Wikipedia

4B movement

4B (or "Four Nos") is a gender critical, radical feminist[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] movement.

The movement originated in South Korea during the late 2010s.[8][9] Its proponents refuse to date, get married, have sex, or have children with cisgender men or transgender women.[1][10] The movement upholds gender essentialism and is opposed to transgender rights movements, seeing it as a form of patriarchy linked to the oppression of women.[1][11][12]

Interest in the 4B movement increased internationally after the re-election of Donald Trump in the 2024 United States presidential election.[1][13]

Beliefs

"Four nos"

The "Four Nos" 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).[8][14]

Opposition to transgender rights movements

The 4B movement holds gender-critical views on sex and gender. The 4B movement holds to gender essentialism and excludes transgender women.[1][10] Advocates are opposed to what it calls "gender ideology" (젠더론x) and promote excluding transgender women from feminist spaces and other form of relationships with them (트젠 안사요).

Proponents

Jung Se-young and Baeck Ha-na, two proponents, criticize marriage as reinforcing gender roles in South Korea.[14] The movement draws some amount of inspiration from the novel Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, as do South Korea's MeToo and "Escape the Corset" movements.[9] The 4B movement claimed to have 4,000 members in 2019.[7]

History

The term 4B emerged from Korean feminist circles on Twitter around 2017 to 2018.[11] These groups articulated their principles on the Korean feminist Wiki site Femi Wiki, where they originally defined 4B as "The motto of radical feminism, which means 'non-marriage, non-procreation, non-relationship, non-sex.'"[citation needed]

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]

This digital movement functions as an online community where women engage in open discussion about navigating and envisioning a future without men. It serves as a platform for women to vent their frustrations and concerns about living in a conservative society while fostering a sense of solidarity. Additionally, the platform aims to motivate and inspire women to protest against dating, engaging in sexual relationships, getting married, and having children. Through a robust online presence, the movement seeks to raise awareness and recruit more advocates to amplify its impact.[16]

Although the exact membership remains uncertain, some unverified estimates suggest a range of 500 to 4,000 claimed participants.[17]

The 4B movement in South Korea emerged from a series of previous online social movements that gained traction on social media.[18]

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 from psychological oppression.[19] 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 exporter of cosmetics.[20] 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.[19]

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.[21] This movement also led to women who were forced into sex work as a result of World War II and the Japanese occupation of Korea to speak out for the first time and in large numbers.[21] The Korean #MeToo movement also focused on femicide, non-consensual pornography, and misogynistic practices in the workplace.

The #MeToo movement also inspired various online hashtag campaigns, most popularly the #WithYou[21] 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, who campaigned to end gendered oppression and support victims of sexual abuse in South Korea.[22]

United States interest

After the 2024 United States presidential election in which Donald Trump won a second term, some American women expressed interest on social media in following the 4B movement. 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".[11][13]

Purpose

The 4B movement is meant to serve as a direct opposition to South Korea's patriarchal state and combat its pro-natalist policies, which view women's bodies and reproductive abilities as tools for the state's future. Feminists who engage in the 4B movement are known to actively resist the various ways in which gendered expectations are enforced in a conservative society, specifically relating to child-rearing, relationships, and employment.[23] This resistance involves not only withdrawing from dating but also rejecting prevalent gendered beauty standards and their associated consumerist practices in South Korea.[15] In a conservative and traditional society, alternative forms of protest in the 4B movement include defying rigid beauty norms and traditional gendered expectations by shaving heads and choosing not to wear bras.[18]

Members of the movement challenge the conventional life trajectory of marriage and family, while also condemning gender discrimination prevalent in the Korean job market, where women earn 31% less than their male counterparts, regardless of their marital or parental status.[24] The movement serves as a response to the nation's profound demographic crisis. 4B feminists reject this instrumentalization of women's reproductive capacities and choose to distance themselves from a society they perceive as irredeemable.

While 4B advocates aspire to instigate societal change through in-person demonstrations, online activism, and by exemplifying an alternative lifestyle for other women, their focus is not on changing the perspective of men, as they are seen as oppressors.[25]

Four activities

See also: Radical feminism in South Korea and Gender inequality in South Korea

Bihon (marriage)

Since 2005, a feminist activist group, UnniNetwork, has promoted bihon as a political agenda to challenge the centrality of the heteronormative family model of marriage in Korea. They sought to replace "mihon", 'not married', with a more neutral term, "bihon", 'single'.[26] However, their feminist bihon discourse did not gain major traction. On the other hand, the 4B movement employs "bihon" as a tool to actively protest against the prevailing culture of marriage.

Although the practice of gyeolhon, or "marriage" in English, was commonplace in Korea prior to the 1990s, the rate at which heterosexual couples are wedded in the country has drastically decreased.

