What is the 4B movement?

Days after November’s U.S. presidential election, dozens of women posted tearful videos on social media with variations on the hashtag “4B.” Originating in South Korea, 4B is a women’s movement that encourages sexual abstinence from men. Its four tenets begin with the Korean word bi, meaning “no”: bihon (no marriage to men), bichulsan (no childbirth), biyeonae (no romantic relationships with men), and bisekseu (no sex with men). Although Korean in origin, the movement appeals to some young American women, partly because of an anti-sex sentiment already present in the U.S.

How did 4B get started? In the 2000s, with a fertility rate at 1.5 and falling, South Korea’s government hoped to encourage procreation by offering stipends for parents and even launching a swiftly shuttered “birth map” tracking the population of women of childbearing age. 4B emerged in the late 2010s as a feminist challenge to pronatalist policies and possibly as a response to the #MeToo movement.

How many Korean women have participated? It’s hard to pinpoint exact numbers since the movement is organized on social media and there’s no official website or leadership structure. As of September, about 3,400 Korean women pledged to join 4B on Naver, a major South Korean web platform. However, it still appears to be a fringe movement in Asia.

Why is 4B trending in the U.S.? Mainstream media outlets characterize it as a reaction to the presidential election. Google searches for “4B” spiked on Nov. 6, and Rolling Stone columnist Nikki McCann Ramirez explained that some women are “swearing off men” for the next four years because a second Trump administration “could be devastating for reproductive rights.” One X user called for American women to “bite back” by saying “no” to sex and lowering the national birthrate. Her post got over 21 million views. Some social media users even shaved their heads or promised to throw out their makeup in protest. As of this writing, over 27,000 TikTok posts had a #4Bmovement hashtag.

Haven’t young women already been practicing more abstinence anyway? According to a 2021 study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the share of teenage girls who said they weren’t sexually active rose from 49% to 74% between 2009 and 2018. A 2024 Kinsey Institute project found nearly 1 in 6 American women are “single by choice.”

What’s driving the abstinence trend? According to Kristen Miele, founder of Christian curriculum program Sex Ed Reclaimed, women sometimes react with vows of celibacy after feeling threatened by men, whether specific men or by a version of “patriarchy” they feel is represented in the Trump administration. Writing for Politico Magazine in 2018, conservative sociologist Brad Wilcox explained that in addition to fears about assault, young people are having less sex because many opt to live with their parents until late into their 20s, interact online more often than in person, and delay or postpone marriage.

Will vows of celibacy drive down ­birthrates? There’s little evidence to suggest that 4B worsened Korea’s already plunging fertility rate. Miele doesn’t worry the movement will drive down U.S. birthrates, since abstinence pledges often don’t last long. But she’s concerned about 4B’s potential to drive a deeper wedge between men and women: “It doesn’t encourage a healthy view of the opposite sex or one that’s relationally joyful.”