Woman Empowerment | Graphic by Rose Taylor | The Wright State Guardian
The Korean feminist protest, known as the 4B movement, is sweeping the U.S., following the results of the 2024 election. Many American women claim to fear for their safety, and are adopting this movement in protest of President-elect Donald Trump’s win for presidency.
The history of the 4B movement
The 4B movement, or the “Four no’s” movement got its start in South Korea, where long standing issues surrounding feminism and gender equality have sparked significant social debate and tension in recent years.
The incident that really incited this movement occurred in 2016, when a man killed a young woman at a train station in the Gangnam neighborhood of Seoul. He claimed that he did so because he felt ignored by women. Translated news reports in 2016, speak about the inequality that a lot of South Korean women face due to societal standards.
The name 4B comes from the mission of the movement, ‘B’ is a homophone for “ bi,” or the Korean word for no. The Four no’s are “bi hon, bi chulsan, bi yeonae bi sekseu” which roughly translates to “no marriage, no childbirth, no dating and no sex.”
The idea of the movement is very simple. Women participating do not date or marry, they do not do anything sexual and they will not have kids. The idea of it is to completely ignore men in order to change the way women are treated.
This movement can be traced back to the 2010’s in Korea, but with the rise of social media, it is becoming more popular with women in America and other developed countries.
4B in America
The 4B movement took off in America through apps like TikTok and Twitter. One of the very first mentions of this was in 2022 following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. But, like many things the internet takes up, it fell to the wayside.
Following the reelection of Donald Trump however, many more women are taking the 4B movement seriously.
“I saw the movement in 2022 take off for a second. I didn’t really know what it was, and I was still living with my mom at the time who was a huge Trump supporter so I kind of ignored it," Carrie Foulentine, a women’s activist from Yellow Springs said.
“After further research into it, I really do think that this is what women need to do to get men to listen to us. We deserve a seat at the table.”
Like in Korea, this has been a very polarizing movement in America, while there are many that are taking up this movement and are in support, there has been some push back from people who are against the movement.
The Polarized Nature of 4B.
“Your body, my choice:” Four words spoken by popular Conservative talk show host Nick Fuentes.
He posted that phrase on Twitter to mock the outpour of women who were upset following the election. Several women have recounted this being put in their comment section by men when they talk about women’s issues or other issues.
“I posted a graphic on my [Instagram] with resources for women following the election, and there were several men who couldn’t wait to comment “your body, my choice” and threaten me with rape,” Kat DelMarco, a resident in Columbus, said.
DelMarco says that since these onslaught of comments, she has gotten more harassment following that original post.
“I am a cosplayer, I dress up as anime characters online. I don’t even post about politics all that much. But in my comments ever since I posted those resources, there have been a handful of men that copy and paste the same nonsense over and over,” DelMarco said.
“What scares me is receiving a DM saying that one of them was local and going to the same con I was. He was threatening me. I turned it in to the cops, and they are working on it, but I don’t feel safe anymore and that's sad.”
DelMarco is not the only woman who has gotten these types of comments following the election. A quick look at any female creator on Tik Tok’s comments can prove that much. Many see this as evidence as to why the 4B movement is needed in America.
“Men can get away with harassing women, Scott-free. No consequences. I feel like if we adopt the 4B movement, they will be forced to give consequences to these men. “ Foulentine said. “It’s not all of them, there are some amazing guys out there, but unfortunately they are gonna have to pay the price if there is to be change.”
There are some people, however, that feel as though the 4B movement is unnecessary and feels like it is punishing the wrong people.
“I don’t support the 4B movement, I think it's wrong. I think that yet again, women want to punish men for things that only very few do,” an anonymous source said. “Why should the good men be punished for the things that [bad] men do? I can keep my [hands] to myself and not rape people, why should I be punished?”
Despite how anyone feels about it, the 4B movement has gained traction in the U.S. Supporters claim to be in it for the long haul and have put it into practice. Whether it stays or dies with other trends remains to be seen.
