The name refers to its defining four tenets which all start with the Korean-language term bi (Korean: 비; Hanja: 非), roughly meaning "no".
[8][9][10] The four core tenets to the 4B movement are: A 2022 survey of unmarried South Koreans aged 19 to 34 found that 69.7% of women (compared to 79.8% of men) expressed a desire to marry in the future.
[14] Some 4B followers state that the movement helps protect them from the risks of marriage, including domestic violence and an unequal distribution of labor.
[17] Jung Se-young and Baeck Ha-na, two proponents, criticize marriage as reinforcing gender roles in South Korea.
For instance, the misogynistic social media platform Ilbe Storehouse grew in prominence in 2014,[15] and was followed by cultural "gender wars" in 2015.
[27] The word "corset" is used by Korean feminists as a metaphor for the societal mechanisms that bind and repress women, including toxic beauty standards.
[28] In a society where beauty holds immense cultural and economic significance, members of the "Escape the Corset" Movement criticize and resist cosmetic procedures, demanding skincare or makeup rituals, and the adoption of trendy clothing, all seen as perpetuating consumerism and misogynistic social norms.
In protest, they express their defiance by destroying makeup, forgoing cosmetic enhancements, shaving their heads, and rejecting fashionable attire.
The #MeToo movement in South Korea, like those in other countries, encouraged women to express their experiences of sexual harassment to inspire social change.
[32] Shortly after the election was called, TikTok videos mentioning 4B were viewed hundreds of thousands of times, and Google searches about it spiked by 450%.
[34] Radical feminism as a whole in South Korea has had a notable transphobic and homophobic (against male homosexuals) presence, with internal dispute about the acceptability of such beliefs.
[8][35][36][37][38] The 4B movement was significantly popular on (and widely publicly associated with) the South Korean website WOMAD, which is considered to be misandric, homophobic, and transphobic.