The air was chilly however the environment buzzy as a crowd of two,000 ladies streamed into a 3‑story constructing in Seoul’s stylish Seongsu‑dong on the primary day of November. They’d come for a gathering by no means earlier than seen in Korea: a good devoted to “bihon,” the motion that rejects heterosexual marriage and celebrates the selection to stay single.
Regardless of an almost 70 % surge in single-person households over the previous decade, in keeping with the Korea Institute for Well being and Social Affairs, marriage is deeply ingrained as a social expectation, particularly for ladies, who typically face harsher judgment primarily based on their marital standing.
Bihon pushes again. The phrase itself stands aside from “mihon,” the extra widespread Korean time period for “single.” The prefix “mi” may be translated as “not but,” suggesting that the present state is merely momentary and that marriage will comply with in due time.
Nevertheless, up to now few years, a rising variety of the nation’s younger feminists have begun to embrace bihon — actually “no marriage” — as a deliberate alternative to stay single. It’s each an act of resistance and a declaration of independence, socially and economically, in a society the place ladies face the widest gender pay hole amongst OECD nations, alongside deep-rooted discrimination and intercourse crimes.
For a lot of, selecting singlehood in a society the place marriage is handled as an anticipated milestone is a deliberate act of refusal — a rejection of entrenched misogyny and, extra essentially, of the idea that girls want males to outlive.
However bihon goes past merely rejecting the concept of marriage. It primarily challenges the establishment of heterosexual marriage as a patriarchal norm. In that sense, it aligns carefully with Korea’s 4B motion — boycotting intercourse, childbearing, courting and marriage with males — and sometimes stands in solidarity with LGBTQ+ communities, particularly on condition that same-sex marriage stays legally unrecognized in Korea. Current legal guidelines solely acknowledge heterosexual unions, reinforcing a slim definition of household and leaving little room for alternative routes of residing.
“Bihon in Korea is about rejecting patriarchal buildings and striving to stay as energetic brokers of 1’s personal life,” Moon Younger-one, president of the Korea Bihon Girls’s Affiliation (KBWA), which organized the debut version of B-Truthful, informed The Korea Instances.
“Traditionally, marriage has by no means actually been a matter of free alternative for ladies. That’s solely now starting to alter as extra obtain larger training and pursue careers. For them, bihon provides a approach to ask whether or not they can stay freely, safely and fortunately, not as somebody’s spouse or mom, however as an individual, entire and full.”
Moon Younger-one, president of the Korea Bihon Girls’s Affiliation, which organized the inaugural version of B-Truthful, speaks throughout the occasion’s opening ceremony, Nov. 1. Courtesy of B-Truthful Organizing Committee
In response to the Ministry of Information and Statistics’ 2024 social survey, 68.9 % of single ladies responded that it’s completely effective to not marry — the very best charge amongst all demographic teams.
Korea’s digital panorama has been instrumental in amplifying this shift because the mid-2010s, significantly amongst ladies of their 20s and 30s. But the motion’s largely on-line and nameless nature has made it tough to gauge its true breadth.
The launch of B-Truthful final weekend provided a uncommon likelihood to witness the bihon neighborhood collect not as usernames however as faces in the identical room.
“I feel that is virtually the primary time seeing hundreds of bihon-embracing ladies congregate in a single house,” stated a senior at Sungshin Girls’s College and member of the college’s feminist membership, GPS.
“Till now, I had solely talked about bihon life with a couple of shut pals,” famous Jang Younger-eun, a 25-year-old workplace employee in Seoul. “At work or with my dad and mom, every time I introduced it up, I’d hear them dismiss my considerations with issues like, ‘Individuals like that every one find yourself getting married anyway.’ However coming right here, seeing so many like-minded strangers, I felt this overwhelming sense of solidarity.”
Not everybody views the rising bihon motion with approval. Social conservatives have accused it of fueling Korea’s falling birthrate, the bottom on this planet at 0.75. But specialists level out that such criticism overlooks the deeper roots of the disaster, from work cultures that discourage parental depart to the hovering prices of housing, baby care and training.
It additionally should take note of a widening gender divide within the nation, the place problems with feminism and structural inequality have grow to be deeply polarized in politics. Due to this fact, they notice, the problem can’t merely be blamed on ladies who select to stay single.
