Do you find the term/meme 'Karen' an insult?

[VladmirsPoutine]

This is a discussion I have recently read a few opinion pieces about.

Do you think it's indeed classist, racist and misogynistic to describe certain women as a Karen?

[AndromedaPerseus]

What qualities are attributed to ‘Karens’

[Mrsmorton]

Yes.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I think all the memes that use women's names to insult people are sexist. I've seen others, not just Karen. It's just a modern variation on blonde jokes. Ascribing stupidity to women.

Is Karen a particularly classed name? And racist? That's escaping me.

[Janaih]

Yes. See also memes referring to "can I speak to the manager? haircut".

A middle aged woman with a low maintenance haircut daring to question poor customer service. How dare you Karen, back in your box!

[Apolloanddaphne]

Yes because it is my actual name. It really boils my piss.

[VladmirsPoutine]

Is Karen a particularly classed name? And racist? That's escaping me.

Racist in terms of being anti-white. Classist... I'm not entirely sure how because I can't ascribe Karen to a particular class but most certainly it denotes a certain anti-white-woman rhetoric.

[mumsiedarlingrevolta]

Yes.
Because every time I have seen it used it has been in a disparaging, negative, insulting way.

Nothing subtle about it

[AgileLass]

Highly sexist term, especially when used with such glee by lefty dudebros.

[VladmirsPoutine]

@AndromedaPerseus and for those not in the know here's a link:

www.dictionary.com/e/slang/karen/

"Karen is a mocking slang term for an entitled, obnoxious, middle-aged white woman. Especially as featured in memes, Karen is generally stereotyped as having a blonde bob haircut, asking to speak to retail and restaurant managers to voice complaints or make demands, and being a nagging, often divorced mother from Generation X."

[MonsteraCheeseplant]

Is it unclear? Because it's quite plainly misogyny to me.

[TinselAngel]

Previous thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3860225-Please-can-we-talk-about-using-the-name-Karen-as-an-insult

[TheSmelliestHouse]

Yes

[SpeedofaSloth]

Yes.

[VladmirsPoutine]

@TinselAngel I didn't see the other thread. I'm mainly to be found in Chat and after a brief spell being told off after TWAW threads I left FWR

[OverMy]

Misogynist - yes, racist - not sure possibly depending on country, classist - same as racist. I’d add ageist. It’s a name that was very popular in a window of time.

It’s a meme’d scolds bridle.

[littlemeitslyn]

Boils my piss is a disgusting and ignorant statement

[twoHopes]

Yes. It's thinly veiled hatred of middle-aged women. A name like Karen was chosen because it was popular in a certain era and then fell out of fashion so everyone knows what we mean by a "Karen". I remember growing up people used to refer to certain women as "Sharons" which was certainly a class insult. It's all horrible as far as I'm concerned.

[Littlewinterrobin]

Yes, and ageist.

[YgritteSnow]

I hate any time a name is co-opted to represent something spiteful or unpleasant tbh. People would never do it to their own name would they but it's just fine when it's other people's.

[FredericcaPotter]

Is there a male equivalent?

I also hate the MN inspired "Is she a Wendy"

[Gronky]

I don't think it's any more or less sexist than using 'Melvin' or 'Gary' as insults and it's definitely not misogynistic. I would more associate using 'Mary' (describing an effeminate man, with the implication of homosexuality) as being both sexist and misogynistic, as that's directly defining traits that the user views as exclusively feminine as well as being implicitly undesirable in males.

In the case of a 'Karen' the sex/gender of the target is more incidental than a specific target.

[AJTracey]

Not racist!!! Not particularly classist either. Sexist and ageist. Karen isnt a lower or upper class name. Just very a popular regular name of a certain time, ie. some memes use Jackie, Linda, Janet or Susan. All in their 50s or 60s now?
Just another way to put down older middle aged women. Sometimes is is funny because it is a true...sorry! sometimes very offensive.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Do people use Melvin and Gary as insults? I see memes with female names all the time.

[AJTracey]

Last sentence - I’m sorry!

[Gronky]

Do people use Melvin and Gary as insults?

As with Karen, it's more of an American insult but they were popular when less people were online (at least the mid 90s at the latest - mid 2000s) so I don't recall them being used widely in British culture. My (male and female) American colleagues at the time certainly used them with reasonable frequency.