"Stop being a Karen"

So sorry to hear that. Awful.

There's no male equivalent. A name that is used by women to shut down men if they dare to speak their mind or exhibit an emotion. You really think there's an equivalent?

I live in Canada, but travel a lot.

I've had the same experience working in the UK and in the States.

There’s definitely a male equivalent too, but he throws in some sexism/racism usually and likes to call everyone a snowflake while being utterly unable to take a joke back. Possibly Simon or Nigel.

Simon and Nigel aren't used as insults in the same way though, are they? Although I reckon Nigel has other connotations - being a bit of an anal dweeb.

That’s awful. Is that in the UK?

The worst racist behavior I've encountered was white women. Hands down. Most white women in my experience have no self awareness of their own racism, and play the victim a lot.

I worry about my son in the future around white women.

Victoria Smith writes about the demonisation of middle-aged women in her book: Hags. “Karen” is the latest in a long line of slurs to shut down women of a certain age. It’s the modern equivalent of “witch”.

I was called a "Karen" last week when a delivery driver stole £100+ of groceries from me. I had placed an order & was tracking on their app when I saw it marked as "delivered" a mile from my home in a parking lot. I contacted the store & the delivery service. Five hours later, the driver left the (now spoiled) groceries in front of my door, shouting at my doorbell camera that I was a Karen for complaining.

It went from "unreasonable and entitled" to "insulting any woman who dares to speak" quite quickly, didn't it?

I understand it as a term a man uses when a woman displays any emotion or behaviour that the man doesn't like, to completely belittle her. Is she upset about something? Don't worry about considering her and understanding why she's upset. Karen. Is she speaking articulately about a subject that a women shouldn't know about, like engines or football, and is frustrated that he can't keep up? Karen. Is she angry that the headteacher (usually a man) is ignoring her child's needs? Karen. There you go, all sorted. She was unreasonable and shouldn't be bothering you anyway because you're more important because you're a man. See? Just one word is all it takes to show how much better all men are than women. So easy.

Yeah it's awful to take a name to be negative 😕 Sadly that's society, no imagination to come up with something different. Well, actually the one person who started it all off and then humans as sheep continue it. X

This is exactly the correct meaning. I'm tired of people rewriting history.

and exactly how do you think someone whose name is actually Karen feels reading that? I agree people exist with exactly those attributes you describe - but to call them 'Karen' is insulting to those of us with the name.

I was not familier with the Wendy term. It happend to me many times and I am actually happy that my friends are now friends and go on doing things together even without me. I can't see an issue on that. I thought Karen was used for racist women.

@MelodyMalone I think because the typical woman who fits the Karen insult is a middle aged white woman with slightly dated dress sense and slightly dated hair. And a very dated attitude towards race (sometimes)

The name Karen is a dated old fashioned white name to millennials and genZ's. If it wasn't Karen, it would've been Andrea, Linda, Mandy or Sharon.

That's my guess anyway.

I'm not saying I think those things btw, I don't. But I think that's what people think who insult people calling them karens.

Yes, exactly. Nobody is disputing that these people exist. But why attach a name, held by many people most of whom aren't racist arseholes, to it?

You should change driving instructors! I am one and I don't waste my clients' valuable time talking about myself. They pay to learn to drive, not listen to my personal stuff. I'm also called Karen and, when the term reared its ugly head when I was a secondary school teacher, the verbal abuse I suffered from lippy teenagers was unbelievable (annoyingly, our full name was printed on our lanyards - most unacceptable 😡).

All these examples of crap behaviour and demonstrating what you think is a Karen are just missing the point. Yes, there are shitty racist people in life, but they are exactly that - shitty, rude, racist arseholes. There's just no need to use a woman's name for this, I just don't understand how people can justify this?

Men have many. Nigel, Ken and Keith are most popular.

Bye Felicia

I am afraid the only Karen I know completely fits the description. Maybe that's just her bad luck.

I've seen it used online a lot. The people using it don't generally know the race of the person it's directed at.

Please let’s all start calling misogynistic men who use ‘Karen’ to shut assertive women down by an equivalently disrespectful name. A Kieron would be an idea maybe?

I heard the other day that the male equivalent is a Keith! I thought it was joke, but apparently not

I’m a Karen and couldn’t care less 🤣🤣
often have jokes with the family about it. Haven’t heard it that often to be honest I
laugh it off

'I’m mixed race, my mother was called a Karen when I was with her for asking a teenager not to swear around my mixed race child - do you think she was racist?

I find it incredibly offensive that this word is used to describe older women - it’s trivialises actual racism and is also misogynistic'

@Lizzie67384 not at all and I'm so sorry she went through that. I was just stating what I had observed. I'm not justifying the Karen movement. It needs to stop. It's just my observation of the connotations around the word that I've seen.