4B movement: South Korean feminist activist movement

4B movement, South Korean feminist activist movement and political stance defined by four deliberate refusals: bihon (“no marriage”), bichulsan (“no childbirth”), biyonae (“no dating”), bisekseu (“no sex [with men]”). These “four nos” constitute a radical rejection of the heteronormative, patriarchal life script traditionally prescribed for women in South Korean society. While the exact starting point of the movement is difficult to trace, it is generally understood to have emerged about 2015–16, gaining traction through digital communities and young feminist organizing.

Distinct from involuntary singlehood or the avoidance of childbirth due to economic precarity or other external constraints, 4B represents women’s deliberate withdrawal from patriarchal institutions, such as the nuclear family and heterosexual relationships, and a commitment to reshaping their lives around alternative forms of safety, solidarity, and personal autonomy. As scholar Gong Yeon-Hwa notes in her 2021 journal article “Escaping from the Class of ‘Women’: Reading the 4B Movement from Korea with the Theories of Monique Wittig,” this refusal extends into the symbolic and sexual economy of heterosexuality, with some participants forming lesbian relationships as acts of resistance—a complete departure from the normative life paths prescribed by patriarchy and the male gaze.