The New York Times is chaperoning the post-election mental breakdown of the young feminist left, after a Trump win which that bitter cohort sees as an emerging real-life Handmaid’s Tale. Gina Cherelus, who covers “dating, relationships and sex” for the Times, wrote “4B Movement Surges in U.S. Interest After Trump Wins Election” for the Style section on Friday.
And what is “4B”? You’ll be sorry you asked:
Following the results of Tuesday’s election, Jada Mevs, a 25-year-old living in Washington, D.C., is encouraging women to take action by signing up for a self-defense class, deleting dating apps, getting on birth control and investing in a vibrator.
As a response to Donald J. Trump’s election as president for a second time, and the failure of three referendums that would have protected abortion rights in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota, Ms. Mevs and others are calling on women to join 4B. It’s a radical feminist movement that started in South Korea and encourages the rejection of heterosexual dating, marriage and sex, as well as childbirth.
(The phrase “4B” stands for four tenets that start with the letter “B” in Korean: no dating, no sex, no marriage, no childbirth.)
One cheer for Cherelus for writing “radical feminist” – which also begs the question why the Times is promoting radical feminism as in an ostensible news story: "While it is too soon to know how popular such a stance could become in the United States, there are already women online who are adopting such ideas in a defiant display of self-protection."
Yet the Times has never showed any concern for keeping women safe as far as keeping biological men out of women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, and other female spaces.
Stripped of the manifesto trappings, the U.S. version of "4B" boils adown to the right to abort, with a dash of man-hating for bitter spice:
“If we can’t control what they do in terms of legislation and abortion rights, we have to do something for ourselves,” Ms. Mevs said. “Starting with cutting out the male influence in our life, and making sure we’re taking the safety precautions as well, visiting OB-GYNs and making sure we are best prepared for when January comes and the years after that.”
Ms. Mevs, who posted a video on TikTok explaining why she believes women should adopt this mind-set, had already begun decentering men in her own life around two years ago as a way of turning her attention back onto herself. Now, she said, her reasons have expanded to protecting her safety and health.
Cherelus added her own hysteria that "[w]ith the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Mr. Trump’s opposition to abortion, there’s concern that his administration could enact a federal abortion ban. Couple that with the spread of online misogyny, known as the manosphere, and its subset of incel culture, among self-described involuntary celibates who disparage women, there’s increased concern that women’s rights will be further eroded.
Which makes it odd that so many women voted against their own rights last week!
Alexa Vargas, a 26-year-old lab technician living in Boston, has incorporated the ideas of the 4B movement into her lifestyle. She had already been abstaining from dating and sex for more than two years, and following the results of the U.S. election she decided to commit to the movement.
The reporter noted differences between the U.S. and Korean movements, specifically that the U.S. version was more about abortion, not a commitment to a lifestyle change.
But the paper of record also fed into male-fearing paranoia:
There are concerns that the 4B movement might entice violence among men who disagree with a woman’s right to abstain from the four B’s, a reason Ms. Mevs is looking into boxing classes. She emphasized that women have never been guaranteed safety following rejection.
“If women doing this affects the entire country, good, and that’s the message,” she said. “If you want this country to run effectively, maybe you need to give women back their rights. It is as simple as that.”
Of course, there were no dissenting voices, no suggestion that "4B" is incel-type disparagement of the opposite sex, only with the sexes reversed and the celibacy voluntary.
