Karen

Considering what usually precedes it, how bad do you think it is?

A young Karen likely would have been the class snitch, tattling on her classmates to the teacher to get them in trouble. Middle-aged Karen is the one asking to see your manager. And a Karen at the peak of her powers will call the police on someone for a mild inconvenience.

The most recent Karen fires came from across the Atlantic, fanned by white British women claiming that “Karen” is — wait for it — an oppressive slur. “Does anyone else think the ‘Karen’ slur is woman-hating and based on class prejudice?” tweeted Julie Bindel, a British feminist writer, whose credentials in oppression include being known for espousing anti-trans rhetoric. Nonetheless, the conversation around Bindel’s tweet included white women who did feel Karen memes were offensive. Hadley Freeman wrote in the Guardian that the Karen memes were sexist. Another viral tweet went so far as to call “Karen” the equivalent of the n-word.

As a millennial black Karen, and a child of immigrants, I find the brouhaha hilarious and twisted. “Karen” is not and will never be an oppressive slur. Anyone who disagrees can take it up with my manag … — I mean, with history.

[...]

Freeman largely ignores race in her piece, save for one throwaway line: “People of color should describe their experiences of racism in whatever language works for them.”

Well, many of us decided that Karen, or, say, Becky, works for us. Black American expression, including hip-hop, rap and remix culture, drives global social media culture and shapes language. Take Becky, for example: It was rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot’s 1992 song “Baby Got Back,” in which a white girl, disgusted by the shape of a black woman’s body, talks behind the black woman’s back to her friend Becky. Over the years, and partially thanks to Beyoncé, “Becky” was popularized in the black community to refer to a white girl, especially one with backstabbing tendencies.​

I think it's more interesting that those now whining about it in the media are attempting to alter its meaning, history and context completely.

"Karen" is usually thrown out as a label to white women who like to remind people of colour of her white privilege by being racist at people of colour and minorities. As was posted above:

In America, white women are often believed and protected at all costs, even at the expense of black lives. In 1955, it was a white woman who falsely accused 14-year-old Emmett Till of whistling at her in Mississippi, which led to him being brutally beaten and killed. Fast-forward to recent years and we still learn about black people being arrested or assaulted because a white woman called the police unnecessarily. Becky and Karen memes and jokes should be understood in this context, part of a long tradition to use humor to try to cope with the realities of white privilege and anti-blackness.

Dehumanizing slurs don’t gain their cruel power overnight. They are part and parcel of generations of violence, erasure and discrimination. Calling the Karen meme the new n-word or asserting that it is a sexist slur only trivializes actual violence and discrimination that destroy lives and communities.

And to invent oppression when none is happening to you? Well, as a Karen, I just have to say — that is peak Karen behavior.​

You left out the 'it's a label for racist white women who threaten the lives and livelihood of people of colour with her white privilege'. So I am not voting.

My god, you're turning your own thread into a white privilege meme.

Understanding the “Karen” meme requires first understanding two things: One, the process by which memes born on social media find their way into the larger internet, becoming warped and critiqued by people who encounter them out of context; and two, the custom (also largely based in social media) of giving white women nicknames that reference their specific brand of racism. While “Karen” and “Becky,” another term for a white woman (further locked in by Beyoncé’s reference to “Becky with the good hair” in Lemonade) are standards, some women’s nicknames align with the racist incidents that brought them to the internet’s attention in the first place. In 2018 alone, we met Permit Patty, BBQ Becky, Cornerstore Caroline, and, of course, Kidz Bop Karen, with many of these names (and the general Karen) originating with Black women. The silly names don’t get at the weight of these women’s offenses or the danger in which they put their targets: writer Antonia Noori Farzan wondered, in a 2018 Washington Post article, whether these names are too cutesy for white women who put Black people at risk, writing, “Their memorable nicknames easily lend themselves to hashtags, memes, headlines, and ridicule. But whether the viral monikers are a productive way of calling attention to the experiences of lack Americans is a matter of debate.”

A white woman being called “Karen” hardly seems like something to squeak up about in the midst of the pernicious, violent racism defining our current circumstances. But perpetrators don’t like to be called perpetrators—indeed, many people had only heard of Bindel previously because, in 2019, she deemed the term “TERF” to also be a slur.​

 

I see..

But what does said white woman usually do to be labeled a "Karen" or "Becky", etc by particular groups of non-white people?

Would you rather people of colour just label her "racist moron" instead?

It's a means of being able to express against explicit racism and threats and white privilege.

Hah!

This is what I mean about altering its meaning and context.

Is that so it can be labeled as sexist and/or racist? Consider it in its actual context:

But it’s dishonest to keep pointing at the people over there who use a word for their own benefit to detract from the much higher number of much less powerful people using the same term to highlight the harm caused to them by you and people like you. Just because white men co-opt the language of “Karen” doesn’t make it theirs; and it isn’t sexist or ageist for an underpaid, Black service worker to tweet about what a Karen most of her white, wealthy customers are. It’s a way of dealing in the face of limited power.

It’s easy to be offended when something hurts your feelings, but it’s embarrassing to be an adult and not understand the way that power shapes impact. I’m sure that being called “Karen” when it’s not your name doesn’t feel great, but I’m also sure that having the cops called on you at your job for not accepting expired coupons from an angry white customer who swears they are valid doesn’t feel too great, either.

Middle-class white women don’t want to be called “Karen,” just as they don’t want to be called “middle-class white women.” They want their individuality known; they want to be known as Sarah, or Jane, or whatever their real names are. They don’t want to be grouped and judged based on something they have no control over. But the defining characteristic of a Karen is that she sees no one as an individual, instead moving through the world prepared to fight faceless conglomerate of lesser-than people who won’t give her what she wants and feels she deserves. She’ll wield the power that, yes, might be very different from that of a white man, as she makes her demands. And that feeling of entitlement is what makes her, undeniably, a Karen.​

Just remember, people of colour are deathly afraid of Karen, simply because Karen can cost them their job or worse, their lives.

