In the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election, American women horrified by the prospect of lost reproductive rights and the apparent triumph of hegemonic masculinity have taken to social media to announce their intention to swear off men. “All I have to say is good luck getting laid,” says one TikTok user. In a bid to punish men for the election result, they’ve taken up the flag of 4B, a South Korean feminist movement whose adherents renounce heterosexual relationships. Its name refers to four Korean words beginning with bi, meaning “no”: bihon (no marriage), bichulsan (no childbirth), biyeonae (no dating), and bisekseu (no sex).
Videos began to emerge of adherents pledging to “de-center men” and rid themselves of patriarchal beauty standards, with some even shaving their heads. Soon, podcast bros came forward to decry liberal madness, or to declare that swearing off beauty standards is definitely going to turn off men. Well, yes. That’s the point.
It’s not just these reactions that miss the point, but the entire 4B movement and those like it—the anti-patriarchy “sex strikes” that regularly make headlines, and the “BirthStrikers” pledging not to have children in the face of impending climate catastrophe. These are not radical acts of resistance, nor are they mere reflections of liberal degeneracy. Instead, they are post-hoc justifications for existing—and damaging—social trends. Namely, that our societies are declining in their ability to sustain families and, by extension, their commitment to the future.