (@lalisasaura) November 6, 2024
According to The Guardian, searches for “4B” on Google increased by 450 per cent on the day of the election as it emerged that Trump was winning the race. Most of the interest came from Washington DC, Colorado, Vermont and Minnesota.
It has also gained ground on TikTok with many American women calling for a boycott of all men.
If the movement is replicated in the USA, many hope it might be able to make a much bigger impact in the increasingly polarised and patriarchal American society. Now that Donald Trump has near absolute power, the movement might seem more difficult than any that was in protest of the Republican leader in his first term. However, it has rekindled hopes of preventing the USA from turning into a completely misogynistic society.
Hero and Featured images: Courtesy of Gayatri Malhotra/@gmalhotra via Unsplash
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The '4B' in the 4B movement means 'Bihon' (no heterosexual marriage), 'Bichulsan' (no childbirth), 'Biyeonae' (no romance), and 'Bisekseu' (no sexual relationships).
The 4B movement is a protest against patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism, and a call for equal rights for women.
The 4B movement is believed to have started in 2017, but it came to international attention in 2019.
The 4B movement started in South Korea.
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Written by
Manas Sen Gupta writes at the intersection of tech, entertainment and history. His works have appeared in publications such as The Statesman, Myanmar Matters, Hindustan Times and News18/ETV. In his spare time, Manas loves studying interactive charts and topographic maps. When not doing either, he prefers reading detective fiction. Spring is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.
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