Wikipedia

4B movement

4B or "Four Nos" is a radical feminist[1] movement that originated in South Korea. The name refers to its defining four tenets which all start with the Korean-language term bi (Korean: 비; Hanja: 非), roughly meaning "no".[2] Its proponents do not date men, marry men, have sex with men, or have children with men.[3] The movement emerged between 2017 and 2019[4][5] on Twitter[6] and on the website WOMAD. It has since spread internationally, namely to the United States after its 2024 presidential election.

The movement is considered fringe in South Korea, with an estimated membership of around 500 to 4,000 in 2019. In South Korea, a portion of its members, particularly those associated with the openly misandric[7] WOMAD, were described as transphobic and homophobic towards gay men.[8]

Beliefs

The four core tenets to the 4B movement are:

  • no sex with men (Korean: 비섹스; RR: bisekseu),
  • no giving birth (비출산; bichulsan),
  • no dating men (비연애; biyeonae), and
  • no marriage with men (비혼; bihon).[4][9]

Bihon (no marriage)

A 2022 survey of unmarried South Koreans aged 19 to 34 found that 69.7% of women (compared to 79.8% of men) expressed a desire to marry in the future.[10] Marital violence is the most prevalent form of family violence in South Korea.[11] In heterosexual South Korean households, women perform a disproportionate portion of the unpaid labor.[12] Some 4B followers state that the movement helps protect them from the risks of marriage, including domestic violence and an unequal distribution of labor.[13]

Bichulsan (no childbirth)

Many South Korean women are reluctant to have children due to the lack of workplace accommodations. More than 40 per cent of South Korean women take an extended career break after marriage and childbirth, while many of those who stay in work struggle to progress their careers.[14] The 4B movement proposes that women focus on financial independence, including forgoing childbirth.[15]

South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.[16] As of 2023, the fertility rate is at 0.72,[17] significantly below the 2.1 threshold required to maintain a country's population.[18] The country's birth rate has been below the replacement rate since 1983,[19] while the 4b movement originated in the 2010s, making it likely that the low birth rate is due to economic insecurity experienced by young adults, high child-rearing costs, high property prices, and the double burden placed on working mothers.[20][21]

A 2022 survey of unmarried South Koreans aged 19 to 34 found that 55.3% of women (as compared to 70.5% of men) indicated a preference for having children.[10]

Biyeonae (no romance with men) and bisekseu (no sexual relationships with men)

Women of the 4B movement do not engage in romance and sexual relationships with men, because they see it as an extension of the patriarchal family structure.[15]

Notable proponents

Jung Se-young and Baeck Ha-na, two proponents, criticize marriage as reinforcing gender roles in South Korea.[9] The movement draws some inspiration from the novel Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, as do South Korea's MeToo and "Escape the Corset" movements.[5]

History

The term 4B emerged from Korean feminist circles on Twitter around 2017 to 2018,[22] after a highly publicized 2016 murder of a woman by a man.[23] The murderer, who said he did it because women had ignored him, was not charged with a hate crime.[24]

The 4B movement also emerged in response to many other social issues. For instance, the misogynistic social media platform Ilbe Storehouse grew in prominence in 2014,[13] and was followed by cultural "gender wars" in 2015.[15]

The 4B movement gained broader recognition on Twitter in 2019 and through various feminist social media accounts. One notable feature of the 4B movement, as with other Korean digital feminist movements, is that members often identify themselves as "anonymous women," as it is conventional not to disclose personal details online.[15]

Escape the Corset Movement

The "Escape the Corset" Movement that started in 2016 served as a source of inspiration for the 4B movement. The movement calls for women to liberate themselves from sexual, social, bodily, and psychological oppression.[25] The word "corset" is used by Korean feminists as a metaphor for the societal mechanisms that bind and repress women, including toxic beauty standards. Notably, South Korea has the 10th largest beauty market globally and is the third-largest cosmetics exporter.[26] In a society where beauty holds immense cultural and economic significance, members of the "Escape the Corset" Movement criticize and resist cosmetic procedures, demanding skincare or makeup rituals, and the adoption of trendy clothing, all seen as perpetuating consumerism and misogynistic social norms. In protest, they express their defiance by destroying makeup, forgoing cosmetic enhancements, shaving their heads, and rejecting fashionable attire. Escape the Corset's analysis and approach to protest deeply influenced the 4B movement.[25]

