What is the 4B Movement? Breaking Down the "Four No’s"
Friday, November 8, 2024.
The 4B women’s movement, known as 4B 운동 in Korean, stands for four “no’s” that guide its philosophy: no dating (연애), no sex (섹스), no marriage (결혼), and no childbirth (출산).
This movement is a radical and deliberate choice by South Korean women to reject traditional expectations and cultural norms around gender, family, and romantic relationships.
Here's a breakdown of each “B” and its significance within Korean society:
No Dating (연애): In South Korea, the pressure to date and find a partner is immense. The cultural expectation to couple up can feel like a prerequisite for social and personal success. For many women, opting out of dating is a way to reclaim personal autonomy, focusing instead on self-development and career ambitions.
No Sex (섹스): Choosing celibacy as part of 4B has roots in both practical and symbolic rebellion.
In Korea’s still-patriarchal society, sexual relationships can often come with stigmas and expectations that limit women's agency. By rejecting sex, women are challenging these norms and asserting control over their own bodies.
No Marriage (결혼): Marriage is traditionally viewed in Korea as the cornerstone of adult life, but it often brings about restrictive gender roles and expectations for women to fulfill domestic duties.
Korean women who say “no” to marriage are rejecting an institution that they feel limits their freedoms and demands personal sacrifice without sufficient reward.
No Childbirth (출산): The decision not to have children is perhaps the most radical of the four “no’s.” In a country with declining birth rates and strong governmental pressure to have children, refusing motherhood is a way to push back against expectations to produce the next generation, especially when doing so would mean personal and financial compromises.
This “four no’s” philosophy is more than just a lifestyle choice; it’s a political and social stance against Korea’s deeply ingrained Confucian traditions, where women are often expected to marry young, have children, and prioritize family over personal or professional pursuits.
Over time, the 4B movement has attracted women who feel disillusioned with the roles Korean society has assigned to them, growing into a full-blown cultural rebellion.
The Origins and Evolution of 4B: A Deeper History
The roots of 4B can be traced back to South Korea’s feminist movements of the 1990s.
As Korean society industrialized and modernized suddenly in the 1960’s, women began to challenge Confucian expectations that relegated them to domestic roles.
Yet, despite advances, many barriers remained. South Korea's cultural emphasis on family, career, and duty—along with lingering gender biases—created tension for women who wanted more autonomy.
The early 2000s saw the rise of various feminist and anti-marriage communities in Korea, where young women began to critique marriage as an oppressive structure.
As economic pressures grew and gender disparities remained pronounced, these discussions gained traction. For many women, marriage seemed like a gamble that favored men. Divorce could lead to social ostracism, while married life often meant shouldering the bulk of household and childcare responsibilities.
By the late 2010s, these critiques solidified into the 4B movement.
Online spaces, forums, and feminist circles provided a platform for women to connect, share experiences, and organize.
Some participants described the movement as a way to reimagine womanhood outside traditional boundaries, allowing them to envision a life not defined by relationships or family.
The movement attracted a generation of Korean women who felt that neither the economy nor the government valued their independence.
4B American Style: A Reaction to Trump’s Victory and Return to Power
Enter America’s fascination with 4B, and it becomes clear that this isn’t just a cultural curiosity.
For many American women, the rise of Donald Trump in 2016 was a pivotal moment, underscoring deep frustrations with a political system that seemed dismissive of women’s rights and autonomy.
Trump’s presidency rolled back women’s rights initiatives, appointed conservative judges, and publicly endorsed traditional family values, leaving many women questioning their place and power in American society (Anderson, 2019).
Against this backdrop, 4B became appealing for American women who saw echoes of their own struggles in South Korea’s movement.
But while Korean women’s grievances are often rooted in Confucian cultural pressures and specific economic limitations, the American fascination with 4B took on a distinctly different flavor: it became a form of protest against a political landscape that seemed to be regressing on gender equality.
The American version of 4B grew gradually in online spaces, fueled by disillusionment with traditional family structures and the political system.
For some, it was less about a literal commitment to the “four no’s” than it was about a symbolic rejection of a system that seemed to prioritize male authority.
The message became, “If my country doesn’t respect me, why should I play by its rules?” As a result, the American 4B phenomenon serves as a platform for political dissatisfaction, a statement against societal structures that many women feel devalue their autonomy and voices.
American 4B: Cultural Narcissism and the “Rebel Without a Cause” Complex
The American twist on 4B is tinged with a sort of Cultural Narcissism, turning what started as a genuine social critique in Korea into something of an aesthetic.
