An article about South Korean women boycotting men. The movement is called 4B. It is gaining traction in America.
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This South Korean feminist philosophy calls on women to resist misogyny. “The ‘good men’ failed us by letting the bad men proliferate. They all have to be punished.”
www.thestar.com
In the days after U.S. election, the South Korean feminist 4B movement has gone viral online, fuelled by American women dismayed at the re-election of Donald Trump, a man who has been found guilty in a civil court of sexual abuse.
The 4B philosophy urges women to boycott dating, sex, marriage and childbirth with men as an act of resistance against misogyny. Born out of South Korea’s version of #MeToo several years ago, 4B has found renewed traction and a new audience on social media as women express their concern that Trump’s Republican administration will further restrict women’s reproductive rights, which have been severely impacted since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
This movement is named after four B-words in Korean: Bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, and bisekseu. They translate to the four things that women are boycotting: Heterosexual dating, sex, marriage and childbirth. It’s sometimes known as “the Four Nos,” after the fact that those four Korean words all start with “bi,” or in English, “no.”
4B is seen as a more extreme version of several feminist movements that have arisen over the past few years in South Korea, like the “escape the corset” movement that sees women take a stand against oppressive beauty standards, often by cutting their hair short and wearing baggy clothing.
It’s also a descendent of the “no marriage movement,” which emerged around 2014 and saw South Korean women rejecting the traditional expectation that they would marry and leave the workforce to have children. At that time, Korean women outnumbered men in higher education.
In 2016, as the country’s birth rate was falling to one of the lowest in the world, the government launched an online map that showed the number of women of reproductive age within local areas; it was taken down after outcry from women’s groups.
Fast forward to 2022, and South Korea elected president Yoon Suk Yeol, who essentially blamed feminism for the fact that the country now has the world’s lowest birth rate. “Some say feminism is too politically exploited [to the point] it prevents healthy relationships between men and women,” Yoon said in the run-up to the election. “From a social standpoint, the conditions are ill-suited for having and raising children.” 4B came to be seen as a channel of protest against a state that seemed to see women primarily as potential breeders.
The American women posting about 4B on social media are saying they see echoes of South Korea’s experience with what they believe is happening in their country.
“Girls, it’s time to boycott all men. You lost your rights, and they lost the right to hit raw!” says one TikTok poster in a video that was has racked up over 3 million views in two days. “4B movement starts now!”
Another user called for four years of celibacy. “[Men] no longer get access to us until they can prove they’re capable of caring about our basic rights, health, and safety,” they wrote. “The ‘good men’ failed us by letting the bad men proliferate. They all have to be punished in a way they can understand.”
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Thoughts?
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This South Korean feminist philosophy calls on women to resist misogyny. “The ‘good men’ failed us by letting the bad men proliferate. They all have to be punished.”
Why the 4B movement of women boycotting sex, marriage and childbirth has gone viral since Donald Trump’s re-election
This South Korean feminist philosophy calls on women to resist misogyny. “The ‘good men’ failed us by letting the bad men proliferate. They all have to be punished."
In the days after U.S. election, the South Korean feminist 4B movement has gone viral online, fuelled by American women dismayed at the re-election of Donald Trump, a man who has been found guilty in a civil court of sexual abuse.
The 4B philosophy urges women to boycott dating, sex, marriage and childbirth with men as an act of resistance against misogyny. Born out of South Korea’s version of #MeToo several years ago, 4B has found renewed traction and a new audience on social media as women express their concern that Trump’s Republican administration will further restrict women’s reproductive rights, which have been severely impacted since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
This movement is named after four B-words in Korean: Bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, and bisekseu. They translate to the four things that women are boycotting: Heterosexual dating, sex, marriage and childbirth. It’s sometimes known as “the Four Nos,” after the fact that those four Korean words all start with “bi,” or in English, “no.”
4B is seen as a more extreme version of several feminist movements that have arisen over the past few years in South Korea, like the “escape the corset” movement that sees women take a stand against oppressive beauty standards, often by cutting their hair short and wearing baggy clothing.
It’s also a descendent of the “no marriage movement,” which emerged around 2014 and saw South Korean women rejecting the traditional expectation that they would marry and leave the workforce to have children. At that time, Korean women outnumbered men in higher education.
In 2016, as the country’s birth rate was falling to one of the lowest in the world, the government launched an online map that showed the number of women of reproductive age within local areas; it was taken down after outcry from women’s groups.
Fast forward to 2022, and South Korea elected president Yoon Suk Yeol, who essentially blamed feminism for the fact that the country now has the world’s lowest birth rate. “Some say feminism is too politically exploited [to the point] it prevents healthy relationships between men and women,” Yoon said in the run-up to the election. “From a social standpoint, the conditions are ill-suited for having and raising children.” 4B came to be seen as a channel of protest against a state that seemed to see women primarily as potential breeders.
The American women posting about 4B on social media are saying they see echoes of South Korea’s experience with what they believe is happening in their country.
“Girls, it’s time to boycott all men. You lost your rights, and they lost the right to hit raw!” says one TikTok poster in a video that was has racked up over 3 million views in two days. “4B movement starts now!”
Another user called for four years of celibacy. “[Men] no longer get access to us until they can prove they’re capable of caring about our basic rights, health, and safety,” they wrote. “The ‘good men’ failed us by letting the bad men proliferate. They all have to be punished in a way they can understand.”
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Thoughts?
