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In the hours and days that have passed since it became clear that Donald Trump would be re-elected as president of the United States, a development has occurred. increased interest For 4B in the USA.

Young liberal women on TikTok and Instagram discuss and share information about the South Korean feminist movement in which heterosexual women refuse to marry, have children, date or have sex with men.

These women say they are angry and fed up after the majority of their male colleagues voted for a candidate deemed responsible. sexual abuse and the appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices. led to overthrow national abortion rights bodyguards.

In response, they say they swear at men and encourage others across the country to join them.

St. “We begged and pleaded and did everything we had to for the men’s safety, but they still hate us,” Ashli ​​Pollard, 36, of St. Louis, told CNN.

“So if you’re going to hate us, then we can do whatever we want.”

4B is an abbreviation of the Korean words bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, and bisekseu, and means no marriage, no birth, no dating, and no sex with men.

The 4D movement emerged in South Korea around 2015 or 2016, according to Ju Hui Judy Han, an assistant professor of gender studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She described the movement, popular mostly among young women in their 20s, as an extension of #MeToo and other feminist movements that have emerged in response to gender inequality in the country.

A woman in 2016 brutally murdered Near Seoul subway station – fail It is said that He killed her because he felt ignored by women. The incident sparked a national reckoning over how women are treated in the country and has expanded to include conversations about femicide. revenge porn And digital sex crimes.

Feminism and gender discrimination hot button issues in South Korea. Women in the country are paid approximately one third less than men data From the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development – the highest wage gap among OECD countries. And despite being one of the most developed economies in the world, women hardly are represented in senior and managerial roles.

The 4D movement was decentralized and existed in various iterations online and offline, making it difficult to assess its true size and scale. According to Han, over the years the movement has diminished and splintered due to disagreements over the role of gay and transgender women. But she says 4B and other South Korean feminist movements are drawing attention to gender inequality in the country and emphasizing collective action.

“It’s not a very common movement, but I think a lot of people empathize with the emotions behind it,” Han says.

“Why and how can anyone dream of getting married and giving birth when there is so much widespread violence against women, when there is so much systemic discrimination and inequality, when there are so many things that make marriage, birth and raising children difficult?”

While South Korea’s 4B movement has mostly faded from media headlines in recent years, the US election has revived interest.

“Many of us—straight or not, gay or not, married or not—will be in the same boat when dealing with oppressive and violent institutions,” Han says. “And we see each other.”

It’s too early to tell whether the 4B movement will seriously catch on in the United States. But at least so far it has sparked a lot of online debate among young women.

Some women are rediscovering the movement and vowing to join. Those who are already married or partnered say they plan to protest in other ways, such as boycotting male-owned businesses or refusing to do emotional labor for men.

Pollard says she learned about South Korea’s 4B movement a few years ago and that it inspired her to “examine what a life looks like without centering it so deeply on men.” She says she hasn’t dated or slept with men since 2022 and realizes she’s better off on her own. She has the resources to earn a living without getting married and plans to have children on her own.

Her decision to break up with men wasn’t necessarily an act of revenge, she says. Rather, it was about putting yourself first. Now that other women across the country are interested in 4B, she says she wants them to realize they have other options.

“If you push people far enough, they’re done,” he says. “How will this affect politics? We’ll see… but I think women and their joy will be something that can’t really be ignored anymore. Women are choosing themselves in droves.”

Alexa Vargas, a 26-year-old from Boston, says she stopped hooking up with men several years ago after a series of unhealthy relationships that included harassment and assault, and she didn’t notice a move until earlier this year. and language consistent with their actions. Although she says “men need a wake-up call,” her decision is more about herself and other women.

“I don’t know if men will change their ways. “I don’t know how this will turn out,” he says. “My purpose in life and in this movement is to protect young women and girls.”

Women who talk about 4B online say that some men’s responses to their posts have already proven themselves.

Abi K., A 27-year-old young man from Florida, She had recently broken up with her boyfriend over snide comments he made about Trump’s history of sexual abuse. When she posted a video about this and her decision to join the 4B movement, she said, men flooded her DMs with death threats and hateful comments about her appearance.

“That doesn’t really convince you to re-enter the dating pool,” he adds.

According to Han, the 4D movement is unlikely to become mainstream in the United States.

She says the group relied too heavily on the gender binary, and that those inspired to join it by the election outcome overlooked the fact that many women also voted for Trump. (Although Vice President Kamala Harris maintains her dominance over women, exit polls shows that his lead was smaller than that of President Joe Biden or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during their respective presidential campaigns.)

Hadia Khanani, a 24-year-old from Florida, also has reservations about 4B in the United States. Although she hasn’t pursued romantic relationships with men in several years in order to put herself first, she wants women to dig deeper and examine their own roles in perpetuating the patriarchy. He also worries about the consequences of further isolating men.

“The conversation online revolves around sleeping with men and dating men, obviously to protect yourself, but I think the misogyny and the patriarchy are much deeper than that,” she says. “I think a lot of this comes from the way men are raised in society.”

Although not many women embrace the strict tenets of 4D, for now those involved hope that recent discussions on the subject will lead women to think differently about themselves and their circumstances.

“I never expect everyone in America to hold hands and agree not to date men,” says Abby K. “I could definitely see this fueling change in some way.”

Han predicts that American interest in the 4D movement will rapidly wane. Still, she hopes the latest discourse on this issue will help women realize they are not alone in their struggle and build solidarity with others around the world.

“I think a lot of American women are trying to find a way to be empowered and survive,” Han says. “And hopefully what they find is not necessarily a specific movement like the 4B movement, but an acknowledgment that struggles for reproductive justice and gender equality are certainly not just American concerns.”

CNN’s Leda Joy Abkenari contributed to this report.