The last few weeks of the political and cultural scene have been crazy – for all of us!  It continues to be a time for humility and reflection on how to best resolve the challenges and move forward.

Today, Alexis Tarkalson tells us about a movement that is, shall we say, less than helpful in that regard. It’s an interesting treatise on human nature and emotions run amok. We all need to be reminded to examine our motives and our emotions and be clear-eyed in asking (and answering) the question: Where will this lead?

 

On behalf of families,

Wendy Wixom, President

United Families International

 

Welcome to the 4B Movement: Where women shave their heads and swear off men in protest

They are shaving their heads bald and wearing blue bracelets. They have sworn off dating men, providing sexual encounters, having children, and marriage. They are calling for the deletion of dating apps, to break up with your boyfriend and divorce your husband, and boycott the beauty industries. This is the 4B movement, and the question is: will it last?

Last week, November 6th, the United States citizens learned that Donald J. Trump was once again going to reclaim the presidential seat for the next four years. This news sent more than half the nation into cheers of celebration and the remaining portion dissolved into tears of rage. But female voters for Harris, in particular, were sent into a fury that would result in the American 4B movement we are seeing now.

What is the 4B movement?

In the late 2010’s, South Korea saw a complete overhaul in their gender lens when Korean women began to ‘fight the patriarchy’ by avoiding any form of relationship with the opposite sex. The gender war had begun, wherein men became angry and defiant and women became cold and calculating.

To effectively leave behind the patriarchy they deemed so devious, Korean women first started with their own #MeToo movement after the police failed to pursue the men placing spycams in public locations aimed to catch inappropriate glimpses at women, and then uploading the videos to pornography sites. Soon after another movement called “Escape the Corset” came into existence, and Korean women gave themselves the label of ‘beauty resistors’; boycott the beauty industries and free yourself from the oppressive need to change yourself for the male counterpart. Women with waist-length hair attended feminist rallies where they shaved their heads bald in defiance.

Prior to these two movements there was the bihon movement, meaning no marriage, and was not inherently ‘man-hating’. But after the liberation from corsets, the 4B movement was spawned, or the 4-No movement, and it expanded the bihon movement. The four B’s stand for these Korean words:

• Biyeonae– no dating men
• Bisekseu– no sexual relationships with men
• Bihon– no heterosexual marriages
• Bichulsan– no childbirth

At its core, the movement adheres to the principle of individualism. Focus on yourself, pursue yourself. Ignore the other species and refrain from reproducing; if you need someone, seek out another female. Many applauded the movement, as South Korea was seeing unprecedented levels of intimate-partner violence (41.5%) and women were being paid on average 31% less than men.

But what seemed to start as a feminist movement purely set about to demand respect for the female gender has devolved into a misandry movement. The development of the Korean feminist sites, Womad and Megalia, proves this, as many slurs and hateful speech directed toward men can be found on the forum. Some users even utilize the platform to detail their fantasies of exacting violent revenge against men.

They conclude: “For Megalians, bihon, not entering marital relationships, precludes them from cooperating with the heterosexual institutions that produce hierarchical gender relations. Along with their orientation of ‘man-hating’, they refuse to reproduce a system that ‘ruins their lives’ by forcing them into ‘disgusting relationships’, which is how they have learnt to redefine heterosexuality.”

Why are American women of the political left engaging in it?

After Trump’s landslide victory in the presidential election and the failure of three abortion referendums in three different states, American women on the political left felt the male population in the country needed to be punished. Their method? The 4B movement.

These women have taken to Tiktok, Instagram, and X to spout off things such as:

• “Delete your dating apps because we can come together in community and if you need somebody to cuddle or hold your hand or give you a kiss I bet you one of your girlfriends do it, and you don’t even have to really be gay… The next 4 years I think we can look to South Korea and the 4B movement as a point of inspiration for us.”
• “All women should stop having sex for the next four years in protest and protection of your bodies as we know if that little baby inside you gives you any trouble and you need an emergency health care you’re fu**** and you’re gonna die. I think that is sufficient enough reason to stop having sex don’t you agree. This vote wasn’t a vote for america this vote was for men and unless you want to become the handmaid’s tale then US women need to protest because this is some buttery ********.”
• “There is not a single ounce of affection that a man will get out of me after this election.”
• “The 4B movement better be in effect. want the world to listen… [sic] start decreasing their population and economy. there’s no country to run if the birth rates start decreasing. don’t give in until they start listening. then they will start to panic”
• “ladies, I’m being so fr [sic] when I say this, it’s time to close off your wombs to males. this [sic] election proves now more than ever that they hate us & hate us proudly. do not reward them.” [sic]

From watching their claims, there are two very interesting points that can be made.

