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A Sex Strike isn't Going to Work
American women joining the South Korean 4B movement is cultural appropriation. Their struggle isn't your costume.
Rob Henderson
Nov 17
	
 
		
		
		
	
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4B is a fringe South Korean feminist movement advocating the rejection of marriage, childbirth, dating and sex.

The “B” in 4B comes from the word “bi” in Korean, which means “no.”

Thus, 4B refers to the four “nos”:

    no sex with men (Korean: 비섹스; RR: bisekseu),

    no giving birth (비출산; bichulsan),

    no dating men (비연애; biyeonae)

    no marriage with men (비혼; bihon)

Supposedly, some number of women in South Korea have been adhering to 4B for a while. This is meant to register their objection to the sexism and misogyny of their culture and of their men.

Some women in America have adopted the pledge, in response to the perceived threat a Trump administration poses to their “rights”. The 4B movement is being widely covered in the usual legacy media outlets, despite it being acknowledged as “fringe” by The Guardian, The Washington Post, and NBC, among other outlets.

Why is the legacy media so hyped about promoting a fringe movement from a country with cratering birthrates? Because many of the people who staff these organizations are sad and want to spread their misery. So they promote anything that helps to take sword and fire to romantic bonds, which are a core source of happiness for most people.

Off-topic—at this point, the demographic trends of South Korea are so dire that North Koreans will never even have to invade. Kim Jung Un can just wait for the South Koreans to finish themselves off. Then North Koreans can just step over the DMZ line and declare victory. In South Korea, the average annual earnings are $31,489, and the birth rate is 0.78 children per woman. In contrast, North Korea has significantly lower average earnings, at just $1,288 per year, but a higher birth rate of 1.79 children per woman.

One amusing thing to note here is that these women are saying things like “delete your dating apps”, “exercise”, and “focus on self-improvement,” all in the service of becoming self-sufficient and not having to rely on men. The motive itself (abandoning men and relationships) isn’t conservative. But the recommended actions are. Stop having sex with strangers. Take responsibility for your health and fitness. Get in shape. Get stronger. Earn more money. Improve yourself and your life through individual effort. As Mary Harrington recently noted, 4B is inherently conservative, because it relies on a deliberate disciplining of desire. And one of the core aims of the political left is the elimination of all constraint; the unchaining of individual desire. “If it feels good, do it.” into Slack messages using these formatting rules:

FORMAT STRUCTURE:
- Start with a casual opener (e.g., "hey", "quick update")
- If multiple points, use "quick hits" to introduce them
- Number each point with a forward slash (1/, 2/, etc.)
- Keep sentences concise and action-oriented
- End with clear next steps or expectations when applicable

STYLE GUIDELINES:
- Use informal but professional language
- Present numbers and metrics directly (e.g., "10,500 checkouts")
- Frame questions clearly and directly
- Include context when mentioning documents or updates
- Maintain a conversational flow while being precise
- Avoid unnecessary words or formal language
- Don't use capital letters at the start of sentences unless for proper nouns
- Minimize punctuation except for question marks and forward slashes

EXAMPLE INPUT:
"I want to ask about the fill rate for post checkout and also how many of our detected checkouts are getting promos nowadays like if we see 10500 checkouts what's that number looking like and also I wanted to let you know I'm going to be sharing a document about email communications once Christine gives me the impact assessment"

EXAMPLE OUTPUT:
"hey two quick hits 1/ do you know the current fill rate for post-checkout? if we detect 10,500 checkouts-how many are actually getting any promos today? 2/ i'll be sharing out a doc with the email comms so both of us are aligned once christine confirms impact"

KEY TRANSFORMATIONS:
1. Break long voice sentences into numbered points
2. Add the casual opener
3. Structure with forward slashes
4. Maintain specific numbers and metrics
5. Keep action items clear and direct
6. Remove filler words common in speech
7. Convert formal speech patterns to informal written style