In some ways, America’s 4B fascination resembles the ethos of “rebellion as identity”—a sort of performative self-importance.
For certain American adopters, the movement isn’t so much about genuine critique as it is about personal branding. It’s a message of disillusionment, but one that carries a hint of, “The world isn’t good enough for me and my hypothetical children, so I’m out.”
The result is a American brand of 4B that’s only somewhat semi-serious and stylishly detached.
Where Korean women feel social and economic pressure to marry and conform, American 4B enthusiasts seem to say, “I’m above it all.” It’s a vibe that says, “My annoyance with society is so profound that I’ll just opt out of the whole dating, marriage, and family thing until the world sorts itself out.”
This American adaptation of 4B also highlights a tendency to perceive and assess every personal decision as somehow culturally significant to the body politic at large. We just learned, to our endless chagrin, that this isn’t necessarily the case.
Whereas Korean women adopt 4B as a serious life choice, rooted in systemic issues, the American version sometimes has the faint whiff of a passing trend, similar to prior enthusiasms for tiny houses, minimalism, or Milli Vanilli—something that can be picked up, reshared and reshaped on social media, and then discarded once the novelty ebbs and fades.
Social Infertility and the Allure of 4B in a Trump-Redux World
Sociologist Anna Rotkirch has coined the term “social infertility” to describe the impact of societal and economic pressures that discourage people from forming families.
In America, where the cost of living and lack of support for working parents can be significant barriers, many young adults are choosing to delay or forego parenthood.
For some, this choice aligns perfectly with 4B, especially as they view family life as incompatible with their financial or social realities (Rotkirch, 2022).
The only problem is, many of these families actually want kids.
For American women in particular, the Trump era heightened an already existing frustration with a country that seemed less and less inclined to support their choices. Now, we have Trump redux, and 4B sounds like rage in 4K.
The result? A recently reimagined 4B movement, where rejecting dating, marriage, and family isn’t necessarily a permanent decision but rather a cultural statement. It’s an assertion that women’s autonomy, in the absence of a supportive system, is more valuable than bending to traditional expectations, or for that matter, life itself.
The Future of 4B in America: Passing Pique or Prevailing Transformation?
Whether 4B will continue to resonate in the U.S. is uncertain, but the conversation has already attracted mainstream notice.
The American discussion of 4B will bring new attention to issues of gender equality, economic disparities, and autonomy. It’s a fascinating example of how an idea born from social constraints in one culture can morph into something entirely different in yet another.
In America, 4B is less a desperate bid for independence than a symbol of resilience, frustration, and yes, a smidge of performative rebellion. I think American women will vent in apartment 4B for quite a while.
But will 4B lead to long-term social change in the U.S., or will it just remain a passing, idle theat?
The answer depends on how deeply American women and society grapple with the underlying issues it represents. It seems that the political power of liberal and progressive American women voters has just had a profound reality check.
This will take some time and effort to sort out. American men will need to step up, in support of their wives, sisters, and partners, and be heard as well.
But for now, in the USA, 4B serves as a compelling, if somewhat ironic, reflection of our times: a movement with roots in rebellion that speaks to a universal desire for respect, and autonomy for women.
American 4B is ultimately proclaiming that autonomy for American women has become null and void, by popular mandate, on November 5, 2024, because men declared war on women.
Perhaps, in the dark recesses of bachelorette apartment 4B, mulling over the power to end the human experiment single handedly, is the only cold comfort at hand.
But if any strategy, followed to it’s logical conclusion concludes in human extinction, well, all bet’s are off… aren’t they?
There will be nothing left to bicker about, because there will be no one left to argue. Give us liberty, or we will unilaterally unleash a derecho of death upon the human species.
This not a thoughtful, rational argument, but it does mollify outrage, while absorbing human attention for a few moments, doesn’t it?
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Anderson, K. (2019). The cultural and political backlash of Trump’s presidency: Gender and disillusionment in America. Journal of American Political Studies, 17(3), 389-412.
Inhorn, M. C. (2020). The mating gap and modern dating trends. Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(3), 441-458.
Lee, E. (2021). Gender expectations and economic pressures in South Korea's 4B movement. Asian Journal of Family Studies, 15(4), 423-444.
Rotkirch, A. (2022). The global rise of social infertility and cultural shifts in family expectations. Population and Development Review, 48(2), 229-253.
Straub, V., & Hadley, R. (2022). Social media and cultural narcissism: Trends in Western responses to relationship disillusionment. Journal of Digital Psychology, 7(1), 98-105.