Karen

[strawberrydaquiari]

The use of Karen as an insult isn't going away is it?
I'm fed up. I feel silenced. I can't stand up to the insult without being accused of acting "like one" and being shut down.
It's everywhere and I hate it.

"Could you have just said, "are these yours guys? Don't forget them."

don't forget to add please, sorry, thank you! and then bow and scrape out of the room. don't want young people to think you're a meanie

@Bigfathairyones

Not wanting to set the cat among the pigeons here but if you've looked an any of the 'classic Karen' clips being shown on social media, does anyone think that their behaviour is just 'standing up for themselves'? Every 'Karen' example I've seen is of a woman whose behaviour is well into the unreasonable bracket. I would be happy to have a 'Keith' category for unreasonable behaviour from men, but I don't think we should be accepting the behaviour, even if the term offends.

I think the male version is a 'Kevin'.

Not wanting to set the cat among the pigeons here but if you've looked an any of the 'classic Karen' clips being shown on social media, does anyone think that their behaviour is just 'standing up for themselves'? Every 'Karen' example I've seen is of a woman whose behaviour is well into the unreasonable bracket. I would be happy to have a 'Keith' category for unreasonable behaviour from men, but I don't think we should be accepting the behaviour, even if the term offends.

👆🏽But the above is the whole point. Of course there are mature women who behave rudely or unreasonably, just as there are men and members of social minorities who do so. We don't condone such behaviour. But nor do we use it as a reason to label, deride, stigmatise, silence the whole group. Some women sometimes behave badly. That is not a reason to put down any woman who politely, or even rudely, asserts herself.

@Dissimilitude

I put it in the same category as "gammon", i.e. an insult that is meant to imply a set of shorthand characteristics, and is pretty broadly insulting / non-nuanced to the target group.

Isn't 'gammon' the opposite of 'woke' ?

@Dundonian what kind of thing do you say?
I'm really going to start speaking up when I see it.

A fairly new colleague who has ruffled a few feathers said that the big boss might come across as a Karen if she behaved in a certain way.

It was an informal exchange but still.

My adult son said it to me yesterday when I told him about the complaint I had put in to the sports centre. He does it to wind me up now. And it does, because it's not the slightest bit funny and never has been.

It's a term that's more or less blanket applied to men of a certain age / political bent, if someone (on the left, usually) doesn't like their opinions.

Obviously it's meant to invoke feelings of UK-ipping shire dwellers and their ruddy complexions.

I think it is fading, I've heard it less often of late. Thank goodness.

I think the male version is a 'Kevin'.

There shouldn't be a male version. It's the fact there's a stereotype that's the problem not what name is used for it

@Ponderingwindow

The circulating clips might be extreme, but the term is now used to refer to any woman who expresses an opposing opinion or expects any level of decorum.

In fact it is used for any woman who dares to be in possession of an opinion, especially if over the age of 45.

If I see it in a local Facebook group I always say "please don't use the word Karen as an insult as it is ageist and sexist". If we all do it, people will get the message.

As for the clips, criticise the behaviour.

When someone says it on here, the comment is deleted.

It's basically someone saying 'shut your whining whingey moany gobhole, you nagging wumman!'

Horrible. Another way to shut women down.

The videos showing extreme behaviour (and not just women standing up for themselves) might be where 'Karen' originated, but now it is a handy tool used to shut a woman up any time the listener doesn't want to hear what she is saying.

I heard it being used when I asked a group of young teenagers at the park to be more careful after a full can of coke went whizzing past my six year old's face. They hadn't spotted my husband but he wasn't considered a 'Karen' when he then told them to pack it in. It seems that the same message being delivered in a male voice is acceptable. Funny, that.

My local small town facebook group (with 7000 members,) deletes comments calling women a KAREN. If they are a repeat offender, they're banned from the group.

Someone I love and adore is called Karen. She can be firm and to the point (but would still be this if her name was Joyce). She gets incredibly upset by the memes and assassination of her name.

@Crunchymum

I'm related to a Karen so it's not a word I've ever used in a derogatory way. If I was to hear anyone else use it (I haven't!) I'd shut them down immediately.

