No sex. No dating. No marriage. No children.
No kidding.
If you’ve spent any time on TikTok or social media following the election, then you’ll have heard of the 4B movement. But, what is it?
4B is a South Korean feminist movement in which young women swear off men until they have equal rights under the law. This includes not getting married, not having children, and not dating or having sex with men.
The movement started partially in response to the #MeToo movement and is believed to have contributed to the negative birth rate in South Korea. 4B also focused on violence against women, the wage gap, revenge porn, and a whole slew of women’s issues. The movement was born after a 23-year-old woman was murdered because a man felt that he’d always been ignored by women.
In the wake of the 2024 election, the 4B movement has piqued American women’s interest.
In particular, young women are upset with their men for voting so heavily for a candidate who was found guilty of sexual assault in civil court and chose the Supreme Court Justices that overturned Roe V. Wade. With abortion rights still under siege in the United States, many American women do not feel inclined to give men anything–especially when they would not be able to terminate an existing pregnancy.
Now, in what could be described as a reversal of the sexual revolution, American women are responding to the election by considering not having sex with men.
Notably, Gen Z men are already having significantly less sex than previous generations—mostly connected to a lack of socialization brought on by the increased use of social media. This is not unrelated to the results of the election, as NYU Professor Scott Galloway explained that when men have less sex, they consume more anti-woman media, like the content of Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan. This would, in part, explain the demographic’s shift towards conservatism.
The cultural and political gap between young women and men has widened, with Gen Z men overwhelmingly voting for Donald Trump, and Gen Z women overwhelmingly voting for Kamala Harris.
Already, Gen Z women outnumber Gen Z men staggeringly when it comes to college enrollment and graduation. This is another key factor in why so many young men voted for Trump, since Trump has traditionally performed better with men who did not go to college.
So how would Gen Z men fare following an outright sex strike in the United States? Will it increase their resentment towards women or will the strike succeed in its mission of quieting misogyny, sexism, and patriarchy?
Some have criticized the initial 4B movement by stating that it harms healthy relationships between men and women, thereby making the problem worse.
Others have pointed to the success of the 4B movement and the sense of agency and empowerment it gives women.
The repercussions of this sex strike will become clear in the years to come. Some men may receive the message that the consequences of not supporting women’s issues are that they will no longer be tolerated by women.
Within the next four years, we may be able to see how the 4B movement alters the already delicate relationship between men and women, and whether or not Gen Z will continue to be a divided generation.
While some might be hesitant to join in on the 4B movement, American women everywhere have already set about deleting their dating apps and are ready to cast aside men for the foreseeable future. Rest assured, women and men everywhere will be keeping an eye on the movement and whether or not it goes beyond TikTok.