PLS EXPLAIN

What is the 4B Movement? And why are more American women considering taking it up? We unpack…

In news no longer breaking, Trump was officially elected as the 47th President of the United States this week. The Associated Press has currently counted the former President as having received 295 electoral votes. He will be inaugurated on January 20, 2025, where he will formerly take office.

The voting was somewhat close, with polls interestingly resembling the election outcome of 2016 when adversing Hilary Clinton. Kamala Harris, who currently has 226 votes counted, proposed starkly differing policy stances which have ultimately led to national division.

Perhaps most interesting is the voting outcomes for women. From the outset of the presidential campaign, Trump has pushed his Project 2025 plan. And while the policy proposes an array of amendments, the right-wing wishlist was closely scrutinised on its position against national and state access to abortion. Since the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, many suspect reproductive rights will be further restricted under his administration.

For this reason, it should come as no surprise that when looking at the position of female voters in the US’ most recent election, Kamala Harris had the landslide victory. In total, 54% of women voted in favour for the candidate. Harris from outset had been clear in expressing her legislative intention to enshrine abortion access nationwide. 61% of Hispanic and 92% of Black women voted also in favour of the candidate.

To say the response from these groups of people was negative would be an understatement. Many women who voted Democratic have come out to express fears surrounding their ability to access abortion healthcare. Nevertheless, results are results. Many women are now considering alternative and extremist solutions to a growing threat of bodily autonomy.

What is the 4B Movement?

Originating in South Korea, the 4B Movement is a radical feminist movement that dates back to 2017. In response to increasingly right-wing and patriarchal government policies, South Korean women implemented a list of four ‘Nos’ as an act of boycott and protest.

They are:

1. No dating men.
2. No getting married.
3. No intimate relationships with men.
4. No children.

And while the movement may seem extreme, it was picked up so heavily in South Korea to the point that the nation’s death rate exceeded its birth rate for the first time in modern history. It gained notoriety in the same way the #MeToo did, and in 2021 the country’s president noted it was “blocking healthy relationships” between men and women.

Why is it gaining traction in the US?

Immediately after the election was called, many American women went online to not only express their disappointment with the outcome, but their plans to bring the movement across to the US. Rather than accepting the likely restriction of reproductive rights in the near future, and moving on with regular life, many are asserting total and complete abstinence as a means of avoiding pregnancy.

The decision to become ‘4B’ is also being compounded with the plethora of deeply misogynistic comments arising online after Trump’s victory, particularly those by high-profile figures. In the past two days alone, Donald Trump’s acquaintance, Nick Fuentes, recently wrote on X, “Your body. My choice. Forever.” This is only one of many examples, and has ultimately done nothing but further antagonise women, pushing them towards the movement.

And to add even more insult to injury, exit polls from CBS News report that Trump made large inroads with men under the age of 30. And so, the gap between proportionately Republican young men and Democratic young women continues to grow. One can only assume this will exacerbate the existing male loneliness epidemic, which is already at all-time highs.