What’s the 4B feminist motion from S Korea that’s taking off within the US?

A feminist motion sweeping South Korea, through which girls are saying “No” to any type of intimate relationships with males, is taking maintain in the USA following former President Donald Trump’s resounding victory within the presidential election.

So what’s the 4B motion and why are American girls turning to it now?

What’s the 4B motion?

The 4B motion initially emerged from the fringes of the South Korean feminist motion.

It developed in South Korean feminist circles and on social media within the mid-to-late 2010s throughout a wave of violence in opposition to girls within the nation, and in protest over different manifestations of sexism and inequality in South Korean society.

4B is shorthand for 4 phrases that begin with “bi”, which implies “no” in Korean.

The motion requires:

Bihon, which implies no heterosexual marriage.
Bichulsan, no childbirth.
Biyeonae, no relationship.
Bisekseu, no heterosexual sexual relationships.

Why did this motion emerge in South Korea?

Ladies are fed up with the dimensions of male violence in South Korean society.

A report revealed in 2018 confirmed that within the earlier 9 years, no less than 824 girls in South Korea had been killed and an extra 602 had been put liable to loss of life by violence by the hands of their intimate companions.

However there are additionally financial elements.

In accordance with knowledge from the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Improvement (OECD), South Korean males earn 31.2 p.c extra, on common, than girls.

South Korean society additionally tends to be pretty conservative in terms of households.

Ayo Wahlberg, a professor within the anthropology division on the College of Copenhagen, advised Al Jazeera that the accountability for the majority of childcare and family chores, in addition to taking good care of the aged, usually falls on the shoulders of ladies. However, with rising inflation, girls even have little selection however to work outdoors of the house, which means their tasks are doubled.

This has led to extra girls forgoing the prospect of getting youngsters whereas additionally making much less cash than their male spouses – a scenario many say they discover disheartening.

In the meantime, the birthrate in South Korea continues to drop quickly. Lately, the nation has had one of many lowest birthrates on the earth. In February this yr, Statistics Korea revealed knowledge exhibiting that the general birthrate had dropped by 8 p.c in 2023 to 0.72 youngsters per girl of their lifetime in contrast with 0.78 in 2022. The low birthrate has been declared a nationwide emergency.

‘Your physique, my selection’: Why is the motion gathering curiosity within the US now?

Quickly after it had develop into obvious that Trump had received the US presidential election this week, younger girls within the US took to social media platforms similar to TikTok and X, encouraging different girls to take inspiration from the 4B motion.

american girls it is time to study from the koreans and undertake the 4b motion
as a matter of reality girls from all around the world ought to undertake the 4b motion
i am so critical pic.twitter.com/WxfqxouAn1
— coleni. (@jungsooyawning) November 6, 2024

Whereas CNN’s exit ballot advised that Trump received 46 p.c of the ladies’s vote and Harris received 54 p.c, it additionally confirmed that Harris had received simply 43.5 p.c of the male vote in contrast with Trump’s 56.5 p.c.

Younger girls on social media mentioned they had been dissatisfied that younger males had voted for a candidate who they are saying doesn’t respect their bodily autonomy.

To make issues worse, some Trump supporters, similar to far-right political activist Nick Fuentes, began posting misogynistic messages on X such because the assertion, “Your physique, my selection.”

@_jessie_fitz You make us do, an excessive amount of labour! #fyp #foryoupageofficiall #kamalaharris2024🇺🇸💙 #werenotgoingback #labour #womensupportingwomen #womensempowerment #4bmovement #fthepatriarchy #patriarchy #mysogyny ♬ labour – Paris Paloma

The message is a co-optation of “my physique, my selection” a slogan used traditionally by feminists rallying for autonomy and reproductive rights.

The masks are totally off now pic.twitter.com/ZlAkFr9FO5
— Sam G (@ItsSamG) November 6, 2024

How vital a task did girls’s rights play within the US election?

The best to abortion was a significant speaking level within the lead-up to the election.

Whereas the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, was banking on abortion being an enormous difficulty, it turned out to be a lot much less of a decisive difficulty for voters than financial points similar to inflation, unemployment and the price of residing.

