The radical ‘femcel’ movement urging women to give up men forever

Yeowon has vowed to give up all relationships with men, ‘eliminating the risks that come from heterosexual marriage or dating.’

The 26-year-old office worker is one of a growing number of Korean women making the same pledge, as part of a uniquely gendered form of protest called 4B.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s extraordinary political comeback that saw him win the 2024 US election, American women have taken inspiration from the movement, looking to emulate it with a similar crusade of their own.

Far more than simply withholding sex to make a statement though, it’s a lifestyle choice born from generations of inequality and violence — one many say they’re committing to for the long haul.

What is the 4B movement?

4B, also known as ‘four nos’, refers to four Korean words that all start with bi-, or ‘no’.

Proponents refuse to date, have sex with, or marry men, with Femi Wiki describing it as ‘the motto of radical feminism.’ Although it has been compared by some to the ‘femcel’ community (involuntarily celibate women) 4B differs in that the motivation behind it is rooted in women’s rights.

The term emerged online around 2015, as women formed digital communities in the wake of South Korea’s MeToo and Escape the Corset movements.

‘Early participants shared their negative experiences in romantic relationships, which evolved into critiques of toxic masculinity and advice on how to avoid problematic partners,’ feminist scholar Dr Euisol Jeong tells .

‘Boycotting Korean men as romantic partners became slogans such as bihon and bichulsan (no to marriage and no to childbirth).’

However, the country’s gender divide has been apparent for much longer than a decade.

Heejung Chung is a professor of work and employment at King’s College London and member of the King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, with her work primarily focusing on gender inequality.

The researcher – who’s Korean and went to University in South Korea, but grew up in the US and has lived in the UK for 13 years – tells : ‘Korea, even within Asia, stands out as being one of the most conservative with regards to men’s and women’s position at home and the labour market, but also in regards to women’s rights.’

According to The Economist’s Glass Ceiling Index, South Korea ranks worst in the world for women in the workforce. Attitudes in this highly traditional society have also been slow to change. In a 2019 survey, 60% of Korean men under 30 said discrimination against women was not a serious issue — something many of the country’s women would disagree with.

Widely-held Confucian thought means many believe women belong to their fathers until they’re married (when they belong to their husbands) and should subserviently raise children and maintain the household.

It’s not some throwback perspective from years gone by either: as recently as 2021, guidelines issued by Seoul’s Pregnancy and Childbirth Information Center advised pregnant women to ‘prepare’ a week’s worth of undergarments for their husbands to wear while they were in hospital giving birth, as well as suggesting they lose weight by performing household chores.

All this is expected alongside academic achievement and adhering to strict male-centric beauty standards.

Despite gaining her PhD and building a successful career, Heejung felt ‘priced out’ of the marriage market in South Korea, as ‘men wanted to marry lower than their status.’ Instead, she chose to move to Europe and is now happily married to a ‘feminist’ German man.

‘One of the reasons I probably married outside of Korea is the obligations there,’ says Heejung. ‘It doesn’t matter how I feel as an individual, the obligations you feel in that society – as a daughter, as a daughter in law, and if you have children as a mum – would have really restricted me from being able to achieve many other things that I’ve been able to.’

Tired of steep expectations and pervasive misogynist views, women in South Korea started protesting inequality en masse, and some decided to hit men where it hurts: the bedroom.

Some 4B advocates engage in relationships only with women, others choose to stay single, and some avoid men completely. Efforts to exist outside of a patriarchal paradigm, for example by challenging beauty norms, are also encouraged.

Jiny Kim, a 30-year-old office worker from Seoul, told the New York Times that she and many others have sworn off marriage and motherhood to take ‘revenge on a society that puts impossible burdens on us and doesn’t respect us.’

In 2019, it was reported that 4,000 women were part of the 4B movement, although official numbers are hard to find, as many members choose to remain anonymous. Others also refer to themselves as ‘bihon’ (meaning ‘not married’) or abstain from marriage and childbirth but aren’t affiliated to a specific group.

‘Its practice is largely individualistic, making it difficult to measure the exact number of advocates or classify it as a mainstream political agenda.’ adds Dr Jeong. ‘Moreover, openly expressing feminist views in South Korea is still taboo, carrying risks such as job loss or physical violence.’

What has the reaction been in South Korea?

The South Korean government has continually pushed back on feminist sentiments, with some politicians blaming groups like 4B for the country’s rapidly-declining birthrate.

