OPINION: The 4B Movement isn't right for America

Photo via Elvert Barnes/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons

Ava Jelepis, a Freshman studying Journalism, argues that the trendy 4B Movement is something that, while fine in theory, does not fit American society nor promote progress for women.

Many women, including myself, are upset and scared of what the future holds for them now that Donald Trump is the president-elect. Vice President Kamala Harris losing the election to a convicted felon was indeed a slap in the face for women across America. The way that Trump talks about women, along with his plans to regress the progress women have made, is disgusting and frightening. 

In response to Trump’s re-election, women on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have been spreading information on the 4B movement, a movement that originated in South Korea in which women refuse to marry, have children, date or have sex with men. Though I agree that now is the time for women to stand up for themselves, I do not believe that the 4B movement is the right approach for women in America. 

The 4B Movement began in South Korea in the mid-2010s in response to misogyny and violence South Korean women face. The 4Bs include no dating men (biyeonae), no sexual relations with men (bisekseu), no marriage with men (bihon), and no childbirth (bichulsan). The name of the 4B movement is due to the word “bi” found at the beginning of each of the four tenets, meaning “no,” so “4B” is also referred to as the “Four Nos.”

In South Korea, women face a significant amount of gender-based violence, which is one of the core reasons that the movement started. In 2016, a woman was brutally murdered in Seoul by a male stranger. When asked why he murdered her, the man said he did it because women had “ignored” him. The case sparked protests across the nation against the violence toward women.

Women in South Korea face one of the highest rates of female homicides in the world, with women making up more than half of homicide victims in the nation. It has been found that, on average, one woman is killed by her intimate partner or ex-partner every three days in South Korea. Intimate-partner abuse, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse, could be found in 53.8% of married couples, with the wives being abused by their husbands in 81.9% of those cases. 

Women in South Korea also face the largest gender wage gap out of the 38 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Data from the OECD showed that women workers in South Korea make, on average, 31.2% less than men. In South Korean history, women have never been able to make, on average, over 68.9% of what their male coworkers do.

Now, after the election, American women have also begun to participate in the 4B Movement. I believe women in America who are turning to the 4B Movement mean well and are upset, as I am, about the sexism in this country. However, there are some problems with how women are choosing to participate in the 4B Movement, and there has been a lot of backlash from different groups.

Some women in America have been shaving their heads as part of the movement in order to break away from beauty standards that they believe men see as attractive. However, many women who are cancer survivors or have alopecia have felt rightfully disrespected by this trend since in their circumstances, baldness is not a choice, and shaving your head to be “less attractive” undermines what those women have gone through. 

Women with alopecia and who have had or have cancer have taken to social media to express their distaste for the choice women are making to shave their heads for the movement. TikTok user @xlaurnalexis, who has alopecia, posted a slide show with the words, “I have fought too long and hard to normalize bald women. Us women with hair loss don't take your words kindly and in fact you're definitely making it harder for us to feel loved.” 

Conservative women have also been mocking those who choose to participate in the 4B Movement but actually support it for their own reasons. TikTok user @maybe_itsmolly posted a TikTok saying, “The only women partaking in the 4b movement are liberals. Conservative women will procreate. This means we will see a huge influx of conservatives being born. I support your movement.”      

Men have had different reactions to the movement. Some men have taken to social media to share their disgusting opinions on the movement. Jon Miller wrote on Twitter, “women threatening sex strikes like LMAO as if you have a say,” basically saying that women do not have a say if a man wants to have sex with them, which is, in other words, rape.

Despite many disturbing remarks from men revolving around the 4B movement, many of them now deleted for violating platform rules, some men have actually offered positive insight on the movement in BuzzFeed’s article “Men Are Reacting To Women Refusing To Date, Marry, Have Sex, Or Birth Children With Them Until Women's Rights Are Equal.”

In the article, 16 men shared their opinions on the movement. The one that stood out most to me was, "If you change your entire life plans because of Trump, the 4B Movement makes no sense. You have let Trump take your power and give his allies what they want." 

Though I do not believe that men should have a say in what women should do with their bodies, this is a very valid point, and I do think that this man is siding with women. The 4B Movement in South Korea is about eliminating men from the equation entirely and decentering them from their lives. If we use the movement in America to get back at men, it defeats the purpose.

The 4B Movement also has a history of being anti-trans. Hawon Jung, journalist and author of Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea's Feminist Movement & What It Means for Women's Rights Worldwide, says, “Many of these young radical feminists in South Korea, claim that other feminists, including mainstream women's rights groups, have lost focus by allying with other social minority groups fighting for, for example, labor rights, disability rights, or even sexual minorities' rights, and vow to support ‘biological women only.’”

Women should also not feel pressured to break up with their boyfriends or feel bad for falling in love because of what is happening in the country. Women should not feel bad for not participating in a movement that may limit their happiness. If women begin to make choices that do not necessarily make them happy because they think that's what they have to do in order to fight back, we are giving up some of our power.

The issues in South Korea and America should not be compared. What works for one group of people may not work for another. Again, in my opinion, most of the women in America participating in the 4B Movement do not have any ill intent. However, I believe that women in America can find other ways to fight back against the hate women are facing in this country, but that the 4B Movement is simply not the right approach.

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.