What is the 4B movement? Trump's win has some women swearing off men
For many women, the 2024 presidential election was rooted in reproductive rights -- with President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris' campaigns offering two very different visions for abortion access in America.
From "childless cat lady" comments to "my body, my choice" chants, the divide on women's reproductive rights became a cornerstone of the election.
In the wake of Trump's victory on Tuesday, and with anti-abortion initiatives passing in several states, a South Korean feminist movement that advocates for women to swear off men and childbirth entirely has become abuzz on social media.
"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 one X user in a post that had over 460,000 likes.
The 4B movement, which gained fringe popularity in South Korea in 2019, calls for women to abstain from sex, dating, marriage and having children with men.
What does 4B stand for?
The name 4B is shorthand for Korean words starting with "bi" which translates to "no," according to a paper on the movement published by researchers at South Korea's Yonsei University.
- Bihon: The refusal of heterosexual marriage
- Bichulsan: The refusal of childbirth
- Biyeonae: The refusal of dating men
- Bisekseu: the rejection of heterosexual sexual relationships as a whole
"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," researchers wrote.
The movement rose to popularity around the same time as South Korea's conservative President Yoon Seok-yeol was elected.
In 2021, he appeared to comment on the movement, saying, "There is talk that feminism is being politically exploited to emotionally block healthy relationships between men and women."
South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world, with women of reproductive age having fewer than one child on average, according to data released in 2023.
Similarly, marriage rates are down more than 35%, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
As with women in the United States, South Korean women are subjected to a gender pay gap.
In 2022, the country's female workforce was paid on average 31.2% less than their male counterparts, according to data from the OECD.
For comparison, the gender pay gap in Japan stood at 21.3% in 2022 and 17% for women workers in the U.S. in the same year.
While the movement remains small, and relatively online with many women opting for anonymity, according to researchers, the news of Trump's second term in the White House has sparked interest in 4B in the U.S.
Could the 4B movement grow in the U.S.?
Just as divisive as the election cycle, the post-election rhetoric surrounding abortion access has divided social media users.
In the past two days, online searches about the 4B movement and use of the phrase on social media have quickly grown.
"The women in South Korea are doing it. It's time we join them. Men will NOT be rewarded, nor have access to our bodies," one X user wrote.
Another user added, "American women, looks like it's time to get influenced by Korea's 4B movement."
On Wednesday, a day after Trump's election win, a TikTok user shared a video of her attempting to shave her head while discussing her frustrations with the election and societal pressures on women.
"I'm opting out ladies. I hope you join me," she wrote in the caption of the video with a 4B movement hashtag. As of Thursday, the video had garnered over 300,000 likes and had been viewed over 3 million times.
Another video posted by TikTok user on Wednesday, which has since gained over 1.7 million likes, said, "Doing my part as an American woman by breaking up with my Republican boyfriend last night & officially joining the 4B movement this morning."
