No marriage; no childbirth; no heterosexual dating. While it sounds farfetched in today's heteronormative society, a radical movement originating in South Korea is gaining momentum overseas following Donald Trump's victory in the US election.
The movement, known as 4B, is centred around the basic idea that women reject heterosexual marriage, dating, sex and childbirth as means of protesting institutionalised misogyny, sexism and abuse. Right now, search for ‘what is the 4B movement’ is up by +450% on Google, while ‘4B’ is a breakout search term under Donald Trump on Google. Over 200,000 people looked up the ‘4B movement’ on Google on Wednesday, making it one of the top trending topics on the online search engine. Meanwhile on X, posts mentioning 4B have been engaged with more than one million times since Trump was elected.
Why? Because for many women around the world, Trump's win is a blow to feminism, particularly around the topic of reproductive rights, which became a key battleground during the US election.
Here's everything we know so far about the 4B movement, and why it's gaining momentum in the USA.
What is the 4B movement?
The 4B movement reportedly originated in South Korea in 2018, in the midst of protests against revenge porn, before quickly growing into a feminist #MeToo style movement.
B is shorthand for four Korean words that all start with ‘bi’ - meaning ‘no.’ Bihon means the refusal of hetrosexual marriage; bichulsan, no childbirth; bygone, no dating; and bisekseu, no heterosexual sexual relationships. Essentially, supporters of the movement believe that these pledges boycott a patriarchal system that worsens gender inequality.
The movement is largely taking place on social media, where women are vowing to stop having personal romantic relationships with men. For some women, the movement extends to shaving their heads and refusing to wear makeup as a way of distancing themselves even further from the way society sexualises women.
Is the 4B movement coming to the US and UK?
The 4B movement is gaining traction on TikTok. One viral video, which has been viewed more than 9 million times shows a woman cuddling her cat. The text reads ‘Doing my part as an American woman by breaking up with my Republican boyfriend last night & officially joining the 4b movement this morning.’
Another user goes one step further, sharing a video of her attempting to shave her head before cutting it with scissors. In the video, she says ‘Giving up on America? [I] have,’ continuing ‘Also given up on coloring this hair, because, right? Fuck coloring my hair. Fuck having my hair be long and luxurious … Fuck being all the things that the patriarchy wants us to be because, clearly, they don’t give a shit about us.’
A third TikTok user wrote ‘Girls it’s time to boycott all men! You lost your rights, and they lost the right to hit raw! 4b movement starts now!’ The video has amassed 3.4 million views.
Meanwhile on X, one tweet with hundreds of thousands of likes urges women in the US to start 'considering the 4B movement like the women in South Korea and give America a severely sharp birth rate decline,' continuing 'We can't let these men have the last laugh… we need to bite back.’ Another wrote ‘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.’
What has Donald Trump got to do with the 4B Movement?
4B began gaining momentum online after Donald Trump was elected as president. In the lead up to the election, exit polls predicted a striking gender gap that was reported when it came to support for Harris and Trump. Last month, Grazia travelled to swing state Pennsylvania to explore how this gender divide was affecting relationships and playing out in people’s homes. Early exit polls showed thar women aged 18-29 went overwhelmingly left, while Trump picked up ground with their male counterparts compared with 2020.
For many women, Trump’s win is symbolic of their reproductive rights dwindling, which could explain the renewed interest in the 4B movement. Trump has changed his views on abortion throughout his career, but he celebrated the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade, a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion. Reproductive rights became a key battleground in the election, with Missouri becoming the first state voting to overturn the six-week abortion ban. Advocating for the 4B women is a way for US women to stand up for their bodily autonomy and regain control at a time when even their most basic rights are at stake.
Why is the 4B movement popular in South Korea?
The 4B movement began a way for some women to protest misogyny, gender discrimination and violence against women, according to Meera Choi, a Ph.D. of the department of sociology at Yale University who studies heterosexual refusal among South Korean women.
Although still a relatively niche movement, it speaks to the wider gender wars happening in South Korea right now. In 2022, President Yoon Suk Yeol, said feminism was to blame for South Korea’s low birth rate, saying he would increase penalties for false accusations of sexual crimes, and denied the existence of ‘structural discrimination based on gender.’ According to the New York Times, many women are concerned that the country’s patriarchal structure makes the cost of motherhood too high and are taking a stand against being ‘baby-making machines.’
Women in South Korea also face a wide gender pay gap, earning 31 percent less than men – the highest gender pay gap in democratic countries.