Boston.com February, 2025
This Valentine’s Day, some women are swearing off … men. Welcome to the world of 4B. 4B is a South Korean movement that’s picked up steam in the U.S. Here’s the deal: In 4B, women don’t marry, date, or have sex or children with men as a form of protest. By most accounts, its size and scope in South Korea was relatively small. But after President Trump’s re-election in November, Google searches for the term received a huge bump in the U.S. It also exploded on TikTok, spurring pretty much every major media outlet to write about it.
The election left a lot of women feeling “like they’re under attack,” according to Suzanna Danuta Walters, director of Northeastern’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program. That’s exactly how 29-year-old Brooke Foster felt after seeing millions of men vote for Trump, despite his part in rolling back reproductive rights. Just as gut-wrenching: The way his victory inspired posts like “your body, my choice.” “That was terrifying,” Foster said. “As a woman, one of your worst nightmares is the idea that someone would take advantage of you like that.” She now chronicles her own 4B journey on TikTok.
