# Has the term 'Karen' become racist and sexist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 20, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253 "2020-02-20T19:38:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/161 "2020-03-07T23:02:23Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Well, would you use it for a man? If you would, you’d be in a tiny minority. I would not. I would also not have sex with a man, call a man pretty, buy tampons for a man, buy birth control pills for a man, marry a man, buy flowers for man, nor buy makeup for a man, among other things. But again, I am not talking about all whites, or all women, or all middle aged people. I am only talking about a subset of white middle aged women who share certain characteristics. To simply recognize certain differences as racist or sexist takes those terms beyond all recognition. The agreed upon (at least as I was taught) distinction is that you are stating or implying a belief in inherent inferiority of a group, almost always due to genetics. I can say that blacks commit crimes at a higher rate than whites, but that is not racist unless I am arguing that somehow they are genetically predisposed to do that. I can say that there are more male doctors than female ones unless that belief is because those precious little dolls don’t want to break their fingernails. Likewise to say that most people who do X are white middle aged women is racist and sexist is absurd unless I am saying that there is something inherent about both being female and white causes you, once you reach middle age, to do those things. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/162 "2020-03-08T01:06:18Z")
No male equivalent? Karen’s fareing better than Dick. Also: bonus points for anyone citing a pop-culture use of Dudley that is neither obese nor stupid. No, Big Dick Dudley doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/163 "2020-03-08T01:25:10Z")
The male form of Karen is Chad. But there is an entire subreddit about Kevins, meaning really stupid men/boys who are too stupid to live. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/164 "2020-03-08T01:38:43Z")
Nah, Chad is the musclebound meathead jock\* (eg, Duke Nukem) that insecure incels think all the Stacys (Stacies?) want. \*Old Scottish name. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/165 "2020-03-09T20:26:53Z")
[This](https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=123790225868627&id=100047129507238&set=p.123790225868627&source=47) seems appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/166 "2020-03-09T23:55:13Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > [This](https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=123790225868627&id=100047129507238&set=p.123790225868627&source=47) seems appropriate. What’s wrong with gut flora? ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/167 "2020-03-10T16:55:53Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > What’s wrong with gut flora? I haven’t seen it in the wild, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were people overstating the benefits of monkeying with your gut flora, or suggesting unsafe/ineffective ways of monkeying with your gut flora. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/168 "2020-03-11T02:27:20Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > What’s wrong with gut flora? [Lots of woo](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kavinsenapathy/2016/03/07/keep-calm-and-avoid-microbiome-mayhem/) in that there microbiome. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/169 "2020-03-16T18:39:29Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > I’m with them. Never heard of it. To me, “Karen” is a common girls’ name. 95% of my social life is carried out on the internet, and I’ve never heard of it, either. My first thought on hearing “Karen” is usually the '60s TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/170 "2020-03-20T21:07:55Z")
Karens are in great demand right now. [Even the CDC](http://thesciencepost.com/cdc-to-create-new-department-of-karens-to-help-fight-pandemic/) recognizes this fact. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/171 "2020-03-21T02:50:20Z")
Pardon me if this has been mentioned before, but Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack used “Clyde” as a synonym for a square in the early to mid-1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253/172 "2020-05-31T02:55:13Z")
CNN on the stereotype - and some actually nice Karens: [How Karen became a meme, and what real-life Karens think about it | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/30/us/karen-meme-trnd/index.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-term-karen-become-racist-and-sexist/848253.md?page=8)