South Korea's #MeToo movement

Although the #MeToo movement originated in the United States in 2006 and gained popularity in 2017, many other countries, including South Korea, created #MeToo movements of their own. The #MeToo movement in South Korea, like those in other countries, encouraged women to express their experiences of sexual harassment to inspire social change. Shortly after its inception in late 2017, several hundred women stepped forward with claims of sexual harassment and violence.[27] This movement also encouraged previous comfort women of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and the Japanese occupation of Korea to speak more freely in large numbers about their sexual abuse.[27]

The #MeToo movement also inspired various online hashtag campaigns, most popularly the #WithYou[27] tag, to signal solidarity with survivors of sexual assault who had spoken up in the #MeToo movement. These various hashtags inspired the formation of women's activist groups, such as Citizens Action to Support the #MeToo Movement, which campaigned to end gendered oppression and support victims of sexual abuse in South Korea.[28]

Continuation in South Korea

In South Korea, the movement has lost momentum since its early days.[29]

Although the exact membership remains uncertain, some unverified estimates suggest a range of 500 to 4,000 claimed participants.[30]

Expansion to the United States

After the 2024 United States presidential election in which Donald Trump won a second term, some American women expressed interest in the 4B movement as a form of protest against Trump's election, his alleged sexual assaults, and his role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade.[24] Other American women expressed interest in 4B as a method to support other women and to protect their health and safety should they lose access to birth control or abortion.[31] Shortly after the election was called, TikTok videos mentioning 4B were viewed hundreds of thousands of times, and Google searches about it spiked by 450%. American women have called the movement the "4 Nos" and "Lysistrata".[22][32]

Reception

The 4B movement is considered to be fringe in South Korea,[33][29] with Ju Hui Judy Han of UCLA arguing that "the vast majority of South Korean feminists do not abide by it," and that "4B is not representative of Korean feminist politics."[29] One woman interviewed expressed frustration with the Western adoption of the movement, claiming that the conditions for the movement in South Korea significantly differ from those in the West.[33] Internationally, various hashtags and social media posts have been used to express support for the movement.[34]

Transphobia and homophobia in the South Korean movement

See also: Womad (website) and Gender-critical feminism § South Korea

Radical feminism as a whole in South Korea has had a notable transphobic and homophobic (against male homosexuals) presence, with internal dispute about the acceptability of such beliefs.[8][35][36][37][38] The 4B movement was significantly popular on (and widely publicly associated with) the South Korean website WOMAD, which is considered to be misandric, homophobic, and transphobic. The website was founded because Megalia had begun prohibiting homophobic and transphobic slurs.[15][39][37] WOMAD members reportedly advocated for revenge against men, advocated for disliked people to commit suicide, and some threatened violence and committed crimes against men. Mothers were labeled both victims and conformers to patriarchal society that discriminate against their daughters. Many WOMAD members compared married women to slaves.[40] One trans person interviewed in South Korea argued that, while most South Korean women were not transphobic, the strongest advocates for 4B in South Korea were on and radicalized by WOMAD.[33]

Some members of the 4B movement have reportedly advocated for the use of ID scanners to verify sex before entering public restrooms, and for more sex segregation at protests.[29] Various communities involved in the 4B movement reportedly asked that members take photos so that others could verify their biological sex; one such group asked for videos of people's Adam's apples.[41]

Some South Korean queer and trans feminists reportedly expressed concern that the 2024 international interest in the 4B movement could lead to an increase in anti-trans rhetoric and a resurgence of the 4B movement in South Korea.[29][33]

