Please can we talk about using the name Karen as an insult?

It used to be the names Sharon and Tracy that got the ribbing some years ago.

I think the derivation is that Sharon and Tracy were the names of Viz's fat slags, isn't it?

These names are always used to put women down: silly working-class girl, silly middle-class, middle-aged woman etc. It's always that toxic mix of sex, age and class. "Essex girls" is another one. You rarely see men's names used in the same way.

I often want to ask how quick they would be to use a racial slur so casually? Flip the target round then go ahead and say it out loud. See what response you get. But it doesn't matter as middle aged women are easy targets. All those young ones with their #metoo placards but dont give 2 shits about the older sisters. They dont truly understand that age is still a prejudice and can e just as damaging.
I want younger women to wise up so they can look forward to middle age with joy no terror of disappearance and becoming a shorthand for silly little woman.

Wally was an insult back in the day.

It's used nastily. I've been called Karen on twitter, and while it didn't upset me, it immediately made me dislike the person who did it, for their intention to be nasty, and also for how casual they were about using a potentially quite personal term - a name - into an insult. A bit like coughing coronavirus on someone: the attacker doesn't know if the target will live or die, but has relieved his, her or their feelings and feels a bit more powerful.

It's noticeable that the "ok boomer" comeback has faded somewhat. It was a misfiring weapon (either they got gales of laughter, mockery for mis-aging a Millennial, or "ok groomer". Cowards did not like a wespon which didn't keep them safe, so stopped using it. They feel "safer" using "Karen", as they don't get the same pushback for it.

yep agree with PP, its all part of silencing women. Middle aged women are the ones holding things together generally - dealing with teenagers if they have kids, caring for eldelry parents, usually as we saw on the thread the other day doing all the "wife" work at work and being peri/menopausal. Its used as an insult by younger men and women - I see a LOT of men use it on twitter and its the young women I feel sorry for who dont know they're destined to become laughed at and ignored too once they're no longer considered fuckable....and when they get there, theyll wonder why they feel simultaneously furious and also not give a fuck what people say.

I am a middle aged woman and yes I am going to speak to the fucking manager if Im getting a crappy service which I am bloody paying for

It gets me when I see younger women using it. I pointed out in the comments section of young youtuber that the Karens of 2020 might be her in 2040. Might not seem possible but one day you will be 50 and wake up to the fact you too are flawed and human.
You didnt invent fabulous, it wont be yours for ever and you dont stop being a human being after your 40th birthday.
Kindness never agea

I've discussed this on MN in the past and was told I was totally overreacting to find it sexist and ageist. It wasn't in FWR though, but some posters did come across to back me up.

It's the silencing and ridiculing of older women and it's gross.

Oh gosh I hate it! How horrible to describe someone as a Karen as an insult! i don’t understand why people would think it’s ok 🤷🏼‍♀️

I recently posted this meme on FB, and lots of older women loved it.
They really don't realise, do they!

Sharon is another name I've seen used as an insult. It's always been extremely classist, of course, now joined by other snickering insinuations.

I think it’s a US import and is an attempt at describing a stereotype that doesn’t travel well. Not that that makes it any less vitriolic and offensive, obviously.

I had coversation with 13 yr old nephew in December about it. He was using it & the descripion he offered didnt make much sense for the UK.

Whilst I understand if it’s your name bring used in this way it would piss you off.

But it used on men too - Hooray Henry’s, back in the ‘80s it was Kevin’s, names like Malcolm and Colin are often ridiculed.

And, as someone else said further up, I’ve only heard other women use them.

Explanation about "Karen" - www.vox.com/2020/2/5/21079162/karen-name-insult-meme-manager

@Socrates11 I was waiting for someone to bring up the name "Becky" It's normally used by African Americans to describe an entitled racially-unaware American white woman.

Oddly born in the 70s I went to school with lots of "Karen"s. Then went to university with lots of "Becky"s. However the two most common names I have encountered from primary school all the way to work plus hobbies are "Sarah" and variations of "Jennifer".

Karen peaked in 1965 but was very popular from 1958. There was a steep decline after 1965 but obviously still people of that age.

Karen is therefore just the average white woman aged 55-60

I like the name Karen, and never identified that name with anything in particular. It used to be the names Sharon and Tracy that got the ribbing some years ago.

I hate to see it used like this. As a poster upthread sad, it’s akin to Boomer. It’s lazy, puerile and pathetic and a mark of the intellectually challenged. They think they’re being clever but they just look like thick twats.

I think it’s a US import and is an attempt at describing a stereotype that doesn’t travel well. Not that that makes it any less vitriolic and offensive, obviously.

According to my young adult offspring, ‘Karen’ is supposed to be a wealthy woman engaging in ‘kicking down’. I’m fairly sure that element has been lost, though, in so far as it ever existed.

I think it may have started as an attempt to remonstrate with a class of people who are better off than many, while going directly for that half of the group it is culturally sanctioned to use slurs against, i e the women.

Absurdly, said offspring who explained the slur to me, as a defence for why she uses it, has the middle name Karen, named after an aunt she has always been close to.

I'd never heard of it before today. I posted on a thread asking what it meant. A good friend from school was called Karen. I felt very uncomfortable but couldn't put a finger on it as I read more of the thread. It seemed quite unpleasant. Sexist and ageist definitely. I never liked the Sharon and Tracey as an insult thing either. It always was a bit nasty and sneering.

Aw thanks ☺️

I also believe it may be derived from gwendoline too.. But i still bloody hate it. Lol.