Imagine a World Without Men: South Korea’s 4B Movement Sparks Conversation
The Suffragette movement began over 100 years ago, yet women are still fighting for equal rights and striving towards social change globally. The Suffragettes campaigned for “Votes for Women” in the UK. They used a mixture of protest methods, including art, debate, propaganda, and attacks on property, to gain the right for women to vote in parliamentary and general elections.
More recently, in 2018, South Korea witnessed the “Escape the Corset” movement, in which women collectively rejected oppressive beauty standards. This movement saw many women reject cosmetic surgery and makeup, thus challenging social expectations.
Like their radical feminist predecessors, the women in South Korea today have an answer to patriarchy, the 4B movement aiming to fight against femicide, revenge porn and dating violence.
The 4B movement focuses on four areas: rejecting heterosexual marriage, childbirth, dating and heterosexual relationships. This social movement hopes to stamp out misogyny and the patriarchal structures. It offers women an alternative lifestyle where their choices are not dictated by societal norms but by personal autonomy.
This movement has coincided with a significant decline in Korea’s birth rate, a shift that many are attributing to feminism. However, this fails to consider that global birth rates are dropping, with a 50% decrease in the past 70 years. Factors such as increased female education, women in the workplace, reduced child mortality, and the rising cost of living have impacted this demographic shift.
The rise in women’s autonomy poses the question: is it detrimental for women to exert greater control over their lives? The 4B movement suggests otherwise, advocating for a societal shift where women’s autonomy is celebrated and seen as a catalyst for progress.
Society must undergo another paradigm shift, recognising that traditional expectations are no longer suitable within the fluid culture of the 21st century.