The election was the primary presidential vote for the reason that landmark 1973 Roe v Wade court docket ruling was overturned by the Supreme Courtroom in 2022, ending girls’s federal proper to an abortion within the US. The choice on legal guidelines concerning abortion was reverted to particular person states as an alternative.

Trump claimed credit score for the overturning of Roe v Wade, which was made doable by his appointments of three conservative judges to the highest court docket.

Democrats campaigned within the perception that this may carry girls out to vote for Harris. That place didn’t repay totally, nevertheless.

On Tuesday this week, because the election was in full swing, 10 states additionally voted on whether or not or to not enshrine the precise to abortion of their constitutions. Of those, seven states handed the measures and three states didn’t.

What might occur to abortion as soon as Trump is in energy?

Trump has mentioned that he would veto a federal abortion invoice, preferring to go away the query of legal guidelines concerning the proper to abortion right down to particular person states to determine.

Nevertheless, fears now loom amongst girls’s rights teams that he can be pressured by Republicans, who now management the Senate and the Supreme Courtroom – and are near controlling the Home of Representatives as effectively – into making a federal abortion ban throughout the US a actuality.

There are additionally fears that Trump’s administration might have the facility to implement an interpretation of the 1873 Comstock Act, which makes it a federal crime to promote and obtain abortion-related remedy or different supplies. The legislation has not been enforced for many years.

Why are girls so indignant about Trump’s angle in the direction of them?

Many say Trump reveals a terrific deal about his basic view of ladies by means of the feedback he has made over time.

Sexual abuse allegations

In Could 2023, a US jury discovered Trump responsible for sexually abusing journalist and creator E Jean Carroll within the Nineteen Nineties. Carroll had detailed the abuse in a memoir in 2019, after which Trump branded her a liar and referred to as her story a “con job”. The court docket additionally discovered that he had defamed her and ordered him to pay damages of greater than $83m.

In 2018, veteran journalist Bob Woodward wrote in his ebook, Worry: Trump within the White Home, a few dialog between Trump and an unnamed buddy of his, acknowledging dangerous behaviour in the direction of girls.

Trump was quoted saying: “You’ve obtained to disclaim, deny, deny and push again on these girls. When you admit to something and any culpability, then you definitely’re useless … You’ve obtained to be robust. You’ve obtained to be aggressive. You’ve obtained to push again arduous. You’ve obtained to disclaim something that’s mentioned about you. By no means admit.”

Disparaging feedback about Kamala Harris

Trump has made many controversial remarks about girls, together with his Democrat challenger and Vice President Kamala Harris.

After Harris inherited the Democrat presidential candidate ticket from Joe Biden earlier this yr, Trump advised Fox Information, “[Harris] in some way – a lady – in some way she’s doing higher than [President Joe Biden] did.”

He repeatedly attacked Harris’s intelligence, calling her “silly” and “dumb” on varied events.

Different controversial remarks

In June 2004, he mentioned about his daughter, Ivanka Trump, “She does have a really good determine … if [she] weren’t my daughter, maybe I’d be relationship her.” Ivanka was 23 or 24 on the time.

Earlier, quickly after Princess Diana’s loss of life in 1997, Trump advised tv character Howard Stern in a radio interview that Diana was “stunning” however “loopy”.

Stern requested Trump if he might have had a sexual relationship with Diana.

“I believe I might have,” Trump replied, the Huffington Publish reported.

And in keeping with tapes that The Washington Publish mentioned it obtained from 2005, Trump admitted to sexual assault in a dialog with TV host Billy Bush, about girls generally: “I’m robotically drawn to stunning – I simply begin kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Simply kiss. I don’t even wait. And once you’re a star, they allow you to do it. You are able to do something.”

‘Childless cat woman’ feedback

His Republican aides, together with operating mate JD Vance, have additionally made remarks deemed sexist. In July, feedback Vance made about leaders within the Democratic Social gathering in 2021 resurfaced. He mentioned that the leaders of the occasion didn’t have youngsters and had been “a bunch of childless cat women who’re depressing at their very own lives and the alternatives that they’ve made and they also need to make the remainder of the nation depressing, too”.