First, these women say restricting access to their body is imperative so that men can come to respect them and actually listen to them. This is an interesting take, as it is something the conservative party has been saying for decades. Sex should not be a causal interaction that happens between strangers. You should know the person before you engage in such intimate acts, and ideally be married to them. You should know for sure that they respect you, they listen to you, and they want what is best for you before you give them such a large part of you.

Secondly, they inadvertently admit that abortion is a form of birth control for some women. The Washington Post spoke with one young woman who said, “Young men expect sex, but they also want us to not be able to have access to abortion. 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.”

For years the pro-abortion advocates have tried to disavow the notion that abortion is used by women as birth control. An irresponsible woman who seeks out many sexual relationships with multiple partners and then covers up the consequences through an abortion is not going to win anyone over to the pro-choice side. Rape and incest victims, might. Young teenage girls that are scared, might. Mothers whose lives are in danger, might. But not the girls who want to have their cake and eat it too.

 

What will the results be?

Looking up “4b movement” on google trends will show you that searches for the movement spiked tremendously the day after Trump’s election.

In 48 hours alone there were over 500,000 searches for the 4B movement. This sparks the question of: Will this movement last, and if it does, what will that look like?

In South Korea, where the movement has been in full swing for the last five years has one obvious result: the lowest fertility rate in the world at 0.72. This is well below the replacement rate (2.1) , meaning that South Korea is going to continue shrinking until it’s halved by the end of the century. The 4B movement is not credited as definitively being the cause for this decline in population, but logic would state it has a role to play.

With interest in parenthood waning already in the US, this movement could only work to exacerbate the problem of low fertility. On the other hand, one could assume the group of women showing interest in this movement are the same group who prior to the election were already showing little to no interest in bearing children. In other words, this movement could really mean no change in the fertility rates.

Skeptics of the commitment women have to the 4B movement claim that the US is so ‘male-centered’ it would be wishful thinking to say this movement would have any endurance here, while other skeptics assert the movement won’t last because women are too used to the hook-up culture and actually need men in their lives.

The Ugly Truth

The truth of the matter is that 45% of the women who voted, voted for Trump. The truth of the matter is that not all women see the right to abortion as a right at all, but as murder. Men were not the only driving force for Trump’s victory, as women had a role to play in it as well. Young women under the age of thirty actually shifted eleven points toward Trump in this election. The rebuttal for this veer to the right is that these women have internalized misogyny. When these women don’t agree with them, the conclusion is they are automatically brainwashed and incapable of making an independent decision.

This movement, if it does nothing else, will work to create an even larger gender divide in the US. One could even argue that the contention was fueled even before the election was called when the Kamala Harris campaign released an ad encouraging women to lie to their husbands about who they were voting for. The ad spread the message that men are dangerous, men are controlling, and men cannot be trusted.

As we add this all up, it becomes clear that these women are definitely not helping the unborn, nor children, in general, nor families, nor society and in the end, doing nothing but harm to  themselves.

The emotions following the election have shown there are many women who are angry and ready to strike back, as Harris said in her concession speech, “This is a time to roll up our sleeves. This is a time to organize, to mobilize, and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.”

These women and the advocacy groups that fuel that fire will not go down without a fight. Just because the pro-life and pro-family positions appear to have prevailed this election cycle with many pro-life and pro-family candidates elected to office, does not mean we should give up the fight, either. With humility, and a desire to help families, we continue forward.

 

 

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Alexis Tarkalson graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with her degree in Political Science and an emphasis in American Government. She loves spending time with her husband and little boy, reading, hiking mountains, and learning new hobbies. The family unit is immensely important to her, as is protecting the associated rights, which is why she volunteers her time towards United Families International.