 

Where would you get that from?

I think it is an expressive form or description from victims, that allows them to easily identify people who may and do at times harm them or cause others to harm them because of her white privilege.

You portray Karen as the victim, instead of the actual perpetrator. And that's what makes this thread hilariously ironic.

 

The poll is premised on casting her as the victim.

"How bad is the Karen slur on a continuous scale of OK to horrible?"

1. 0 Harmless silly internet fun that too many are offended by
2. Mostly harmless "You may be a redneck if..." fun
3. Harmful, but not surprising in a cynical world
4. Very harmful - needs to be fought as any other form of oppression
5. Analogous to the N-word - as some claim

​

So why do you think you are not casting or portraying Karen as anything?

Your poll turned her into a victim from the get go. You just seem to be asking how much of a victim she really is.

Your opening thread then asks if she is a victim of sexism, racism, classism, misogyny, ageism..

You may not use the word "victim", but your questions directly paint her as a victim.

Karen is the perpetrator of racial abuse.

She literally threatens the lives and livelihoods of predominately black people, especially black women - usually by calling the police when she feels her white privilege is being stepped on by those 'uppity negroes' when they do not give her what she wants, feels she is entitled to, etc.

American society - historically and presently - has an underlying belief of protecting white women from African Americans. Many black men and boys, and women were strung up on many trees in your country for speaking to, looking at or touching a white woman. Sometimes white women falsely accused black people of infringing on their whiteness, leading to death for the black accused.

So your portrayal and premise that she is somehow a victim, and you may not think that is how you have portrayed her, but believe me, it is, given the historical context of the meme is, yes, kind of hilarious and somewhat eyeroll inducing.

Karen's are racist. They like to remind black people, usually people in subservient jobs or roles, of her white privilege. If she does not get what she wants, if the black person she is dealing with, does not give her what she thinks she is entitled to, Karen will more often than not call the police and we all know how well that can go for African Americans in the US, don't we?

You can change her name to any other name, the reason for the meme will remain the same.

She is called Karen because it's a way for her victims to vocalise and explain using few words, how they feel and what they experienced.

Yes, but you have turned Karen, the perpetrator of racism and white privilege into the victim.

That is what I was addressing and querying that.

So am I.

"Karen" is insulting to Karen because no perpetrator likes to have their behaviour labeled or pointed out to them.

Labeling her as "Karen" is not sexist, racist, nor is it ageism and misogyny. White women who have attempted to portray it as such have their own reason. As I said, no perpetrator likes to have their offensive behaviour labeled in a negative manner and no white racist woman likes to have her white privilege mocked in such a way or any way really.

You have based the premise of your thread on a series of (apparently now deleted) tweets by Julie Bindel and suddenly, these questions by white authors and predominately white feminists about "Karen" start to spring up.

You want an alternate input?

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You mean there isn't?

 

Or maybe you should do a bit of research on the subject before portraying "Karen" as the victim?

And I am not saying this to be rude or offensive. It is just general commentary.

About as much as they are "targets":

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I'll be blunt.

Karen is a white supremacist.

When African Americans comment about "Karen", they are commenting on the social aspect and protection of white supremacism and white privilege.

In that context, do you think "Karen" is a slur?

Who are you determining are the "perpetrators" in this context?

African American people, predominately women, who are often the target of Karen's wrath, threats, abuse and white privilege?

If you ask an African American about "Karen", it is not exactly "fuzzy, poorly-defined stereotype". Perhaps it is because they are the ones who are the victims of Karen and her ill will.

I guess it's a case of you haven't experienced bigotry and racism, therefore you view reaction to it as being "fuzzy, poorly-defined stereotype characterised by certain behaviours"?

So, if you deem the people who are perpetrating the Karen meme - African American, predominately women - as the "perpetrators", then you are basically determining that Karen is a victim of sorts..

Karen's self identify by their behaviour and attitude towards others, especially people of colour.

Do you think African American victims of "Karen" should promote Karen's voice?

You have deemed it a slur.

How would you prefer black people refer to racists who threaten their jobs and lives by calling the police when said racists do not get what they feel they are entitled to?

"Karen" is used to define such behaviour and yes, it lessens the voices of "Karen", thereby reducing the psychological damage it (her behaviour and actions) does to the victims of "Karen" and her racist white privileged behaviour.

Karen is not hypothetical.

And therein lies your dilemma or issue with the subject of "Karen".

Not really, as I don't really see it as a slur but a description of behaviour from people who seek to abuse their position in society.

Then again, I don't see "Karen" as a victim as she is a perpetrator and a threat to the health and safety of others.

And I will be perfectly honest..

I really have issues understanding why it is so important to or necessary to portray "Karen" as a victim of a slur.. Why do we seek to protect white supremacists in society? Why should we? Why should we protect their "voices" instead of labeling their actions accordingly?

If a woman's actions and behaviour see her labeled as a "Karen", then is she a victim of a slur? Isn't doing that just, well, "Karen"? Because god forbid a white supremacist has her privilege questioned, huh?

So no, I don't see the parallel's between the two, nor do I consider Karen to really be a slur. And snowflakes don't really get people killed, arrested or threaten the jobs of others.

Racist behaviour is easily identifiable, especially if you have been on the receiving end of said racist behaviour. So your belief that it is "fuzzy":

Is not something that victims - people of colour - would agree with.

It's fuzzy to you because you have never been on the receiving end of it.

And it's interesting that people who criticise it in this thread have been white.. No?

Yep.

Just as this fellow:

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Might not self identify as racist because he may have black friends.