Women online are boldly reminding the world that they – and they alone – have control over their bodies.
They’re doing so as they combat the significant uptick in misogynistic posts from far-right men that’s occurred in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s re-election. While attacks against women and their reproductive rights were undoubtedly present before then, a recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a research group, found that there was a 4,000% increase in the usage and sharing of misogynistic phrases following Trump’s win earlier this month.
This includes the now-viral message from white nationalist influencer Nicholas Fuentes, who shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, reading: “Your body, my choice.” It has more than 50,000 “likes” and over 95 million views as of publication. Self-dubbed misogynist Andrew Tate retweeted the post, before adding in a separate note of his own that he recently saw a woman crossing the road but “kept my foot down.”
“Right of way?” Tate added in the post, which has since been deleted. “You no longer have rights.”
In response, women are using their own online platforms to respond to their hateful attacks – a few even leaked Fuentes’ address publicly (along with the message, “your house, my choice”). Most, though, are simply naming the fear that comes with such an onslaught. One user on X, social media manager Rachel Charlene, posted that she’s witnessed Fuentes’ phrasing parroted in the comments sections of various women’s TikToks — which “is terrifying to me,” she added.
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Others, like fitness influencer Jada Nichol, are doling out safety tips and other bits of advice for women, including encouragements to delete their online dating profiles. “Stop talking to the men,” Nichol says in one TikTok. “Delete. Block. Say your goodbyes and leave it at that.”
@jada__nicohl Please add onto this if you can‼️ These are just the first few things that came to mind for me #4bmovement #4b
♬ original sound – WALKING BESTIE
Sex strikes are an ancient rallying cry – from the ancient Greek playwright who referred to it as Lysistrata, and encouraged denying men intimacy in order to end wars, to its modern-day incarnation as the 4B movement, which originated in South Korea in 2018. The number “4” represents the four activities women abstain from, including having sex with, dating, marrying or having children with men, while the letter “B” means “no” in Korean. There are other examples throughout history, too – in 2006, for example, when Colombian women who had relations with gang members in Pereira protested against violence by refraining from sex.
Their efforts proved successful, by the way – by 2010, the city’s murder rate had fallen by 26.5%.
Yet it’s also worth noting that political disagreements between men and women are growing, too, in tandem with this new push for sexual distance. A 2023 Gallup poll revealed that 40% of Gen Z women identified as Democrats, while 29% of Gen Z men say they are Republicans. One factor? More young men are feeling ostracized, and pulled in by conservative narratives that target and center them.
Perhaps some will see that leaning farther right is not a solution to that particular problem. Either way, women have made it clear that they’re in this fight for the long haul. As Nichols told her female followers on TikTok: “We have some work to do before January.”
