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Stay ahead with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more

Stay ahead with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more

South Korea’s 4B movement has seen a spike in interest following the results of the 2024 US presidential election.

On Wednesday morning (November 6), Republican candidate Donald Trump claimed victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Throughout his 2024 re-election campaign, the former president has celebrated the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn the Constitution. Roe v. Wadea ruling that ended the national right to abortion. It was also reproductive rights that drove many women to the polls on Election Day, when Missouri became the first state to overturn a restrictive abortion ban.

However, after Trump declared victory over Democratic nominee Harris, some Americans couldn’t help but say they felt reaffirmed in their belief that most of the United States would rather have someone else as president than a woman. Perhaps that is why interest in South Korea’s 4B movement – ​​a movement against patriarchy – has surged in the US just hours after Trump’s victory.

“American women, it seems like it’s time to be influenced by the Korean 4B movement,” one woman wrote on X/Twitter.

“American women, it’s time to learn from the Koreans and adopt the 4B movement,” echoed another user, while a third person said, “The women of South Korea are doing it. It’s time we join them. Men will NOT be rewarded or have access to our bodies.”

The 4B movement, which reportedly emerged in 2019, stands for four Korean words that start with “bi” or “no” in English: bihon means no heterosexual marriage; bichulsan, no childbirth; biyeonae, no dating; and bisexual, no heterosexual sexual relationships. Supporters of the women-led movement refuse to date, marry, have sex or have children with men – essentially boycotting a system they say perpetuates gender inequality.

Members of the 4B movement see marriage as an existential threat to women, and their concerns are well-founded. Similar to the US, South Korean women also face a gender pay gap. While American women typically earn 82 cents for every dollar men earn, South Korean women earn 31 percent less than men – the largest gender pay gap in democratic countries. A 2018 report found that at least 824 women have been murdered in the past nine years and a further 602 women were at risk of death from intimate partner violence (IPV). A 2021 study further found that one in three Korean women have experienced domestic violence, with intimate partners responsible for 46 percent of these cases.

In response, women within the 4B movement have chosen to break away from traditional relationships altogether, claiming that practicing ‘bihon’ is the only path to autonomy. “Practicing bihon means eliminating the risks that come from heterosexual marriage or dating,” Yeowon from Busan explained. The cut.

It is unclear how widespread the 4B movement is given its largely anonymous and offline nature, and its origins are equally vague. However, scientists blame the rise on the growing education gap between men and women in South Korea. Similar to the gender education gap in the US, where women make up 59.5 percent of all students, as of 2013 Korean women surpassed men in college enrollment. Today, almost three-quarters of Korean women are pursuing higher education, compared to less than two-thirds of men.

This shift fueled growing tension between men and women, with disaffected groups of men coining the term “kimchinyeo” or “kimchee women” to stereotype college-educated women as “selfish, vain and exploitative of their partners,” according to feminist Euisol. Jeong explained this in her research on “troll feminism.”

These cultural attitudes mirror trends in the US, where men struggle with changing gender roles. Feeling the pressure of fewer blue-collar jobs and declining educational benefits, many men are drawn to vote for conservative candidates like Trump, who promise a return to traditional values ​​that, for some, prioritize men’s interests at the expense of autonomy of women.

“Masculinity is in flux,” anthropologist Treena Orchard recently said The independent in an interview about the gender politics divide. “Men feel limited, and it’s like they feel like they have fewer options when it comes to how to be masculine, how to think about their place in the world, and they feel devalued.”

For many women in South Korea, the 4B movement is not just symbolic; it is a social attitude aimed at regaining control over their lives, bodies and futures in response to a system they believe is becoming increasingly hostile.

In the aftermath of the election – which has put women’s rights such as reproductive autonomy at risk – bringing the 4B movement to the US could be a radical response. However, the surge in American interest in the 4B movement underlines a shared frustration over what many see as a rollback of women’s rights and freedoms, especially as conservative values ​​gain traction among male voters.

As the movement gains momentum online, one question arises: Will American women rally around it, or perhaps create their own version, as a form of protest against Trump’s second presidential term in the White House?