STOP calling people "a Karen"

Being a Karen isn't a protected characteristic lol

By that logic throwing bacon at a synagogue is fine, because bacon's legal. Or yelling 'jihadi' at a Bangladeshi family walking down the street isn't a slur, as jihadi is in the dictionary.

Yes

did not remember that Farage rhymes with garage has the first name of nigel 😀but its still not aimed at men…

This is a dig at women not men anyway

How many men have the first name Gammon??

Are there so many women behaving badly that it justifies a worldwide slur? Because I don’t see them.

Really? I would imagine it's a comparison to the most famous Gammon in the UK. Farage rhymes with Garage.

I think it fits certain middle aged entitled women who behave badly in public. It's unfortunate that the name Karen is used as opposed to another name but it's easier to say than Denise or Tracy. It's just a popular name among that age group. Online anyone being referred to as a Karen in videos is really obnoxious, entitled or unreasonable or all of the above. We do actually have a name for men it's Gammon.

I never see intelligent people using it. It’s always the knuckle draggers on my local Facebook page or tabloid newspaper comments section. Says it all really.

I don’t see how nigel is an insult 😳

It really winds me up. Sexist and ageist.
It will not ever stop me having my say!

So its not women with bobs…

It's not a slur, you can pretend it is all you want, but it isn't. If it was a slur you wouldn't be allowed to name your child Karen on their birth certificate.

I see "not my Nigel" used as an insult on a daily basis here.

Aimed at women though. There is no stereotypical Nigel that I am aware of.

"As a Woman it doesn't bother me because I don't rage in public at service workers or random citizens."

To be honest I feel this way as well. I have no issue with it when it's being used as originally intended to call out racist out bullying or harassing behaviour but I do take issue when it's misused to call women out for what would be acceptable behaviour were they male. Similarly I take issue when it's applied to women with disabilities for acting/communicating/processing things differently. So for me it depends on the situation.

Calling a woman a Karen isn't 'calling out their awful behaviour ', it's just using a slur. If they're racist, call them a racist. If they're being unreasonable, call them unreasonable.

I did ask upthread but I'll try again: if a gay man calls me a P@ki, am I therefore justified in calling him a p0*fter? Is that me calling him out on his awful behaviour, and therefore he should just avoid me if he doesn't like it? Due to his fragile ego? Or is it only middle aged women who should accept being called a slur?

Or maybe you’re just a misogynist using “language evolution” as an excuse?

If a black person told you your words are offensive to them would you say “tough shit”?

Y I said earlier I just see people who use the term Karen as being thick as fuck

A handful of videos justifies a slur on an oppressed group?

Do you say the same for videos of black people behaving badly?

I completely agree.

A 'Karen' isn't an insult to all women it's a label for a badly behaved woman who is usually of a similar appearance and age to one another.

As in a 'typical Karen'!

I see "not my Nigel" used as an insult on a daily basis here.

The particular form of behaviour that "Karen" was originally coined to describe is an obnoxious one: it is specifically about a women who perceives herself to be superior in a hierarchy (to a Black person, to a member of staff, to a young person...) trying to flex that power.

I don't really care about the specific term "Karen" - it was coined by people who are younger and more American than me - but policing the evolution of slang terms is like pissing in the wind, really. The behaviour it describes will remain obnoxious regardless of what the term is. I'm happy to just call those people "entitled customers" or "racists" though.

I use Karen and if it offends people they can avoid me which is absolutely my ideal outcome. No time for people who can't accept language evolution… and who's ego is so fragile that that they need to brand anything that calls out their awful behaviour as 'misogynistic' because they've no better argument.

And if you see a young black man with the afro haircut while working in retail you avoid him for your own wellbeing because you can safely assume he's going to stab to you and who needs that in their day!

And if you see a middle aged brown man wearing a kirta while working in retail you avoid him for your own wellbeing because you can safely assume he's going to set off a bomb near you and who needs that in their day!

And if you see a woman with an Irish accent while working in retail you avoid her for your own wellbeing because you can safely assume she's going to steal stuff and who needs that in their day!

These phrases ok as well?

Yes, and we're not America.

The name Karen has a different socio-economic connotation in the US than it does here. And racism is enacted differently in the US than it is here.

There is no justification for using a misogynist slur.

Sums it up really!

It’s used AS A slur as it’s become embedded in the collective cultural psyche as an embodiment of a particular negative stereotype.
”grow up” is such a cop out, lazy, ignorant comment.