The misogynistic and ageist slur ‘karen’

Yes, misogyny is the over riding prejudice feature of the term

It’s interesting that in spite of the many instances of male entitlement and poor behaviour that has been shared on SM, no man’s name has the same meaning as Karen.

What is Karen is being used for now on MN?

It was a lable used to create sub-group of women: white working / middle class mid-aged American women who called the police on black men ( generally, & not women).

This thread shows that it has changed it meaning of the sub-group of women to: any race, any social class, any age (once older than the speaker) any country, once they fail to meet whatever the local social norm for women is in that area.

Smallmercies · Yesterday 21:23

It's no more misogynistic than gammon is racist. Karen is an attitude, not an attribute. I will continue to use it with pride.

If what @Smallmercies said here ^ holds Smallmercies would call a Black British woman (or man?) a Karen

GeorgianaM · Yesterday 21:25

Smallmercies · Yesterday 21:23
It's no more misogynistic than gammon is racist. Karen is an attitude, not an attribute. I will continue to use it with pride.

Same here. It's not aimed at all women it's aimed at those with a certain look and a bad attitude.

@GeorgianaM may call a Black British woman a Karen but woiuld not apply it to any man.

Yes it’s racist if it refers to one group -if I say my ‘particular race’ friend is a pig then thats fine but if I say everyone of the particular race is a pig then that’s racism. Karen is a general term for a group of people not one person.

So so someone is arguing that a term used to describe a racsit is racist? Is just calling someone racist racist also?And ignoring the agism an and mysogeny? Is that sone kind of distraction attempt?

No, it’s the law.

Exactly!! I agree and what a great analogy.

Nope just establishing a baseline of why words are used to diminish someone on the receiving end of the word.

If I call someone a White Bitch is my intent for the insult to only call the person (male or female) a bitch as a slur or is the full slur about being of a race and being an animal ?

It's not racist. White people cannot be victims of racism. Prejudice yes, racism no. White people bleating about racism is like mean whining about sexism.

It's the height of white entitlement to keep whining about supposed racism towards white people. Fuck off with that shit.

I tend to find it’s a certain type of person that uses the term.

it’s a horrible term used to shut down woman, usually if a certain age.

.... then someone said that racism= privilege + power.

If you read the chain, it is totally a tangent to be drawing an analogy with "Karen's " and white Irish or white people in China

I agree but this started with the comment

Blinkyy · Yesterday 22:07

”. The whole Karen meme stemmed from racism eg calling the police on black people based on lies. Age isn’t really the defining factor, it’s more race I’d say.

So it’s white women - surely that makes it racist
--

I'm not sure why white Irish or white people in China is relevant.

It's white women in western society that get called Karen, it's not specifically white Irish women, it's not white women in China.

If there was a male term I'd make it "Darren" 🤣🤣🤣

Nope it was being used in the US before that.

And was aimed at women only.

But like "Twat" and "cunt" which are old the word for female sex organs it has moved to being a sex based slur.

Bitch v Dog
Cow v Bull
Mare v Stallion

Loads of slurs dont move between the two sexes

I think the point is a British person would be seen as foreign in China, like an Irish person was seen as foreign/other.

It’s so clearly mysogenistic to use a female name to describe a generic obnoxious behaviour

it’s also bloody unfair to people called Karen - which is only common in one generation

I think you are purposefully missing the point of the original message. 😂you have now moved the location to China, that's not relevant to the discussion

Interesting but the origins are not that important. A meme develops with culture and become part of culture. It's now used to bash women, even if that's not where it started

So
No British
No Irish
No Blacks
No Whites
No Dogs

No Whites not racism just prejudice and discrimination of the person is British and living in China?
But No Blacks is racism if the person is British and iving in China?

It’s usually used to describe a middle aged woman who is complaining about something - anything - and is rarely used to describe a man. I hate it and refuse to use it. If someone of either sex is being unreasonable there are other words to use that more accurately describe their behaviour.

Legally it’s racism.
The law says discrimination based on colour or race or ethnic or national origins = racism.

It originally refers to someone with a greatly enhanced sense of false entitlement and status.

I believe it originates from Caren Turner - look her up if you're not familiar - who attempted to browbeat two police officers after she was called to a traffic stop of two adults, one of whom was her daughter. She flashed her Port Authority badge at the officers (over whom she had no authority) and tells one of them: “You may not tell me when to take my child. You may shut the f* up and not tell me when I may take my child, and her friends, who are Ph.D. students at MIT and Yale. You may tell me nothing...” - and it descends from there. The video footage went viral and you can probably still find it. She was the epitomy of an overly entitled piece of work seeking to overplay her status.

I don't think it was originally intended as misogyny - she just happened to be a woman.

Agree. Boomer isn’t remotely ageist. My mum refers to herself as a boomer, because that’s what she is. I think people massively overreact to the ‘Karen’ thing too. I find the uproar a bit naff. Although I accept it must be annoying as fuck if you are called Karen. Having said that, I’m sure many of them aren’t bothered at all

No, but it does make them look silly.