Guests piece collectively a puzzle that spell out B-Truthful’s mission assertion in Seoul’s Seongsu-dong, Nov. 1. Courtesy of B-Truthful Organizing Committee
From survival to celebration
For Moon Paran, a author and slapstick comedian who moderated the honest’s talks, the turnout itself spoke volumes. The truth that 2,000 folks attended an occasion organized by a fledgling nonprofit like KBWA with out main funding or company backing reveals how bihon has grown into “a logo of the occasions that may now not be dismissed.”
“Somewhat than attempting to push these lives again into the previous order, society wants to acknowledge the brand new present they characterize. The honest made their presence seen and not possible to disregard,” she stated.
In response to the organizers, it was vital that B-Truthful really feel heat and alluring — not a venue for grand political statements, however a spot the place guests may casually share that an single life may be simply as full and cheerful.
“There’s nonetheless a lingering stereotype that bihon life is destined to be lonely and someway poor, that singlehood means shouldering each burden by oneself,” stated KBWA’s Moon Younger-one. “Dealing with alone these countless prejudices and assaults, typically disguised as innocent questions, may be exhausting. Via this honest, we wished to indicate that there’s power and pleasure locally, that we are able to flip our lives right into a form of pageant.”
Guests crowd B-Truthful’s cubicles, starting from ladies’s rights collectives to actual property and authorized counseling companies, Nov. 1. Korea Instances photograph by Park Han-sol
Members share handwritten reflections on what bihon life means to them at B-Truthful, Nov. 1. Korea Instances photograph by Park Han-sol
Equally vital was guaranteeing that the occasion provided sensible steering for these searching for to steer a way of life not primarily based in marriage.
To that finish, the lineup of 60 taking part cubicles was intentionally various, starting from ladies’s rights collectives to actual property and authorized counseling companies, in addition to hair salons, pet trainers, female-run cleansing companies and inclusive sex-toy outlets.
“As extra ladies stay alone, I’ve typically seen single shoppers develop anxious when a male cleaner enters their studio residences,” stated Jeong Yeo-wool, founding father of 204 Clear, a service that connects feminine cleaners with ladies shoppers. “Should you’re paying for a service, it’s best to by no means have to hold that sense of unease.”
Jeong Kyung-ah, who runs Neulpum, a pet coach training middle, famous she wished to spotlight the presence of feminine professionals for the rising variety of ladies elevating pets on their very own.
“Coaching animals requires a number of sensitivity and emotional understanding,” she stated. “Girls can excel at that, but the sector has lengthy been dominated by males. We’re working to alter that by coaching extra feminine professionals.”
Pleasure Park, proprietor of the hair salon Joylight, which provided free on-site consultations and haircuts, stated her store’s mission is to create types that don’t have to adapt to standardized female magnificence beliefs, whereas additionally eliminating the “pink tax,” the value hole that always exists between males’s and ladies’s haircuts.
“I’ve had stylists inform me I shouldn’t get a two-block lower as a result of that’s ‘for males,’” she recalled. “And when Olympic archer An San wore her hair brief, she was attacked on-line for being a feminist. It struck me as absurd {that a} coiffure alone may someway be taken to outline an individual’s beliefs.”
A sequence of talks at B-Truthful addressed points that carefully intersect with ladies’s on a regular basis lives, Nov. 1. Courtesy of B-Truthful Organizing Committee
Past the cubicles, B-Truthful additionally hosted a sequence of talks addressing points that carefully intersect with ladies’s on a regular basis lives. Subjects included private finance and financial planning, essential in a rustic the place the gender pay hole stays stark, and actual property methods tailor-made for single ladies, since most present assets privilege newlyweds and households with youngsters.
The profitable debut of B-Truthful gave Moon and her affiliation confidence to make it an annual cultural celebration.
“Subsequent yr marks the tenth anniversary of the Gangnam Station incident,” she stated, referring to the high-profile 2016 homicide of a younger lady close to Seoul’s Gangnam Station by a male stranger — a case that sparked a robust wave of feminist activism in Korea.
“We’re planning to return on an excellent bigger scale, and as we did this yr, we’ll be donating a part of the proceeds to Nanun Bom, a help group for the well being of younger ladies. Many bihon ladies inform us that their life aim is first to be wholesome and blissful after which to assist construct a greater, safer future for the following technology.
“Sometime, I’d love for the honest to broaden to different cities in Korea — perhaps even abroad,” she stated.
B-Truthful’s banner hangs on the venue. Korea Instances photograph by Park Han-sol