See its so used that i actually read this as 'I'm related to a manager seeking lady.' A Karen the thing not the person

Although I do wonder if the origin is from a person, like you can be a Snape or a Mr burns or a bumbling Boris now. You could be a Hugh from love actually if you terribly posh. I don't like it though

It internet crap for kids. I first heard it from my young sons, then between ages 12 to 8, a few years ago and they showed me the clips. Some time later, I was telling my husband a random story about a ‘real life’ Karen we know ‘saw Karen at Tesco, they’re off to Mexico this Easter blah blah blah’ and my sons couldn’t believe we knew a Karen. Like, somebody actually exists with that name? In England? They genuinely believed it was a ‘term’ not a name still in use.

It’ll die out. I know my children haven’t used it in years because it’s no longer trendy/edgy to throw it around. My eldest just said it’s so ‘2019’.

@Princetopple

The videos showing extreme behaviour (and not just women standing up for themselves) might be where 'Karen' originated, but now it is a handy tool used to shut a woman up any time the listener doesn't want to hear what she is saying.

I heard it being used when I asked a group of young teenagers at the park to be more careful after a full can of coke went whizzing past my six year old's face. They hadn't spotted my husband but he wasn't considered a 'Karen' when he then told them to pack it in. It seems that the same message being delivered in a male voice is acceptable. Funny, that.

GAMMON seems to be the insult of choice when it comes to insulting many men. Also a vile insult. Usually spouted by The 'Woke,' when a man dares to have a view that isn't left-leaning.

@Longcovid21

I was at work the other day and a couple of young lads had left their stuff all over the photocopier, i asked nicely and calmly if they could not leave their papers on the copier as i needed it to print some stuff

Could you have just said, "are these yours guys? Don't forget them."

Lesson 1 on how to be a less assertive at work...

It's not worth getting in a bother about, People have just latched onto this name, because it must have started somewhere, with some Karen being a bit dumb and idle, well that's how I thought it started off..

I only know two Karens, One of them was a top class hairdresser, with her own salon, and very hard working with a flourishing business.

The other one I didn't know, but heard someone calling her that name, when I was sitting on a small wall outside a Primark a few years ago. She was very very overweight, dressed in Pyjamas in the afternoon, sitting on the wall , eating two huge burgers, and some cans of fizzy drinks., she was often swearing at her two kids, running about all over the place, and belching loudly after drinking the fizzy drinks.

But I don't associate the name Karen, with anyone with that name;, its a bit pointless to be thinking this way.

My eldest (23) sometimes will say ‘oh mum’s being a Karen’ he doesn’t accept how rude and insulting it is.

@strawberrydaquiari

The use of Karen as an insult isn't going away is it? I'm fed up. I feel silenced. I can't stand up to the insult without being accused of acting "like one" and being shut down. It's everywhere and I hate it.

I think you should take your complaint to the MNHQ management

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon

It’s classic misogyny.

Any woman standing up for themselves? Or rejecting shoddy service? They’re a Karen.

It’s so, SO rude.

Whars MN excuse then, they came up with Wendy. Dont particarly agree with you its, women standing up for themsekves, any "karen" video ive seen is women trying to bully others and just generally being mean

@1forAll74

It's not worth getting in a bother about, People have just latched onto this name, because it must have started somewhere, with some Karen being a bit dumb and idle, well that's how I thought it started off..

I only know two Karens, One of them was a top class hairdresser, with her own salon, and very hard working with a flourishing business.

The other one I didn't know, but heard someone calling her that name, when I was sitting on a small wall outside a Primark a few years ago. She was very very overweight, dressed in Pyjamas in the afternoon, sitting on the wall , eating two huge burgers, and some cans of fizzy drinks., she was often swearing at her two kids, running about all over the place, and belching loudly after drinking the fizzy drinks.

But I don't associate the name Karen, with anyone with that name;, its a bit pointless to be thinking this way.

I think you maybe don't understand what the term Karen means when used as an insult.

I hate it. I really feel for women with the name. It's really unfair and a very handy way of putting women in their place. Call it out wherever you see it - it's not acceptable.

@Longcovid21

I was at work the other day and a couple of young lads had left their stuff all over the photocopier, i asked nicely and calmly if they could not leave their papers on the copier as i needed it to print some stuff

Could you have just said, "are these yours guys? Don't forget them."

I said something along the lines of “can you just move your papers so I can get my printing done please”