U.S. Interest in South Korea’s 4B Feminist Movement Surges After Trump Victory
No Sex. No Dating. No Marriage. No Children.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential victory, a wave of Google searches related to South Korea’s 4B feminist movement has emerged in the United States. The movement, named for a series of “no’s” in Korean — “no sex, no dating, no marriage, no children” — reflects a growing ideological divide between young men and women.
What is the 4B Movement?
The 4B movement originated in South Korea during the mid-2010s, driven by young women rejecting traditional gender roles and societal expectations. It calls for women to forgo romantic relationships with men, marriage, and childbirth, instead advocating for personal autonomy in response to systemic gender inequality.
The resurgence of interest in the movement among American women aligns with heightened concerns about reproductive rights and growing political conservatism in the U.S. The 4B philosophy has found a new audience on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where young women discuss its principles as a form of resistance.
Generational Divide in Gender Politics
Data underscores the increasing divide between young men and women in the U.S. Women aged 18 to 30 are 30% more likely to identify as liberal compared to their male peers, according to The Financial Times. Experts link this trend to the 2018 #MeToo movement, which amplified feminist ideals and triggered backlash among some men.
Michaela Thomas, a 21-year-old artist from Georgia, described how the movement resonates with her. “Young men expect sex, but they also want us to not be able to have access to abortion,” she told The Washington Post. “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.”
A Historical Context of Sex Strikes
The idea of withholding intimacy as a form of protest is not new. It dates back to the ancient Greek play Lysistrata, where women abstain from sex to end the Peloponnesian War. In South Korea, the 4B movement emerged during a societal reckoning with gender violence and inequality. The country, with one of the widest wage gaps in the world, faced an explosion of feminist activism during the late 2010s.
Resistance in the U.S.
The 4B movement’s growing popularity in the U.S. reflects broader frustrations with a perceived rollback of women’s rights, particularly regarding reproductive autonomy. In a politically polarized climate, movements like 4B represent a form of personal and collective rebellion.
As gender politics continue to evolve, the movement’s rise highlights the intersection of global feminist ideologies and localized responses to sociopolitical challenges. For many young women, rejecting societal norms is as much about empowerment as it is about advocating for systemic change.
