Will the Sex Strike in South Korea Spread?

4B Movement

A female movement has started in South Korea called “the 4B movement. It is a radical feminist movement that opposes male dominance and overall mistreatment of women by advocating “4 Nos: (1) no dating men, (2) no sex with men, (3) no marriage with men, and (4) no children with men. It seems to be an extension of women refusing to have children.

Low Birth Rates

There is a serious problem in much of the world in which birth rates have been decreasing. Japan and South Korea have some of the lowest birth rates in the world, with South Korea’s being 0.7 in 2023. China also has this problem, which seems to be mostly because of its misguided political policy in the latter half of the 20th century of restricting couples to having only one child in a effort to modernize China and thereby increase the financial net worth of families. But the Chinese Communist Party publicly recognized in this century that this policy was misguided. Some governments are now trying to overcome this low birth rate by offering couples financial incentives to have children, such as paying lower taxes.

Elderly a Burden on the Young

For many nations in the world, including China, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S., the average age of a human being is increasing so that there is an inordinate percentage of retired, elderly people. This is happening not only because of the decreasing birth rate, but also because of increased longevity due mostly to advances in medical science. The result is that when the government has a financial safety net for elderly retired people—such as Social Security in the U.S.—this imbalance causes and unfair financial burden on young people to have to pay more taxes for the government’s social program such as our Social Security.

Manosphere a Reaction to Feminist Movement

These South Korean women in the 4B movement seem to have a legitimate complaint about their society, that men are increasingly mistreating them. And indication of this is that some South Korean men are advocating the motto, “Your body, my choice.” This denigrates women in a sexual manner as if they are chattel, meaning the property of men. Such a demeaning attitude toward women reflects what is called “manosphere,” which exalts masculinity in opposition to the decades-old feminist movement.

This 4B movement began in about 2018 and still remains on the fringe of South Korean society. A 2022 survey of adults age 19 to 34 in South Korea found that about 80% of men and 70% of women still want to get married and have children (KBS News, October 16, 2023, according to the Wikipedia article “4B movement.”) Whether this 4B movement expands in South Korea and noticeably spreads to other countries in the world remains to be seen.

The Bible Tells Humans, “Be Fruitful and Multiply”

According to the Bible, this 4B movement is the wrong approach to trying to deal with this seemingly legitimate complaint of women about their society, though the men may have a legitimate complaint about the feminist movement as well. For, three times in short compass in the early portion of the Bible, in its first book, the book of Genesis, God tells people to get married and have children as follows:

(1) When God made the first humans, Adam and Eve, he told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1.28 NRSV).

(2) When God saved Noah and his family from the great flood by Noah building an ark for his family and animals to survive inside, we read, “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9.1).

(3) God furthered his goal of humans filling the earth and subduing it confusing the one language they had when they were building the city and tower of Babylon to, as they said, “make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11.4). Well, that’s exactly what God wanted them to do. So God said, “‘Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. … and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (vv. 7-9).

Jesus Said People Will Keep on Marrying

Jesus prophesied similarly about the end of the age and his simultaneous, glorious return to earth, which is still future. He said, “For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man,” referring to himself. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24.37-39).

Thus, in the end times, people still will predominantly be marrying and giving in marriage and thereby likely having children, just as humans have always done since the beginning of their creation.