Where did the phrase Karen actually come from?

[Soubriquet]

I know it’s a hated phrase on here, but it’s also still used a lot on social media.

I know people think is misogynistic but it’s referenced to both male and female.

However, what I’m wondering, is why Karen? Why not Susan, Josh, Sally, or Adam?

How did it become Karen?

This explains some of the backstory https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-53588201

I’d seen the name Susan used a few times before Karen. Unsure why Karen suddenly took off though. I’ve always assumed it was because it’s a popular name for white women of around 40 years old. Would be interested in the origin though.

Thanks for the link. Still doesn’t say exactly why Karen was chosen over other names but it was interesting to read anyway

I know people think is misogynistic but it’s referenced to both male and female.

It isn't!

I remember it years ago as a meme and it seemed like the name was just chosen at random and it picked up from there. If the meme said something like Janet or Sandra then that's what the term would be today. I could be wrong though.

I really hate it as I have about five friends called Karen and they're all lovely!

There’s a podcast called Decoder Ring which had a really interesting episode about it. The part I remember, as a white woman, is that these names as an insult have gone around for years but until Karen it was traditionally black names that were used.

I’ve read claims that black women started it - and also that a misogynistic Redditor (I know, tautology) started it, ranting about his ex. I loathe it, and not only or even principally because I have a friend named Karen.

On YouTube I've seen it quite a lot,

I remember this becoming a thing a few years back now. It was an American thing where white people were reporting black people for illegal but petty crimes. They’d record them and put them online calling them Karen’s. There was a video of a white woman who had reported a black girl to the police for having an unlicensed lemonade stand. The white woman was actually called Karen. I think it all started from there

nooooooo! I'm almost 40 and dont know a single Karen my age.. we're all Sarah's and Stacey's and Kirsty's 🤣 All the Karens I know are 55+

Bingo. This is it!

I agree it is more the over 50s that are called Karen but regardless, I dislike it mostly for being ageist and misogynistic. I don't agree it's aimed at men and women, and really dislike articles like the BBC one claiming there is a male equivalent. There isn't, some journalists have just tried to pretend there is as they have realised they don't have a defence for the misogyny claims.
As to where it comes from, I'd be interested to know, the lemonade stand story is probably something like the truth.

Interesting, I hadn’t seen that specific origin story - knew it was American though (because of course). No surprise that however it started, it’s lost whatever justification it had in a particular context and very rapidly became “shut up bitch” to be used to silence women.

That's exactly what it's become.
I remember the lemonade stand thing and I think that is where it started. There were others round about the same time like "BBQ Becky" who called the cops on some black people having a BBQ. Then suddenly it seemed like because of those idiots, all middle aged white women were fair game to be insulted and ridiculed. Including by other white women.

Pretty sure this was the Permit Patty incident in San Francisco; her real name is Alison Ettel. The little girl was actually selling bottles of water with her mother on the street outside PP's ground-floor window and PP asked them to move up or down the block because she was WFH on a conference call and they were calling out loudly to get buyers' attention. When the mother refused PP threatened to call the police but apparently didn't actually do it. Then she proceeded to be an arse all over SM. She wasn't the original, though, BBQ Becky was - who turned out to be called Jennifer.

The Karen thing does come from Reddit, and it's (I'd say "was" but it's Reddit, of course it's still up) a sub for posting violent porn with "Karen" as the target, created by a white boy (literally - it was a teenager). There was an article in The Atlantic that investigated and laid the whole thing out. I guess it was convenient for bros to let it get absorbed in the Becky, Patty, etc. trend and let black women take the "blame". The whole thing is stupid because in the US "Karen" as an actual name was popular much later in black communities than in general. Every American Karen I know under 40 is black except one girl from Taiwan. The youngest white Karen I've met or know of is in her mid-fifties.

I am late fifties, and I can confirm that I went to school with lots of Karens. It could easily have been my name.

I hate this trend, it is just a way of telling women of my generation to shut up. Ageist and misogynistic. And no, there is not a male equivalent. Like a pp said, journalists try to pretend there is, not true though.

There are plenty of perfectly nice decent women named Karen, it must be very unpleasant for them to have their name turned into a joke and a smear. There are many black women named Karen too! It's so weird and just alienates people.

I'm guessing they're mid-40s

I have a lovely Karen as well and dislike it on her behalf.

It started with jokes about a haircut of a woman in her 50s, always asking to 'speak with the manager'.
Because a name Karen was very popular for that generation, it stuck.
It was easier to say 'Karen' than 'Middle aged woman asking to speak with the manager'

Of course it was started by men, that makes total sense. I absolutely despise it. My dd said some of the girls in her class use it to silence/ insult each other which is just so depressing.

shut up bitch exactly sums up my problem with this. And to hear young women being brainwashed into being little miniature handmaidens actually makes me queasy.

Shut up bitch. Stop complaining bitch. Do what you're told bitch.

I also think it's no coincidence that it's primarily used on women around menopause age, just exactly when they really stop giving a shit about whether men like them or not.

Know your place bitch.

As always lets ignore the racial element of why these women get called Karen and focus on the poor white women who threaten/do call the police on POC doing normal every day things, MN where being called a karen is worse than racism 🙄

Yep, plus no one seemed overly bothered when the name used was an African American womans name, but as soon as it became a fairly common white womans name people started paying attention.

What a bunch of Karens basically?

There's an episode of code switch where they discuss it. I remember them saying that Becky was almost a thing rather than Karen. As I remember it it had a good description of what a Karen is (white women being racist, using privilege to get her way). However they completely dismissed Julie Bindells comments without even considering them or trying to understand the British class system, which really annoyed me.