Summary
South Korea’s 4B movement—rejecting marriage, childbirth, dating, and sex—has gained global attention as a feminist response to gender inequality, amplified by Donald Trump’s election.
Rooted in a society with the OECD’s widest gender pay gap, it reflects women’s frustration with patriarchal norms.
While viral online, 4B faces intense backlash domestically, with feminism often stigmatized as radical or “man-hating.”
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s anti-feminist rhetoric and rising misogyny have worsened divisions. Many women now practice “quiet feminism,” avoiding public activism amid hostility. Experts caution against oversimplified links between 4B and South Korea’s record-low birthrate.
Experts of what? Burying their heads in the sand?
Birthrates are low in many countries and it’s unknown how much of South Korea’s low birthrate is related to 4B.
The workaholic culture is probably more to blame than 4b