- Google searches for “4B movement” rose Wednesday, with President-elect Donald Trump winning the 2024 election.
- The feminist movement in South Korea is about abstinence from sex and marriage to men.
- In South Korea, the 4B program is a response to gender-based issues such as intimate partner violence and wage gaps.
After former President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, searches for 4B feminism spiked on social media platforms.
The 4B organization originated in South Korea around 2019, to encourage women to refuse to date, have sex with, or partner with men.
Google Looking for movement 4B It rose steadily on Wednesday in the United States. Meanwhile, some American women have taken to social media platforms to post about the topic – with one TikTok app Reach millions of views As of Wednesday evening.
On social media, users point to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the sexual assault allegations against Trump as motivations for wanting abstinence from sex and relationships with straight men.
“Ladies, we need to start looking at the 4B movement like the women in South Korea and give America a sharp, severe birth rate decline.” X user He said this in a message that had been viewed more than 8 million times as of Wednesday evening. “We need a response,” the user added.
“Women in South Korea do it,” another User X wrote In a message that has been viewed more than a million times. “It’s time to join them. The men will not be rewarded, and they will not have access to our bodies.”
Responding to declining birth rates
4B was influenced in part by the #MeToo movement, in which many women, especially in Hollywood, spoke out against sexual misconduct. The #MeToo movement, created by activist Tarana Burke, originated in the United States in 2017 and spread to South Korea. A year later.
“Bi” is short for “no” in Korean, and the 4B movement stands for four “no’s” when it comes to heterosexual women’s interactions with straight men:
- Behun – No to heterosexual marriage
- Bikulsan – No to childbirth
- Biyeonae – No to dating men
- Bisekseu – No to heterosexual sex
It is also inspired by South Korea 2018 “Escape from the Corset” A wave in which 300,000 women launched a campaign to challenge beauty standards. This led to a decline in sales of Korean cosmetics.
4B was first formulated when the South Korean government published a map outlining the number of fertile women living in each area, Pieces I mentioned. This was part of a campaign to combat low fertility rates.
South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. The South Korean government has tried to increase incentives for young people to start families, from paying money to new parents to offering money for a vasectomy reversal.
Women responded to the map by organizing protests and They hold signs Who said, “My womb is not a national public good.”
Since the beginning of Project 4B, some South Korean women have envisioned a future without men entirely. Taekyung, a woman interviewed in The Cut, said she practices “political lesbianism”: she doesn’t date women but chooses to be in women-only spaces as much as possible, such as attending an all-women’s university.
Due to its online nature, it is impossible to determine the reach or impact of the 4B campaign. South Korean President Yeon Suk-yeol is still recently Blame feminism Because of the country’s low birth rate, although experts say there is And other more influential reasonssuch as the high cost of living, a demanding work culture, and a lack of childcare support from men.
Online Celibacy Trends in the United States
The recent buzz around the 4B movement echoes #celibacyjourney, a TikTok trend in the US that has been trending for more than a year, amassing millions of views. The creators – mostly young women – post about abstaining from sex with men, and some say they feel devalued by men.
This has become popular in the United States following elections that focused on gender roles Masculinity particularly. The Trump campaign focused on attracting young male voters. His super PAC ads targeted youth, he appeared on Joe Rogan’s radio show, and the song “Macho Man” was played at his rallies.
Some people posting about the 4B movement in the US this week describe themselves as Harris voters, angry over issues such as the loss of reproductive rights and the sexual assault allegations against Trump.
one TikTok, which has more than 8.8 million views By Thursday morning, the national anthem was playing in the background, with the phrase: “I’m doing my part as an American woman by breaking up with my Republican boyfriend last night and officially joining the 4b movement this morning.”