"Stop being a Karen"

To me 'bitch' means someone who is being horrible just for the sake of being unkind. Though my dog would like to complain that is species-ist and there is nothing wrong with being a bitch.

I've never heard of 'Wendy' being an insult.

When I've seen it (IRL and on SM) it's when the 'Karen' is being incredibly racist. Or having a complete meltdown in Costa screaming at the staff because her coffee was 'too hot,' or shouting at people in front of family planning for getting abortions.

Again, not condoning it, but women can and do be unreasonable, hysterical, and in the wrong. But Karen is the wrong word to use.

'Karen' basically means any woman over 40 who commits the cardinal errors of a) having her own independently formed opinions and/or b) not pandering to the male ego.

Alternatively it can be used, like 'terf', simply to mean 'bitch'. However it's helpful because 'bitch' is only a term of insult used by misogynists. When woke progressive men use 'Karen' or 'terf', they can therefore safely call a woman a bitch and indulge their misogynistic tendences without losing their woke progressive card.

Yes, this is what I was trying to say earlier I think.

They can be. So can men. People can be hysterical and over the top. Though there are also problems with the term 'hysterical'.

Women can be hysterical and over the top. And the many examples I've seen it used, is with a hysterical woman.

And thats the problem right there.
We DO get "hysterical" its because our wombs travel and affect every part of us so its impossible for women to be rational

Really? Because I see dozens of threads on here about arguments with friends / MILs / mothers, threads about OW etc where the offending party is described as a "cheeky bitch" / "she's a complete bitch OP" and so forth, without any comment being passed on the language used.

Women can be hysterical and over the top

More misogyny. Nice.

There is, it's Ken. It's widely used in the states and on SM.

I agree with PP that I've only heard it being used when the woman in question is genuinely being over the top and unreasonable.
I've never heard it be used in a way to shut a woman down when she is being reasonable. Women can be hysterical and over the top. And the many examples I've seen it used, is with a hysterical woman.

I'm not condoning it, it needs to stop, mainly for all the women called Karen. It's horrible for them. But I don't agree with the blanket term of 'used to shut women up.' When most of the people I've seen using it are women and teens, and as above, women being utterly unreasonable and hysterical.

Both men and women can be arseholes

Because this genuinely isn’t some of our experience, and trying to ‘school mistress’ us into being taught your ‘right think’ is not going to go down well. Gammon is absolutely used in a similar way, and there are other male-centric insults that aren’t used against women. We don’t always need to play the victim.

I thought the male equivalent of Karen was just a*h**?

I don't think bitch does pass without the batting of the eye, a lot of the time.

Sometimes it does, but it is also often called out.

So can you explain why 'Karen' generates such ire when 'bitch' passes without the batting of an eye?

Can people stop trying to pretend there's a male equivalent of Karen! For the love of god, there isn't. It's beyond wearying.

Chad, Brad, Keith, Kevin, Nigel and gammon are not used to shut men up. If men complain about being called a Keith nobody is going to say 'oh ha ha KEITH, do you want me to get the manager?'

Nor is there a Chad haircut, or indeed anyone in the UK named Chad.

Not one UK child is embarrassed because their dad's name is a meme.

Why is there such resistance to the fact that misogynist terms exist and have no male equivalent?

Someone I know was called a Karen for screaming at boys who set fire to a bin full of paper in a park whilst under a 200 year old tree.

Someone was called a Karen for stopping youths throwing pebbles at swans

People get called Karens because people smoke where smoking is prohibited.

People get called Karens because they might suggest that pushchair users fold their pushchairs so that someone in a wheelchair can access a bus as opposed to standing in the rain with their little child.

I’m sure that they called me a Karen when the scaffolding men drove over my front garden plants and I told them to not erect scaffolding on my wall for the benefit of the neighbour until they apologised.

In reality if you are middle class and assertive it scared lots of men. Intelligent assertive women without a professional badge as a shield are fair game. Give them a professional label and there is a different reaction.

You're right, the Karens on MN are all racist. Including you, obvs.

Microaggressions 🙄 can’t we all concentrate on something worthwhile?

This is a great country to be a woman in. I feel like the better it gets for us the more we search for new problems to replace the old ones (with the exception of violence against women - UK isn’t awful compared to other countries but even 1 is too many).

It's not just misogynist, it's also ageist.

Even the posters who have suggested male equivalents (e.g. Keith) are being ageist, because every single one of these names is most commonly attached to an older person. No-one has suggested a 'young' name.

I don't believe there are as many in reverse. There are hundreds of insults to describe women and a handful for men

I think the pushback we see against the term is, in part, due to the origins of it. It was coined by BAME people in the USA to describe the type of white, usually wealthy or middle class women who would discriminate against them based on race.

I don't find it odd therefore that the majority white, middle class demographic of MN find it such a heinous term.

I see plenty of threads where women are described as bitches, cows etc with no reaction. But use the word Karen and my god...

I doubt women who find being called misogynist names offensive, have only been called names once. For many women, daily life is full of sexist microaggessions that have a cumulative effect and being called a Karen is yet another way of getting shut down.

Maybe I’m thick skinned but I don’t really care about ‘misogynistic insults’, there are plenty in reverse - dickhead, prick, bastard, wanker etc