See also

References

  1. ^
    • Yoon, Katie (9 June 2022). "Beneath the Surface: The Struggles of Dismantling Lookism in Looks-Obsessed South Korea". Embodied: The Stanford Undergraduate Journal of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. 1 (1). Palo Alto: Stanford.
    • 박, 지은 (7 April 2020). ""4B 운동 막고 여가부 폐지"… 성인지 감수성 바닥 드러낸 후보들". Women News [ko].
    • Kuk, Jihye; Park, Hyejung; Norma, Caroline (8 November 2018). "Radical feminism paves the way for a resurgent South Korean women's movement". Feminist Current. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
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  2. ^ Shamim, Sarah (9 November 2024). "What is the 4B feminist movement from S Korea that's taking off in the US?". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 9 November 2024. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  3. ^ Wilson, Brock (8 November 2024). "What is the 4B movement?". CBC.ca. Archived from the original on 9 November 2024. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
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  7. ^ Lee, Kathy; Yang, Sunyoung (7 August 2024). "Radical cyberfeminists as language planners: South Korea's Womad". Current Issues in Language Planning. 25 (4): 376–393. doi:10.1080/14664208.2024.2328390. ISSN 1466-4208.
  8. ^ a b 박, 다해 (7 October 2022). 워마드의 관심사는 '자기계발' [혐오의 민낯]. 한겨레21 (in Korean). Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  9. ^ a b Yi, Beh Lih (20 January 2020). "No sex, no babies: South Korea's emerging feminists reject marriage". Reuters. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  10. ^ a b "미혼 청년 10명 중 7명 "결혼·출산 의향 있다"". KBS News. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
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  13. ^ a b Sussman, Anna Louie (8 March 2023). "A World Without Men The women of South Korea's 4B movement aren't fighting the patriarchy — they're leaving it behind entirely". The Cut. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  14. ^ Song, Jung-a (7 March 2024). "Career or family? The dilemma facing women in South Korea". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 4 April 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
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  16. ^ Kim, Sam (14 December 2023). "South Korea's World-Lowest Fertility Rate Set to Fall Further". Time. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
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  20. ^ "South Korea birth rate falls to all-time low". France 24. AFP. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  21. ^ Cho, Kyung Ae (31 March 2021). "Korea's low birth rate issue and policy directions". Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing. 27 (1): 6–9. doi:10.4069/kjwhn.2021.02.16. ISSN 2287-1640. PMC 9334168. PMID 36311990.
  22. ^ a b Breen, Kerry (7 November 2024). "What is the 4B movement? Why some are calling for a South Korean-inspired trend after Trump's victory". CBS News. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  23. ^ Gibson, Jenna (6 December 2018). "Rapper Symbolizes Backlash Against South Korea's Feminists". The Diplomat. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  24. ^ a b Choudhury, Bedatri (8 November 2024). "What is the South Korean 4B movement and why are American women claiming to embrace it?". Inquirer. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  25. ^ a b Shin, Yeongyo; Lee, Selee (15 September 2022). ""Escape the Corset": How a Movement in South Korea Became a Fashion Statement through Social Media". Sustainability. 14 (18): 11609. doi:10.3390/su141811609. ISSN 2071-1050.
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  27. ^ a b c Hasunuma, Linda; Shin, Ki-young (2 January 2019). "#MeToo in Japan and South Korea: #WeToo, #WithYou". Journal of Women, Politics & Policy. 40 (1): 97–111. doi:10.1080/1554477X.2019.1563416. ISSN 1554-477X. S2CID 182728016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  28. ^ Kim, Joeun (2023). "The Gender War and the Rise of Anti-family Sentiments in South Korea". In Schoen, Robert (ed.). The Demography of Transforming Families. The Springer Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis. Vol. 56. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 183–201. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-29666-6_9. ISBN 978-3-031-29665-9. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  29. ^ a b c d e López, Quispe (19 November 2024). "Is the 4B Movement Trans Exclusionary? We Asked An Expert". Them. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  30. ^ "South Korean radical feminism: No dating, sex, marriage or children". 21 December 2019. Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  31. ^ Richards, Kimberley (8 November 2024). "The '4B Movement' Is Surging On TikTok After Donald Trump's Win. What Is It?". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 10 November 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  32. ^ Demopoulos, Alaina (7 November 2024). "'No man will touch me until I have my rights back': why is the 4B movement going viral after Trump's win?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 8 November 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  33. ^ a b c d Yagoda, Maria (4 December 2024). "4B Is Not the Winning Strategy to Resist the Patriarchy People Think It Is". Archived from the original on 3 December 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  34. ^ NPR Staff (8 November 2024). "Boycott men? South Korea's 4B movement gains traction in the U.S. after Trump's win". NPR. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  35. ^ 김, 서현 (27 February 2020). 여성의 '생물학적 근본주의' 외치는 터프. Women News [ko] (in Korean). Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  36. ^ 일부 영페미, 평등 외치며 성소수자 배척… 유리한 것만 취하는 '뷔페미니즘' 논란. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 24 May 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  37. ^ a b 조, 성은 (17 February 2020). "페미니즘 이름 걸고 '소수자 혐오'를 하다니". Pressian (in Korean). Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  38. ^ Kim, Jieun (2 July 2024). "A critical analysis of TERF politics in South Korea: The contradictory constructions of "Western feminism" and its legitimizing effects". Asian Journal of Women's Studies. 30 (3): 196–226. doi:10.1080/12259276.2024.2379053. ISSN 1225-9276.
  39. ^ Gibson, Jenna (6 September 2018). "Rapper Symbolizes Backlash Against South Korea's Feminists". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  40. ^ "폭력엔 폭력, 억압엔 억압… 피해자 될 바엔 가해자가 되겠다". The Dong-A Ilbo (in Korean). 22 December 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  41. ^ Sussman, Anna Louie (7 November 2024). "A World Without Men". The Cut. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
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