Headline : 4B Is Not the Winning Strategy to Resist the Patriarchy People Think It Is

Read more from the original article on here at time.com.

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Shortly after Donald Trump declared victory for his second term, Google searches for the “4B movement” spiked around the country. Born from South Korea’s broader feminist reckoning over gender inequality, 4B refers to the four Korean terms for sex, dating, marriage, and childbirth. Dismayed American women, fearing a federal abortion ban and more restrictions to reproductive freedoms, ran with the idea on social media, announcing that they would no longer have sex with men, or that they were dumping their MAGA boyfriends. Popular related search terms included “head shaving” and white supremacist Nicholas J. Fuentes, who posted “You’re body, my choice” after Trump’s victory.

“Doing my part as an American woman by breaking up with my Republican boyfriend and officially joining the 4B movement this morning,” one woman shared on Tiktok the day after the election. Another American creator explained 4B’s origin like this: “The 4B movement is a movement in South Korea right now where the misogyny and sexism is so bad that South Korean women have decided to opt out of men entirely.” Some women proudly shaved their heads on camera in an effort to become less attractive to the male gaze, as though being bald might protect us from violence and subjugation—a move that I, a cancer patient, observed with bemusement and that conservatives enjoyed mocking.

Somehow, legitimate post-election fears about body autonomy and women’s safety have translated into galvanizing around a movement that is highly specific to South Korea, divorcing it from its original context and glossing over some uncomfortable realities in the process. While American women can and should share strategies to protect themselves, this whitewashed version of 4B, which has a history of anti-trans actions, is not the winning strategy to resist and undermine the patriarchy people think it is. 

Hawon Jung, a journalist and author of Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea's Feminist Movement & What It Means for Women's Rights Worldwide, says that 4B initially emerged as “part of a wider wave of feminist movement” that swept South Korea from the late 2010s to the early 2020s, in response to pervasive sexism, gender-based violence, and workplace discrimination. Much of this discussion hinged on the unfair treatment of women within the domestic sphere, specifically the disproportionate burden of childcare and household chores, rampant intimate partner violence without strong protections for victims, and the enormous pressure to get married and give birth despite it all. 

Read more from the original article on here at time.com.

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