Nine years ago, a 23-year-old South Korean woman was stabbed to death in the washroom of a bar in Seoul, brutally murdered at the hands of a man she had never known. When apprehended, he admitted that he had never been acquainted with his victim before killing her. His motive, far from a personal vendetta, was a thoroughly irrational, universal hatred for all women, who he believed had ignored him his entire life. On this premise, the criminal elected to murder an innocent stranger as a statement against all women. 

The murder became broadly known as the Gangnam Station Murder Case—a name given to it during feminist protests which ensued in the aftermath. The subsequent weeks saw the emergence of a peaceful movement at train stations across South Korea, in which the youth gathered at station entrances to post colorful messages on the walls, expressing feelings of sorrow, fear, and disappointment about the abuse of women. There, they advocated widely against femicide, gender-based inequality, sexual abuse, and digital violence. 

With time, the burgeoning movement evolved into what is now called 4B, named for the four promises adopted by the female participants as pillars of the campaign: “ bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, and bisekseu,” or “no marriage, no childbirth, no dating, and no intimate relations with men.” Essentially, in following these rules, women participating in the movement aim to vacate the traditional role given to them by society. 

According to assistant professor of gender studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, Ju Hui Judy Han, this 4B campaign dawned around 2015 and became regarded as an “offshoot” of concurrent feminist movements such as #MeToo. However, 4B never was a centralized effort. Instead, it branched into a variety of iterations online and offline at an unquantifiable scale.

 Until recently, the movement was thought to have mostly fizzled out over the last decade. However, in the wake of results of this year’s presidential election, the movement has been renewed in the United States as women fear the referendum that has been on their rights. This year’s election draws particular concern regarding American women’s reproductive freedoms, thus increasing the appeal of the 4B boycott within the US. 

Other experts point to the widening ideological gap between male and female youth as a cause for the strong response many women displayed to the results of the election. Indeed, the Financial Times reports that women between ages 18 and 30 are 30 percent more liberal than men of the same age group. 

As of November, 4B has experienced an unprecedented surge of interest on networking platforms such as Tiktok and Instagram. Nonetheless, a number of women and leaders harbor reservations about the movement and its potential success. Many believe that 4B will be unable to accomplish any notable feat, since 52 percent of white American women cast their ballot for Donald Trump on November 5, 2024. Moreover, in an interview with PBS, 24-year-old Floridian Hadia Khanani expressed concerns about the consequences of a movement that could potentially further isolate men. She hopes instead that the 4B movement will encourage women to investigate more deeply their own role in perpetuating patriarchy, as well as the ways in which men are raised in society. 

Regardless, the reemergence of the 4B movement is symbolic of the fact that, leading into the upcoming four years, the protection of liberty will be at the forefront of American women’s minds. Perhaps they will take the initiative to more actively campaign for their individual rights, inspiring female communities in neighboring nations to join in solidarity. 

Though dwindled in South Korea, 4B now finds rekindled interest in the United States. It remains a question of whether or not women will seize the opportunity. 

Information retrieved from CNN, PBS, and The Daily Beast.