4b movement

Overview

The 4B Movement (4b 운동) is a radical feminist lifestyle choice originating in South Korea as a means to reject traditional gender roles and the extreme systemic patriarchy that makes up South Korean society. The movement advocates for rejecting the “Four Nos” which include heterosexual dating, marriage, sex, and childbirth. The movement encourages women to completely reject the traditional roles women are expected to follow and focus on their own independence, career, and personal growth. 6B4T is a variation of the 4B movement which expands on the four original tenets.

Background

The 4B Movement takes its roots in online communities such as Megalia and WOMAD during a period of intense gender tensions in South Korea, a country that is plagued with systemic gender inequality. It was developed by women online as a silent and non-violent way to protest misogyny. By actively choosing not to partake in relationships with men, women in this movement seek to avoid what they see as an existential threat to their lives.

Megalia

Megalia is a now-defunct website that started in August of 2015 as a response to the misogyny many women face by Korean men, particularly on websites dominated by men such as DC Inside. “Megallians”, as users of the website were often called, turned to a strategy of “mirroring”, where they would mimic and invert the misogynistic language and behavior typically aimed at women and direct it towards men instead. This tactic was seen as divisive and offensive by many, which led to a lot of public backlash. The website shut down in 2017.

WOMAD

WOMAD is a more radical split from Megalia created in 2016 after differing opinions arose regarding the inclusion of gay men, transgender identified men, and others who were not explicitly women. While Megalia was more inclusive to groups perceived as minorities, WOMAD took a different approach and created an explicitly women-only space. WOMAD took a more unapologetic and radical approach instead opting to focus solely on women’s rights without watering down the feminist movement by including other movements in their activism.

Core Principles

The basis of the movement lies in rejecting the Four Nos:

1. No Dating (비연애)
2. No Marriage (비혼)
3. No Sex (비성관계)
4. No Childbirth (비출산)

Backlash

After gaining international attention, the 4B movement has received criticism from trans rights activists, who label the movement as "transphobic" and "homophobic". Ju Hui Judy Han, an assistant professor of Gender Studies at UCLA told the LGBT magazine Them that she would hate for a TERF movement to grow in South Korea. Han also compared the movement to political lesbianism, stating “We call it 4B now, but it's political lesbianism,”.

See Also

• Female separatism