Karen (slang)

See also: Karen (name)

Karen is a pejorative slang term that is used to typify a person perceived to be entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is considered appropriate or necessary. One of the most common Karen stereotypes is that of a white American middle-aged woman who displays aggressive behavior when she is obstructed from getting her way; such women are often depicted as demanding to "speak to the manager".

Origins and history

The origins of Karen as an Internet meme date back to an anonymous Reddit user, Fuck_You_Karen, who posted rants denigrating his ex-wife Karen, whom he alleged had "taken" both his children and, later, his house during divorce proceedings. The unintentional entertainment value provided by the posts led to the creation of a subreddit in 2017, r/FuckYouKaren, to both compile a narrative and share memes about the posts. Since Fuck_You_Karen deleted his account, the subreddit has since refocused to memes about the stereotype in general rather than one woman.. In May of 2020, "Karen" became a viral hashtag on Twitter, accompanying tweets depicting middle-aged white women.

Usage and examples

The Karen archetype carries several stereotypes that are common to "basic white women"; the most notable is the stereotype that a Karen will demand to "speak with the manager" of a hypothetical service provider. Further common stereotypes associated with the Karen pejorative include anti-vaccination beliefs, racism against black people, use of Facebook and a bob haircut with blonde highlights—pictures of Kate Gosselin during the airing of Kate Plus 8 were used in earlier memes about a "can-I-speak-to-your-manager haircut", and continue to be used in Karen memes—engagement in multi-level marketing schemes, and Facebook posts sharing trite motivational messages.

The stereotype saw greater prominence in mid-2019, when the formation of Tropical Storm Karen in the Atlantic hurricane basin led to memes likening the storm to the stereotype; several users made jokes about the storm wanting to "speak with the manager", with images photoshopped to include the "Karen haircut" on either the hurricane or its forecasted path. At the same time, the term gained prominence in Hispanic and African-American communities as a way to describe suburban white women who would supposedly call the police on people of color for minor trespasses, similar to the prior use of "Becky" in the same communities to describe the same archetype.

The term also saw heightened scrutiny in April 2020, with considerable debate over whether the term constitutes a slur: a Twitter account named "Friends of Journalism" asserted the term to be "an equivalent of the n-word for white women" and polled Twitter users on whether they would like to see it banned; 96% of respondents answered in the negative. At the same time, journalist and radical feminist Julie Bindel asked on her Twitter feed, "Does anyone else think the 'Karen' slur is woman-hating and based on class prejudice?" Bindel's comments provoked a wide-ranging debate; a columnist for The Guardian, Hadley Freeman, replied to Bindel saying that it was "sexist, ageist, and classist, in that order". Freeman's own comments received criticism from people of color—who believed Bindel and Freeman were denigrating their use of the term to discuss racism—and several misogynistic trolling comments. Other critics of Bindel's statements asserted that "claiming Karen is a slur is a very Karen thing to do" and likened it to Bindel's opposition to the term TERF.

The meme was also used during the COVID-19 pandemic to describe such women who would passive-aggressively enforce quarantine, as well as those abusing Asian-American health workers due to the virus's origins in China. The meme also manifested in different ways during different stages in the pandemic: prior to the announcement of local epidemics, Karen was used to also describe those hoarding essential supplies such as toilet paper; as quarantine restrictions continued throughout April and May 2020, the term saw use to describe those same people who protested the continuance of the restrictions because they prevented them visiting hair salons. Another belief of a "Karen" includes the myth that 5G caused the virus, which led to some people burning 5G towers down in the UK. Notable posts on Reddit mocking or criticising the stereotype included a meme in which a Karen pitted "stuff I read on Facebook" with a doctor's scientific expertise, a protester in Nashville with a placard reading "Sacrifice the Weak, Reopen TN", and, in one case, mocking a woman called Karen who doubted the pandemic's danger and later died.

Media began focusing on the usage of the term after it was used in the context of a video depicting a confrontation between a white woman, Amy Cooper, and a black man, Christian Cooper (no relation), in Central Park which occurred on May 25, 2020. The man said he approached the woman and asked her to leash her dog, as she was in the Ramble. a part of the park restricted for birdwatching. The woman was recorded calling the police and telling them that an "African-American man" is "threatening [her] life." At the end of the recording, the woman leashes her dog, at which point the man said the interaction ended. Police arrived shortly after the two had left but took no action. The woman's note of the man's race and her exaggerated claims were widely criticized and interpreted as reflecting negative racial attitudes towards African Americans. It also led some commentators to controversially dub her "Central Park Karen", which was followed by scrutiny of that term. The next day, Amy Cooper was fired by her employer.

See also

• Becky (slang)
• Chad (slang)
• Kyle (slang)
• Trixie (slang)
• Gammon (insult)
• Cracker (term)
• Bye, Felicia
• Bob cut

External links

• Karen entry at Know Your Meme