Bichulsan (childbirth)

South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world.[27] With the fertility rate at just 0.7 (as of 2023) each South Korean woman on average will have fewer than one child in her lifetime.[28] This is significantly below the 2.1 threshold required to maintain a country's population.[29]

The demographic crisis is so pronounced that the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle anticipates the nation's population, which is around 51 million, might decrease to about half the size by the end of the century.[30] This crisis is due to economic insecurity experienced by young adults, high child-rearing costs and property prices, and is exacerbated by the country's deeply ingrained patriarchal culture. These factors contribute to women's reluctance to embrace traditional roles of marriage and motherhood.[29][30][31]

Having the world's lowest fertility rate, the South Korean government has adopted pro-natalist policies aimed at incentivizing an increase in childbirths, such as stipends for new parents, increased maternal and paternal leave, and child care subsidies.[32]

A 2022 survey reveals that 65% of women, compared to 48% of men, do not want children.[22] The country has experienced the lowest fertility rate globally for three consecutive years.[citation needed] This has led the country to demographic challenges, such as the "dead cross" where deaths surpass births. Half of South Korea's cities, counties, and districts face the risk of losing a substantial number of residents.[citation needed]

Biyeonae (romance) and bisekseu (sexual relationships)

Women of the 4B movement additionally refuse romance and sexual relationships, because they see it as an extension of the patriarchal family structure.[15] By embracing singlehood, they reorient themselves towards imagining futures for themselves outside of marriage and deny their bodies as reproductive centers for the pronatalist state.[15]

Social media controversy

In the spring of 2024 in the Northern Hemisphere, South Korea's 4B movement was a popular topic on Western social media, and some English-speaking users on TikTok claimed that South Korea's low birth rate was due to the 4B movement.[33] Others claimed that the 4B movement's scale and impact are massively exaggerated.[34]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wilson, Brock (8 November 2024). "What is the 4B movement?". CBC. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 박, 지은 (7 April 2020). ""4B 운동 막고 여가부 폐지"… 성인지 감수성 바닥 드러낸 후보들". 여성신문.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "The New Perspective On Korean Women Just Produced". Universidad Privada Bolmana. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  6. ^ "Kai Ford, '23, East Asian Studies, KI Undergraduate Research Assistantships, Summer 2023". korea.fas.harvard.edu. 30 August 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b "South Korean radical feminism: No dating, sex, marriage or children". AsiaNews. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  8. ^ a b "The feminist movement urging South Korean women to shun marriage". South China Morning Post. AFP. 7 December 2019. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  9. ^ a b Smith, Nicola (29 February 2020). "War of the sexes in South Korea as novel becomes feminist handbook". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b c 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.
  12. ^ Cherrie, Serah (8 November 2024). "Netizens React To US Network's Coverage Of The "4B" Movement". Koreaboo. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  13. ^ a b 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. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ a b c d Lee, Jieun; Jeong, Euisol (4 July 2021). "The 4B movement: envisioning a feminist future with/in a non-reproductive future in Korea". Journal of Gender Studies. 30 (5): 633–644. doi:10.1080/09589236.2021.1929097. ISSN 0958-9236. S2CID 236179425. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  16. ^ Izaakson, Jen; Kim, Tae Kyung (15 June 2020). "The South Korean women's movement: 'We are not flowers, we are a fire'". Feminist Current. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  17. ^ "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.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "South Korea Organic Beauty Market". The International Trade Administration. 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ a b 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.
  23. ^ Zimmermann, Brianna (8 August 2023). "South Korea's 4B Movement Lowers the Birth Rate in a Fight for Gender Equality". THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS REVIEW. Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  24. ^ Gender wage gap (indicator) (Report). OECD. 2023. doi:10.1787/7cee77aa-en.
  25. ^ Hawon, Jung (27 January 2023). "Women in South Korea Are on Strike Against Being 'Baby-Making Machines'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  26. ^ "Unninetwork". UnniNetwork. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023. Koreans use the term Mihon, literally translated as 'not yet married,' to refer to those who are not married. Recognizing that the term stigmatizes those who are not married, especially women, as abnormal and immature, Unninetwork chooses to use the term Bihon, 'not married.'
  27. ^ Kim, Sam (14 December 2023). "South Korea's World-Lowest Fertility Rate Set to Fall Further". Time. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  28. ^ Seok-min, Oh (29 November 2023). "(LEAD) Fertility rate in S. Korea hits record low in Q3". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  29. ^ a b Corxet Solé, Laia (30 May 2023). "South Korea's 4B Movement: How Patriarchy Undermines Demographic Security". Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  30. ^ a b "South Korea birth rate falls to all-time low". France 24. AFP. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ Ahn, Ashley (19 March 2023). "South Korea has the world's lowest fertility rate, a struggle with lessons for us all". NPR. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  33. ^ Mitchell, Rebecca (19 March 2024). "What Is The 4B Movement? South Korea's Marriage Boycott". ELLE. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  34. ^ Ергунова, Кристина (2 April 2024). "В Южной Корее женщины массово отказываются от брака и отношений с мужчинами" [In South Korea, women are abandoning marriage and relationships with men en masse]. ЖИЗНЬ (in Russian). Retrieved 3 April 2024.
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