What is the 4B Movement and Why are Women Boycotting Men?

The 4B movement has swept the US after Trump was elected as the 47th president last week. Since the news broke, women have turned to social media, including X/Twitter and TikTok, to discuss and lift the lid on the radical feminist movement.

Going "boy sober" has some similarities to 4B in terms of celibacy against men. However, the 4B movement is much more political and has ties with South Korea during the mid-to-late 2010s.

Following the results of the US election, the 4B movement demonstrated the growing frustration and anger toward conservative values. Shortly after the results were announced, Google searches for the 4B movement spiked by 450 per cent.  To add fuel to the fire, far-right commentators such as Nick Fuentes celebrated the Trump news with horrific tweets shared on X: "Your body, my choice. Forever."   He also wrote: "I’d just like to take the opportunity to thank men for saving this country from stupid bitches who wanted to destroy the world to keep abortion."

The 4B movement is a feminist statement to abstain from interactions with men.  The term '4B' is short for "bi" which translates to "no" in Korean: 1) Bisekseu: No sex with men; 2) Bichulsan: No giving birth; 3) Biyeonae: No dating men; and 4) Bihon: No marriage with men.  The 4B movement first came to light in South Korea back in the mid-to-late 2010s. It was birthed off the back of violence against women and inequality in society.

People have turned to their socials in support of the 4B movement, with one writing: "American women, looks like it’s time to get influenced by Korea’s 4B movement."   Another wrote: "The women in South Korea are doing it. It’s time we join them. Men will NOT be rewarded, nor have access to our bodies."

In response to a viral TikTok, one person penned: "As a man just speaking frankly I think it's time for the 4b movement to come to America. Tired of these incel losers constantly voting against all basic human rights and principles." 

Michaela Thomas from Georgia, told The Washington Post that she first heard about the movement a year ago.  "Young men expect sex, but they also want us to not be able to have access to abortion," she told the publication. "They can’t have both. Young women don’t want to be intimate with men who don’t fight for women’s rights; it’s showing they don’t respect us."

Many more are sharing their personal ties to the movement, with one cutting her hair off and refusing to contribute her money to the beauty industry "to help support misogyny and the patriarchy".  "Stop dating men, stop having sex with men, stop talking to men, divorce your husbands, leave your fucking boyfriends, leave them – they don't give a shit about you," she told her 4.2 million viewers.

However, in a conversation with Newsweek, Sarah Liu, a senior lecturer in gender and politics, fears the 4B movement will "create a further divide between women and men, leading men to be even more disgruntled, and perhaps an even more misogynist culture".

"It's also important to remember that while Trump's major supporters are men, many women, particularly white women, also voted for Trump. So the 4B movement might further this impression that men are the major force behind Trump's election, ignoring the role white women play," she told the outlet.