(The Telegraph) A radical feminist movement in which women shun marriage, dating and sex with men is taking hold among young liberal Americans in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory.
Originating in South Korea and known as 4B, which means “four nos” in Korean, its tenets are: no dating, no sex with men, no marriage and no children.
Other principles include ditching beauty products and avoiding social interactions with men altogether.
“The women in South Korea are doing it. It’s time we join them,” said one post on X. “Men will NOT be rewarded, nor have access to our bodies.”
The women are furious that Mr Trump, whose Supreme Court appointees ended federal protections for abortion and who was previously found liable for sexual abuse, has for a second time prevented a female presidential candidate from reaching the Oval Office.
“Ladies, we need to start considering the 4B movement like the women in South Korea and give America a severely sharp birth rate decline,” said another post on X. “We need to bite back.”
Magnified by the US, the call to action is going global. Google searches for the term have spiked in Turkey and Malaysia, while women in India, Pakistan, Egypt and Brazil are calling for similar movements there too.
“Seeing the 4B movement spreading internationally brings me immense joy and pride as a Korean feminist,” said one activist. Another said it was a way to “repay the gratitude they owe to the suffragettes”.
Sexism and misogyny
For one Korean practitioner of 4B, the misogyny started at a young age.
