I was interviewed by email for an article in El País, a center-left Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. I obviously didn’t have anything to do with the photograph the editors chose to accompany the article.
“Ni citas, ni sexo, ni boda, ni hijos: coreanas que se plantan frente al machismo asiático” by Ana Vidal Egea (March 21, 2023).
“Judy Han, profesora y vicepresidenta de Asuntos de Pregrado del Departamento de Estudios de Género de UCLA. señala por email que el movimiento de los cuatro noes invita a reconstruir la sociedad. “Podríamos imaginar un mundo donde las mujeres no tuvieran que asumir toda la carga del trabajo reproductivo y doméstico sin ser degradadas o explotadas? Donde pudieran tener un matrimonio igualitario sin tirar por la borda su carrera profesional? Podrían las mujeres imaginar un mundo sin abuso, violaciones y violencia?”, se pregunta.
Es un planteamiento que podría servir en tantos otros países democráticos donde la desigualdad de género repercute en los índices de natalidad. Ante un sistema patriarcal aparentemente imbatible, cada vez son más las mujeres en todo el mundo que optan por renunciar a tener hijos porque no pueden conciliar su vida personal con la profesional. Es un problema que apela directamente a los gobiernos y cuyas consecuencias dan forma a una sociedad entera. Según Judy Han, “cualquier persona, hombres y mujeres, heterosexuales, queer, cisgénero y transgénero, se beneficiarían de tomar en serio estas criticas y crear una sociedad más justa.”
My quote was based on this:
“The 4B movement in Korea — bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, bisekseu – articulates a feminist critique of compulsory marriage, child-rearing, dating, and sex. Rather than see this as a narrow and dogmatic offshoot of any particular branch of feminism, I see the movement as coming from a genuine and deeply felt frustration with heteropatriarchy and persistent gender-based discrimination and sexual violence against women. It does not surprise me that many young women in South Korea are rejecting the societal expectation that they simply accept sexism and misogyny as the status quo and somehow embrace heterosexual marriage and childrearing as inevitable course of life. They’re asking us to imagine otherwise: could women expect an equal partnership with a loving partner, in a marriage structure and society that does not expect women to throw away their own plans for self-fulfilling careers? Could we imagine a world where women would not have to take on all the burden of reproductive and domestic labor without being demeaned or exploited? Could women expect their partner and family to participate fully in child-rearing and expect the state to create social policies such as maternity leave, childcare, and meaningful opportunities for personal growth? Could women imagine a world without abuse, date rape, sex without consent, and digital sex crimes? South Korean politicians must realize that these are not issues affecting only the women who explicitly support for the so-called 4B movement. Everyone – men and women, straight and queer, cisgender and transgender – would benefit from taking these critiques seriously and creating a more just society.”
