Interest spikes in South Korea’s radical 4B movement that bans dating, sex and childbirth after Donald Trump’s election win

Interest in South Korea’s radical 4B movement that bans dating, sex, and childbirth, has spiked following Donald Trump’s historic election win.

Thousands of people on X/Twitter have been posting about participating in the 4B movement – a feminist protest movement that was born in the hermit state in 2019.

It is called the 4B movement because ‘B’ is a form of shorthand for the word ‘no’ in Korean. ‘Bi-hone’, for example, is shorthand for ‘no marriage’ or ‘willingly unmarried.’ 

The movement – in which proponents refuse to date men, get married, have sex with men, or have children – has gained traction in response to the male majority that voted for Trump.

Exit poll data shows that 55 per cent of men voted for Trump in the Tuesday election, while 53 percent of women voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Thousands of people have taken to X/Twitter to post about participating in the 4B movement – a feminist protest movement that was born in South Korea in 2019, following Donald Trump’s historic election win 

Donald Trump became the first president in over 130 years to win a non-consecutive second term. (Pictured: Donald, wife Melania and their son Barron on stage in West Palm Beach as Trump delivered his victory speech on Tuesday night)

Supporters became emotional as Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the election

A supporter of  Harris reacts as she delivers remarks, conceding 2024 US presidential election to President-elect Donald Trump

The president elect has celebrated the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade throughout his 2024 reelection campaign – a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion.

What are the 4B’s? 

These are the four words, which are essentially pledges of the movement:

• Bihon: the refusal of heterosexual marriage

• Bichulsan: the refusal of childbirth

• Biyeonae: abstaining from dating men

• Bisekseu: the rejection of heterosexual sexual relationships as a whole

The movement’s exact origins aren’t known, though it’s believed to have started in 2019 at around the time conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol was elected.

Although it started as a small movement, it has spread across Asia and around the world, becoming a popular talking point on social media. 

This has helped supporters of the 4B movement feel confident that gender inequality is an ever-growing problem in the US.

Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have now spearheaded the promotion of the movement as her campaign was focused on women’s rights – specifically in terms of reproductive rights and healthcare. 

‘American women, looks like it’s time to get influenced by Korea’s 4B movement,’ one woman on X/Twitter.

‘American women, it’s time to learn from the Koreans and adopt the 4B movement,’ another user added.

A third echoed: ‘If you thought the Male Loneliness Epidemic was bad, wait until the 4B Movement goes hard here in America’.

Members of the 4B movement view marriage as an existential threat to women, with supporters effectively boycotting a system they believe perpetuates gender inequity.

The movement has grown into an online community where thousands of women engage anonymously in discussions about life without men, offering an opportunity to vent frustrations about living in a conservative and patriarchal society.

However, some social media users have expressed their concerns that support for the movement in the US could result in a rapid decline in birth rates, reports Elle magazine.

South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world, which continues to fall, and many attribute this to the radical 4B movement.

Marriage rates are also plummeting in South Korea where wives are often expected to work, raise children, and care for ageing in-laws with little state or community help. 

Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have now spearheaded the promotion of the movement as her campaign was focused on women’s rights

Members of the 4B movement view marriage as an existential threat to women, with supporters effectively boycotting a system they believe perpetuates gender inequity

‘If you thought the Male Loneliness Epidemic was bad, wait until the 4B Movement goes hard here in America,’ one X/Twitter user said

A growing number of women are turning their backs on the traditional expectations of South Korea’s male-dominated society, where working wives spend four times longer on domestic chores than their husbands. 

Other social media users have suggested that the inception of the movement in the States could also lead to a surge in rates of violence against women.

Gender inequality remains a prominent issue, with women on average paid 84 percent of what a man is while working full-time, year-round, according to the US Department of Labor. 

It is currently unclear how widespread the movement is – although sex strikes as a form of protest have taken place around the world in countries including Colombia, Kenya, Liberia, Italy, the Philippines, South Sudan, and Togo.

Scholars have, however, credited the rise in the 4B movement with 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 per cent of all college students.

Today, nearly three-fourths of Korean women pursue higher education, compared with less than two-thirds of men.

These strong cultural attitudes bear similarity to trends in the US, where men are coming to terms with the shifting gender roles.

And while feeling the pressure of the diminishing educational advantages, many men across America are drawn to vote for conservative candidates such as Donald Trump who are determined to return to traditional values, which some believe prioritize men’s interests over female anatomy. 

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk