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What is the 4B movement? Why some are calling for a South Korean-inspired trend after Trump’s victory
After President-elect Donald Trump’s victory against Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election was driven in part by young male voters, some are calling for the use of South Korea’s “4B Movement” in the United States.
The presidential election was seen by many as a referendum on women’s rights. Trump has been found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and his vice president, former Ohio senator JD Vance, has previously referred to some women as “childless cat ladies.” The Harris campaign also ran on a platform of supporting a woman’s right to abortion, something that has been jeopardized in many states after the fall of Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which Trump has taken credit for.
Now, some women are swearing to abide by the code of the “4B movement,” a South Korean feminist approach that swears off men. Here’s what to know about the 4B movement.
What is the 4B movement?
In short, the 4B movement is a vow to swear off men. It is called the 4B movement because in Korean, the four tenets each begin with bi, which means no, according to a paper published by two South Korean researchers at Yonsei University’s Institute of Humanities.
The movement specifically calls for the refusal of dating men (biyeonae), sexual relationships with men (bisekseu), heterosexual marriage (bihon), and childbirth (bichulsan) in response to what South Korean women see as a patriarchal and misogynistic culture. The movement is also known as the “4 Nos.”
The 4B movement began in 2017 and gained more attention in 2019, amid a #MeToo-style reckoning in South Korea. Much of the movement has been built online, where participants call themselves “anonymous women” and share few personal details. It has no official leadership structure.
JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images
Women in the nation have fought against what Human Rights Watch calls “shockingly widespread” gender-based violence and called for harsher penalties for what’s called “spy cam porn.” They have also criticized the country’s extreme gender wage gap, which saw women paid 31.2% less than men in 2022, according to the KoreaTimes, and called out hiring discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
What impact has the 4B movement had in South Korea?
The 4B movement has been controversial in South Korea. The country’s president Yoon Suk-yeol said in 2021 that feminist movements were “blocking healthy relationships” between men and women in the nation.
The nation has been battling a declining birth rate for several years, which some credit to the 4B movement, according to The New York Times.
The 4B movement in the United States
After Trump’s election victory on Tuesday, women on social media have expressed interest in following the “4 Nos” of the movement. Trump made strong inroads with young men under 30, according to exit polls from CBS News.
Since the election, multiple far-right figures have made alarming statements about women’s rights on social media. White nationalist Nick Fuentes, who dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, wrote “Your body, my choice. Forever.” in a widely-criticized post on X. Similar posts have percolated across social media.
In response, women have called for an American version of the 4B movement. Use of the phrase on social media and in searches has skyrocketed. Some have also referenced “Lysistrata,” a Greek comedy where women take part in a sex strike to convince the men in their lives to end a war.
“We can’t let these men have the last laugh… we need to bite back,” wrote one X user in a post that has garnered nearly 450,000 likes.
The Trump administration could be a boon for business for private prison companies in the U.S. if the president-elect delivers on his promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
CoreCivic and Geo Group, the two biggest private prison operators in the U.S., both contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to house detained, undocumented migrants. Their stocks soared Wednesday following Trump’s election win, with investors betting the companies will see increased profits from a tough-on-immigration administration.
CoreCivic, which closed at $13.50 a share on November 5, is trading at $22 a share, while Geo Group, which closed at $15 a share Tuesday, is currently trading at $23.75.
“Obviously, investors believe there is going to be a significant increase in opportunity for both of these firms under the Trump administration,” Noble Capital Markets analyst Joe Gomes told CBS MoneyWatch.
Geo Group executives acknowledged on the company’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday that it expects the incoming administration to enact stricter border security policies and that the company stands “ready to provide additional resources to help ICE meet future needs.”
CoreCivic executives also said they believe the election result will drive demand for its services.
ICE is biggest customer
During Trump’s first term in office, from 2017-2021, immigration detention expanded at record levels, according to an ACLU report. In 2019, ICE detained an average of over 50,000 people each day. At times, that number exceeded 56,000 — about 50% more than peak levels during the Obama administration, according to the report. During his first term in office, Trump expanded the federal government’s use of private prison companies to detain immigrants.
As of January 2020, 81% of people detained in ICE custody across the U.S. were held in facilities owned or managed by private prison corporations, according to the ACLU report.
In his second term, President-elect Trump promises a radical shift in policy at the U.S.-Mexico border from his predecessor. That includes a pledge to oversee the largest deportation operation in American history, which could bring significantly more business to CoreCivic and Geo Group.
For the first nine months of 2024, ICE accounted for 30% of each company’s revenue.
Both Geo Group and CoreCivic said they currently have excess capacity to accommodate a larger population of detainees. CoreCivic executives noted that they’re taking steps to prepare to activate additional capacity to meet ICE’s needs. That could include reconfiguring facilities to accommodate a bigger intake area, they noted.
“There is room for an uptick in occupancy from a capacity standpoint and both companies expect an ask from the Trump administration for more beds. The question is how much, and we just don’t know right now,” Wedbush Securities analyst Brian Violino told CBS MoneyWatch.
Monitoring
Geo Group also provides monitoring services for ICE under its Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), a monitoring program using wearable technology that serves as an alternative to detention.
“If there is a finite number of beds and a significant number of people are detained, which Trump is discussing in his plans, there could be an increased usage in this alternative to detention,” Violino said.
Geo Group executives said they have the necessary technology and staffing resources to scale up the contract to more than several million participants, if necessary.
Funding from Congress
The degree to which ICE expands its contracts with the two largest private prison companies depends on how big of an increase in funding Congress authorizes. While Republicans won the Senate majority in Tuesday’s election, it remains to be seen which party will obtain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“That’s a big part of the story, and if it’s a Republican sweep, it will be easier for Trump to get funding from Congress to support this operation he’s looking to do,” Violino said.
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