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The phenomenon is gaining traction in the US after emerging in South Korea.
The 4B movement is a bold refusal. In South Korea, a country where dating violence, revenge porn, and a stubborn gender wage gap are everyday realities, women are stepping away from marriage (bihon), childbirth (bichulsan), romance (biyeonae), and sexual relationships (bisekseu) as an act of defiance against deeply ingrained societal norms.
The movement calls out the patriarchy with a clarity and urgency that can’t be ignored. And following the US presidential election earlier this month, 4B has been gaining traction across the Atlantic. Its existence and growing resonance internationally – signals that something is fundamentally broken not just for women in Korea, but around the globe.
Though South Korean officials and many observers have wrung their hands over the nation’s plummeting birth rate, it’s critical to examine the why. For many women, the stakes of conventional life paths are too high.
Motherhood in South Korea has long been synonymous with isolation, heavy expectations, and financial burden. The government’s financial incentives for families have largely failed because they do not address the structural issues: persistent gender inequality and restrictive roles for women.
The surge of the 4B movement in the United States earlier this year highlights the global nature of these grievances. When New York magazine published Anna Louie Sussman’s feature on 4B practitioners, it amplified voices already carving out space on TikTok and social media.
These women were cutting their hair, rejecting beauty standards, and fiercely pushing back against systems that threaten to consume their autonomy.
Sussman’s piece reflected on the threats 4B protesters endure, an all-too-common symptom of societies terrified by female resistance. Fear is a potent weapon wielded against change, but it also reveals the underlying fragility of the status quo.
In the United States, the stakes for women have shifted again following the recent presidential election. Although it is too early to assess every implication, a rollback of hard-won rights – especially concerning reproductive freedoms and LGBTQ+ protections – remains a genuine threat.
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump has celebrated the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade, a ruling that ended the nationwide right to abortion. Following his win over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, many Americans said they felt reaffirmed in their belief that most of the United States would rather anyone else as a president than a woman.
In this climate, the parallels between South Korea’s 4B movement and growing American discontent are difficult to ignore. While a direct translation of 4B may not fully materialize in the United States, the core motivations resonate.
American women – particularly those disillusioned by political failures and systemic inequalities – are channeling their frustration into choices that mirror 4B’s ethos. Some are withdrawing from traditional expectations of romance, childbearing, and the roles society forces upon them. For many, this isn’t a lifestyle choice, but a form of survival and protest.
