Many American women find inspiration and solace for Donald Trump’s re-election in 2024 in the most unlikely of places: South Korea’s 4B Movement. The movement tells women to reject their assigned roles and relationships with men, something the 4B Movement in South Korea has become popular to do in the U.S. as a means of protest against a political environment perceived to be unfriendly toward women’s rights..
Origins and Context
4B is a movement coming as a result of the deep-seated patriarchy undergirding South Korean society, where considerable gender disparity and prejudice reign supreme. The movement gained steam in the face of growing antifeminist sentiments and an oppressive political atmosphere as reflected by many women.
It was ignited by events like the infamous Gangnam murder in 2016, when a woman was murdered for spurning a man, thereby exposing the deep-rooted misogyny that pervaded the setup.
Women began embracing the doctrines that 4B had propagated informally as a means of re-obtaining their independence and objection to their role in the patriarchal system. The movement became a digital phenomenon because there are many videos and discussions on social media about 4B.
Why People Adore the Movement Dubbed 4B
Following Donald Trump’s election, women in America garnered more support for the 4B movement as a powerful response to a male-dominated political landscape that saw feminists as outcasts.
Many proponents claim that disengaging with those norms empowers women to challenge systemic, incommensurate gender inequalities and assert individual independence. The comments on the social media sites show this feeling of encouraging others to live the principles of the movement as an act of protest against perceived oppression.
Assistant professor Nicole Dular in philosophy characterizes the ideological provisions of this movement as nuclear to a real extent but are the epitome of the deeper-level dissatisfaction with mainstream normative values that have been overemphasized about the contributions and lived experience of women.
The imbalance in pay scale between men and women, coupled with the inequalities in relation dynamics in relationships, have been more critical to engaging women into this extreme position.
Criticism and Cultural Backlash
Despite growing popularity, the movement of 4B has been quite criticized from South Korea to abroad. Critics define its members as “selfish” for taking up traditional roles and kicking them off, while supporters argue that it requires such reaction in practice against systemic inequalities.
Radical approaches by the movement to challenge long-standing cultural norms in order to defy gender roles and expectations have sparked severe debates about gender roles.
For example, in South Korea, where the government has also been investing in its pro-natalist policies, it proves fruitless if they have to come down hard on women to join the marriage and childbearing party, yet many continue to pull away from the unending expectations that they have created. Conclusion: A Movement for Change
The 4B movement represents a colossal shift in how women view their roles within society. It has also been one way of denying dating, marriage, childbirth, and sex with men; thus, participants not only express personal autonomy but also challenge patriarchal structures that for centuries have maintained the control over women.
With the continued, growing interest even globally, it always reminds all of the strife for parity between the sexes and feminism. This explains the enormous power held by the choices and experiences of women to forge a better future, especially in the new dialogue brought forward by the 4B movement.
