Obligatory Simpsons video:
...Bart, Cart, Dart, Eeart...Can't see anything wrong with Bart!My first wife is named Karen, and if you looked up Karen in the dictionary, for this definition, her picture would be there. She is the most Karen that ever Karened and one of the many reasons she is an ex.
Those on the sexism side argue that it’s increasingly used to belittle and dismiss any kind of woman with any kind of attitude that speaks up for any reason, thus discouraging women from “making a fuss” for fear of being branded a Karen. A little like what happened with “social justice warrior” and “intel.”
Or was a common a girls’ name–like Mary, Kathy, Donna, Susan. Nowadays the popularity of many of the common girls’ names has declined substantially [and similarly for common boys’ names].
Bless your heart; you’re welcome.
I had never heard of Karen being used in a derogatory context either.
I can’t think of a single well-known antivaxer named Karen. Jenny, Barbara, Louise and Suzanne, O.K., but not Karen.
Millions of Burmese have…
Hmm… pak puteh means ‘white daddy’ in Malay. Mengapa anda memilih nama itu?
Way to Britta the thread.
I don’t think it’s necessarily racist or sexist. Just rude. Like “OK boomer”. I’m sure there are plenty of perfectly nice Karens that are the butt of jokes, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.
I genuinely thought you were talking about the Karen peoples of Myanmar Karen people - Wikipedia
Are these name associations a new thing? I don’t recall any from my sojourns in North America during the 20th century. (‘Chad’ is the one that might come to mind, but I first heard of it a few years ago, probably right here at SDMB.)
That’s what first popped into my mind, though I quickly guessed that it was a name-association like ‘Chad.’
There are Karen people not too far from me in Thailand, BTW. (Once when smokables were hard to find here, I instigated a mission to the hills for a Karen supply. That had a humorous end-result I’ve related elsewhere.)
I get it. The Karen’s of the world (and white people in general) are not used to being judged and criticized by a bunch of randos while they go about their daily lives. As a result of being treated with kid gloves their entire lives they seem to believe that their behavior and culture are beyond reproach and therefore cannot be criticized. The rest of us have been dealing with rando criticism off and on for as far back as we can remember. So whenever I read an OP like this I can’t help but wonder how the they would feel if they were black, latino or asian and had to face real racism and not this made up bullshit.
I don’t think you get it. Calling someone a Karen has nothing to do with that person’s name. A Julie or a Linda can be “a Karen”, likewise a Karen isn’t necessarily “a Karen”.
The subreddit entitledparents uses Karen as the genetic for the entitled mother. (Strangely, there’s no name for entitled fathers.) It has 1 million subscribers and has been around for five years.
I think this is pretty good evidence that the term is firmly embedded, at least in younger demographics.
I don’t like the “Karen” thing. It seems like a easy way to reduce middle age white women to a stereotype (“uggh, she’s such a ‘Karen’”) and then treat them as punching bags (“Shut up, Karen!”).
I don’t see a equivalent term on the male side, and I don’t see non-white women referred to as “Karens”.
I partially take back my earlier comment. I have heard of the Karen peoples; but wasn’t thinking of them in this context.
Right… Sambo, not Satchmo, my error!
It’s not about middle aged white women. It’s about a specific behavior. Demanding to talk to the manager. Calling the police on someone just living their life and not harming anybody. Sticking ones nose where it doesn’t belong especially with an entitled attitude.
This behavior is not specific to middle aged white women. It is also behavior that should be ridiculed.
Also, we are talking about internet memes and internet culture. There is no way to control this stuff, so I’m not sure what the debate is here. It is what it is, and nobody has any control over the internet and how people behave on it. How does anyone see this being resolved or corrected if you are opposed to this usage of the “Karen” meme?
Since virtually no one has ever heard of this, I seriously doubt that this can be a valid concern.