The 4B Movement: Why US women are going on sex strike
The 4B Movement emerged in South Korea in the mid-2010s and has been described by some as an 'extremist, separatist' feminist ideology...by why are so many American women following it's strict anti-men doctrine? Watch this week's episode of 'How To Sound Smarter Than Your Date' to find out what Donald Trump has got to do with your chances of getting laid.
Donald Trump's bags are packed and he is ready to be the first former president to return to office in more than 130 years.
Yes on the 20th of January, Trump will return to the white house after a landslide win over Democrat and Bratcore VP, Kamala Harris in the 2024 American presidential election.
Harris made reproductive rights, and restoring ‘Roe V Wade’ a key part of her campaign - she spoke endlessly about women’s health and the right to choose - with Michelle Obama joining her, giving powerful speeches about what a Trump presidency would mean for American women.
Whereas… on the other hand, it’s no secret that Trump has been viewed, by some, as a misogynist figure.
Trump’s ‘unique’ attitude to women has dominated the headlines for as long as any of us can remember… Including the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct made against him… and of course THAT Access Hollywood tape which saw him boasting about ‘grabbing women by the pussy’.
Allegations made by his first wife, Ivana Trump, were also depicted in the recent biopic ‘The Apprentice’ - showing an abusive and sexually violent relationship.
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And it doesn’t end with his private life - when in office the first time, Trump is regarded as being responsible for overturning ‘Roe v Wade’ - which had previously enshrined the right to abortion in the US Constitution, In 2016 he said he believed there should be some ‘punishment’ for abortion…and his VP Mike Pence was hardly a feminist ally… a man so conservative he wouldn’t even have dinner with a woman that wasn’t his wife.
During the 2024 campaign, it wasn’t much better, with Trump insisting he will ‘protect women’ and with a lack of clarity over his policies on things like IVF and access to abortion.
With all this in mind, it’s not surprising that some American women are trying to reassert their rights with all this uncertainty. And for many, that means being inspired by a South Korean separatist ideology…
Hinge dates may have made you swear off men, but in South Korea, there is a movement that is much more than just a comment in the girl's group chat.
Let us introduce you to 4B - a radical, feminist ideology which first emerged in the 2010s in South Korea.
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The movement’s name stands for 4 Korean words ‘Bi’ meaning no
- Bihon: refusal of heterosexual marriage.
- Bisekseu: rejection of heterosexual relationships
- Bichulsan: the refusal of childbirth
- Biyeonae: saying no to dating
And some women are taking it so literally that they aren’t even having friendships with men.
But where did it come from? For a long time, South Korean women have faced persistent discrimination and economic equality - with the largest gender pay gap of any of the OECD nations.
High-profile violent crimes have also contributed to the rise of the ‘separatist’ thinking… for example in 2016 when a man stabbed a woman he’d never met at Gangnam Station. Afterwards he said ‘i did it because women have always ignored me’.
The attack prompted people to protest and leave post-it notes outside the station saying things like “I survived only by luck.”
This has been coupled with a huge rise in spycam crimes - with footage of women changing being uploaded to the internet without their consent. There were 30,000 cases of this between 2013-2018.
And, in 2018 a new trend started protesting the intense beauty standards in South Korea. The “escape the corset” movement saw women destroying make-up products and cutting their hair short.
So, you get the idea of what life is like for lots of women in South Korea…
But the 4B Movement is not without its critics… Current President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol pandered to a younger, conservative male vote during his election campaign…
Why does that sound familiar…?
And ran an anti-feminist campaign, claiming that feminists are to blame for the country’s falling birth rate…
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Lots of young, male South Korean’s bought into his rhetoric… despite the fact that shortages of housing, more equal education, and developments in contraception are also equally responsible…
As a response, the Government announced a series of plans to encourage women to have more babies - including cash allowances and… in a creepy Handmaid’s Tale-esque move created an online birth map which was quickly taken down when women had a very understandable reaction.
However, despite the very real social dislocation… we’re not entirely sure how many South Korean women have signed up for the 4B philosophy… and some say that it’s Western media that has overblown its significance.
Whereas others think that because feminism has been so demonised… activists are mindful of associating with 4B publicly.
There are hundreds of thousands of videos about 4B, and traffic surged for the term after Trump was elected… but there’s not actually much evidence that US women are withdrawing from the bedroom just yet.
In fact, celibacy has been on the rise far before Trump set his sights on a second term… and it’s probably worth remembering that 53% of white women voted for Trump this year… so we’re definitely not talking about ‘all women’.
However, just because we’ve not got a full-on sex strike YET doesn’t mean this is just a fad - and there is already evidence of women stockpiling The Pill and questioning whether they still want to have children since November 4th. We’ve seen demonstrations already about what a Trump presidency might mean for women… and don't even mention the celebs who are threatening to leave the States for good when he’s sworn in in January 2025.
There’s also lots of legitimate criticism of the 4B movement by feminists - who are equally outraged by the ‘your body, my choice’ celebrations of the MAGA Bros.
They argue that forgoing sex, boyfriends, and relationships altogether won’t neutralise the threats of a Trump Presidency - or any misogynist thinking - and instead seek only to isolate and alienate women.
They say that rather than going on sex strike - women should organise and call-out the culprits of sexism, misogyny and violence against women and girls.
Whether you’re a 4B-Fan or 4B-afraid, the rise in curiosity about what it stands for speaks volumes about how some women in America feel about their safety, rights, and incoming President. It also tells us so much about how the internet can be used as a tool for building global communities… because I’m pretty sure without the TikTok girlies, we wouldn’t be talking about this.