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6b4t - Blog Posts
it deeply concerns me that some popular takes against 4B from political women are “but who will birth the next generation of radical feminists?” and “but how can we change the world by refusing to participate in society?” as if the only morally correct way for women of “mature age” to participate in society is to marry a man. i also notice two key essential gender roles in this rhetoric . . .
I wish the women jumping on the 4B bandwagon would understand these points:
https://www.tumblr.com/femtoscooter/766688743202684928?source=share
https://youtu.be/b3KswFqFwt8?si=bidXJHUHJ32v5YcH
Anon, you are the one with a fundamental misunderstanding of 4B.
The post and video you sent me both cover the same topics, so I'll simply address them as one.
First, the author of that post is genderkoolaid. This is the same individual who posted a factually incorrect, misrepresentation of abuse statistics, in opposition to women's separatism. After my thorough explanation of how and why they were wrong, they chose to block me rather than admit to their misrepresentation.
All of this is to say, I am entirely unsurprised at their misrepresentation of another female separatist movement.
Sex strikes and 4B
Both posters erroneously compare the 4B movement to a sex strike. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the movement. A sex strike is a transient protest meant to induce political or social change. For example, women may organize a sex strike to be concluded only once particular abortion protections are passed. (Like all protests, historical sex strikes have had mixed success.)
The 4B movement is not transient. Women who commit to 4B do not stop and later return to men. It is also not designed to directly induce a specific political or social change. The 4B movement was fundamentally a reaction to the intensely patriarchal culture in South Korea. The women who joined this movement did so because they believed that a life without men would be better than a life with men. They are not "withholding sex" until South Korean men stop being misogynistic; they have taken stock of their reality and decided that completely separating themselves from men is the only feasible reaction to their circumstances.
Yes, this focus on women's lives and circumstances, and the mass social rejection of the status quo, is likely intended to bring about social change (i.e., make men stop acting as they do), but this is a byproduct of the movement, not the origin.
All of this is to say: the 4B movement is not a means to an end, it is both the means and the ends.
But American women aren't doing it this way
Some are, some aren't. I'm entirely unsurprised that in a culture steeped in postmodernist theory, some women are attempting to distort the meaning of the movement. While I do not read Korean, I imagine this is frustrating to the woman who created and committed to 4B.
The continuation of this postmodernist pattern is unfortunate, and I truly wish the women who meant "sex strike" said so, rather than co-opting another movement. That being said, the mainstreamed discussion of female separatism is still positive as it brings women's attention to the possibility of alternate choices. (And having men's typical, misogynistic, violent reactions on display to the mere suggestion of such an action have been, as always, enlightening.)
Comparison with political lesbianism
Again, this is a misunderstanding of both the 4B movement and political lesbianism.
Political lesbianism is a practice where heterosexual or bisexual women falsely claim to be homosexual.
This is not the same as bisexual women practicing female separatism (i.e., only forming relationships or having sex with other women) while still indicating they are bisexual. It is also not the same thing as heterosexual women choosing to forgo all romantic and sexual relationships (e.g., major parts of the 4B movement).
The issue with political lesbianism is the homophobia inherent in intentionally claiming you are homosexual when you are not and the associated sentiments (e.g., claiming you can "choose" your sexuality).
The "male" loneliness crisis
The video repeats the misinformation concerning the "male" loneliness crisis/suggests men are uniquely affected by social isolation. Again, this is patently false. There is a general loneliness epidemic – one that affects women and men equally – not a male-specific crisis.
General rejection of female separatism
The rest of their commentary is the standard rejections of female separatism (sprinkled with pseudo-liberal buzzwords).
I'm not going to re-hash every defense and benefit of separatism here, but here are a few highlights:
The same post from above using data to show how female separatism would result in an unprecedented reduction in violence against women
Someone else's post about the difference in segregation and separation
Someone else's post about the framing of separatism as an option
My post about how many men are misogynistic
My post about the fatal effects of misogyny
Actually just the entirety of my #male violence tag and #patriarchal culture tag
In any case, the 4B movement is a form of female separatism. (And notably, not a conservative movement. It is specifically designed to disrupt the current status quo and prioritize women who are marginalized under conservative ideology.)
Conclusion
So, no, women do not need to "understand these points", because "these points" are either factually inaccurate, a misunderstanding of the terms and movements involved, or a simple rejection of feminist principles with a pseudo-liberal veneer.
References below the cut:
The history of sex strikes. (2019, May 16). BBC Three. https://www.bbc.com/bbcthree/article/1fc04f3e-3128-4be7-a78a-28ea31db4101
057. Lysistratic nonaction. (n.d.). Global Nonviolent Action Database; Global Nonviolent Action Database. https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/category/gene-sharps-198/057-lysistratic-nonaction
Palmer, O. (2022, January 31). Political lesbianism remains a contentious debate in lesbian feminist circles—Is there a generational divide? Feminist Current. https://www.feministcurrent.com/2022/01/30/political-lesbianism-remains-a-contentious-debate-in-lesbian-feminist-circles-is-there-a-generational-divide/
Kuk, J., Park, H., & Norma, C. (2018, November 8). Radical feminism paves the way for a resurgent South Korean women’s movement. Feminist Current. https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/11/07/radical-feminism-paves-way-resurgent-south-korean-womens-movement/
Lee, J., & Jeong, E. (2021). The 4B movement: envisioning a feminist future with/in a non-reproductive future in Korea. Journal of Gender Studies, 30(5), 633-644.
We made a huge mistake by introducing 4b movement to these moronic American liberal feminists. I think just encouraging them to separate themselves from the males would have been enough. And gradually we could have introduce them to each aspect of the 6b4t. Now look at them ruining the hard work and sacrifices of South Korean women. I am certain there will come a time when american liberals will take the entire credit for the 4b movement shoving SK women aside just like they did with feminism. We shouldn’t let them do this! We need to take back 4b from them before they take it from us and ruin it.
CALL TO ACTION!
EDIT THE 4B MOVEMENT WIKIPEDIA PAGE
When the narrative is controlled by men, of course, the Wiki page is going to be awful and revisionist. So it is really up to us to edit the page. Right now the top editor is a Korean male. The article is semi-protected to prevent vandalism so you need to have an account to edit, your account needs to be at least 4 days old, and you need to make 10 edits.
1. Create a Wiki account if you have not done so.
2. Complete 10 edits (these can be basic edits that fix basic spelling or grammar errors.
3. Wait for 4 days
4. EDIT the hell out of that page.
While you are waiting please do research. I would recommend using Naver (Korean search engine), looking through the WOMAD website (they are credited with creating the movement), and reading over Wikipedia rules and guidelines.
SHARE THIS PLEASE
I love how this:
Somehow magically turned into this:
This is revisionist history. This is white American males revising reality to attack and demean South Korean women and damage a woman's movement. This is textbook colonialism.
I can NOT fucking believe i am watching this shit happen in real time.
Overnight I've watched the wiki page for 4B go from a single line of text describing it as a feminist movement and four more lines beneath it explaining the rules, to now it being a several paragraph screed about how it is a terf riddled, transphobic, transwomen hating movement made intentionally and with the sole purpose to stop women from having sex with transwomen.
The article editing history shows this all being done overnight. It also shows it mostly being done by a single user who INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH has been flagged multiple times for getting into editing wars on the CIRCUMCISION and FORESKIN wiki pages!!!! You cannot make this shit up!!
American women only briefly floated the idea that they shouldn't have sex with anyone that can get them pregnant in a time where pregnancy could be a death sentence and like fucking LIGHTNING these folks come out the gate to shut it down in every way possible.
