ABSTRACT

Recently, in Korea, young feminists launched the 4B (4非) movement: bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, bisekseu, meaning the refusal of (heterosexual) marriage, childbirth, romance, and sexual relationships. The 4B movement encompasses not only criticisms of the pro-natalist turn in state policy and protests against it, but also various forms of self-help discussions and practices that are explicitly oriented towards women’s individual futures. In this article, we explore how the 4B movement has given young feminists the opportunity to envision the future that they had been discouraged from imagining. Presenting a lived critique of contemporary Korea, these feminists ask how young women are led to imagine their current, single life as a temporary state, as consumer capitalism and the patriarchal state together place these young non-married women in an economically vulnerable position. They see this as achieved by endorsing ‘feminine’ desires and a presentist lifestyle, as well as excluding non-married women from opportunities in the job market and state-sponsored benefits in welfare services. We argue that the 4B movement and its discourses on the future and self-help could offer these women one possible way to envision a feminist future as individuals without being part of the state’s reproductive future.

摘要

最近，在韩国，年轻的女权主义者发起了4B（4非）运动：bihon、bichulsan、biyeonae、bisekseu，意思是拒绝（异性恋）婚姻、生育、浪漫和性关系。4B 运动不仅包括对国家政策中亲生主义转向的批评和抗议，还包括各种形式的自助讨论和明确面向女性个人未来的实践。在这篇文章中，我们探讨了 4B 运动如何让年轻的女权主义者有机会畅想他们曾被劝阻无法想象的未来。这些女权主义者对当代韩国进行了生动的批评，询问年轻女性如何将她们目前的单身生活想象成一种临时状态，因为消费资本主义和父权制国家共同将这些年轻的未婚女性置于经济上的弱势地位。他们认为这是通过支持“女性化”欲望和现成生活方式，以及将未婚女性排除在就业市场和国家资助福利服务之外的机会来实现的。我们认为 4B 运动及其关于未来和自助的话语可以为这些女性提供一种可能的方式来设想作为个人的女权主义未来，而无需成为国家生育未来的一部分。