Explained: All About Korea’s 4B Feminist Movement Where Women Are Rejecting Men, Marriage And More!
The Korean 4B feminist movement where women refuse to be reduced to their womb.
The Korean 4B feminist movement has caused many women to reject men and express bodily autonomy in ways that pinch the patriarchy where it hurts. Bi in Korean translates to no, and women who follow this philosophy exclude men in four main ways: biyeonae (do not date men), bisekseu (do not have s*x*ual relations with men), bihon (do not marry men), and bichulsan (do not procreate with men).
How The 4B Movement Began In South Korea?
Starting to gain momentum in South Korea in 2016 following a brutal murder of a woman by a man, 4B feminists critiqued the growing inequality by way of wage gap, violence, and societal coercion to reproduce (the country has one of the lowest birth rates in Asia at 0.748 in 2024, according to CNBC). To bring attention to the declining birth rate, the Korean government released a map showcasing all the women of procreative age, by district. Chaos followed. Women around the country called out the map that reduced them to birth-givers and mothers.
Gradually expanding to other Asian countries (in China as 6B4T) and to the United States following Trump’s reductive policies for women, this movement seems extreme. But for Korean women, it ensures that patriarchal systems value their worth beyond traditional roles.
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Criticism of 4B, and why we should value it nevertheless
As with any movement calling for large-scale social change, quite a few men disapproved. They claim that 4B women’s refusal to give birth results in the erasure of Korea. For women, it is about choice, rather than compulsion. However, some feminist writers have expressed concerns about the universality of 4B, saying that transphobic and homophobic rhetoric has been used in their messaging.
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Despite reproach, we believe that the 4B feminist movement holds merit in its principles, especially in India. For every woman who feels unsafe walking in the streets, for every woman who is not paid as much as her male counterparts, and for every woman who lives in a home that does not value her beyond her reproductive capabilities, we think the Korean movement is very important: “If the world born from my body oppresses me I will not let that world exist.”
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First Published: January 16, 2026 5:16 PM