President Yoon Suk-yeol ran on this ticket during his 2022 election campaign, not only claiming structural inequality doesn’t exist and feminism blocks ‘healthy relationships’ between men and women but also pledging to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality altogether.

It clearly worked, as he came out victorious with a particularly high proportion of male voters. One, Jung, aged 25, told The Economist: ‘Most of my friends feel discriminated against in some way and that’s why we support [Yoon’s People Power Party].’

Dr Jeong says ‘anti-feminist groups, particularly those active online,’ have reacted strongly to women’s calls for greater rights (despite not explicitly addressing 4B as a target) by advocating for ‘familism’ rather than feminism.

‘Over time, their opposition has led to solidarity with fundamentalist Christian groups in South Korea; for instance, they held a joint festival last year, further uniting the two movements,’ she says.

‘People who cannot admit the need for change, and those who want to promote it, seem to contribute to the ongoing gender division.’

Some of these groups refer to South Korean conscription – whereby women are exempt yet all men between 18 and 35 are required to complete at least 18 months of military service – as a reasoning for their standpoint.

Although the policy has been in place since 1957, the changing landscape of society has led to disaffection between genders, and in recent years South Korean women aged 18 to 29 have moved towards liberal politicial ideologies, while men have veered increasingly towards the right.

According to Heejung, some young men are now arguing rape should be legal, and digital sex crimes – like creating and proliferating AI-generated porn of classmates or capturing explicit videos of women using hidden cameras – are also becoming more and more prevalent among the country’s boys.

Much of this mirrors the direction of the US, where anti-feminist movements like ‘redpill’, ‘the manosphere’ and ‘incels’ have spread like wildfire thanks to figures such as Andrew Tate and Jordan Petersen.

The 4B movement in the US

Now, it seems American women are mirroring their South Korean counterparts, with Trump’s election victory sparking a wave of interest in 4B across the Pacific.

On X, @solitasims, wrote: ‘Ladies, I’m being so for real when I say this, it’s time to close off your wombs to males. This election proves now more than ever that they hate us and hate us proudly. Do not reward them.’

‘4B movement now ladies,’ added @desmii9. ‘If they want to take our rights away lets take some of theirs.’

Thousands of TikToks from women in the US claiming they were considering adopting 4B were posted following Trump being named President-elect, and Google searches for the term skyrocketed on Google, showing the spike in interest.

‘For American women, Trump’s victory symbolises a return to conservative values that often come at the expense of women’s autonomy,’ says Dr Alice Wong, a sociologist at Stanford. ‘The 4B Movement offers a model of resistance, albeit a radical one.’

A refusal to take note of women’s concerns could have lasting consequences for the birth rate as it has in Korea, which has the lowest in the world. In 2020, a ‘demographic national emergency’ after it reached the ‘dead cross’ (when deaths outnumbered births) nearly a decade earlier than expected.

The US is on a downward trajectory in this respect too; its birth rate has been on the decline for years, but in 2023, it reached a historic low of about 55 births for every 1,000 women.

So what can be done to turn things around?

Looking at the parallels between the two countries would be a good start. Heejung believes that the key in Korea is transforming the job market, which she calls ‘a dog eat dog world’ where ‘companies hire fewer workers but work them to death for 12 hours a day’ — a description that could apply to the US and much of the developed world.

‘Jobs are not providing the income they used to, they’re not providing the security they used to,’ she says. ‘We as a society have generated a war against young men and women, because it’s so goddamn hard to live.’

Interventions like a four-day week, Heejung argues, could simultaneously reduce the pressure on men (making them less likely to try to lay the blame elsewhere) and ensure they have enough time to do a fairer share of household labour.

Given countries with progressive family employment policies like Sweden have bucked the trend and managed to bump up births, it may just work.

But for women to consider marriage and motherhood worthwhile these changes need to coincide with changing attitudes. And in the meantime, some feel the likes of 4D is the only way to reclaim a semblance of power.

‘Since the rise of the 4B ideology and digital feminism, the way women envision their futures has drastically shifted,’ Dr Jeong says. ‘This is significant in reshaping how women in South Korea view their lives and the options available to them outside traditional norms.’

Heejung adds: ‘For women to be able to break out of the mould societal pressures have put them into – the single-sided, quiet, docile woman – that alone is amazing.’

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