Sick of being called Karen

[frog22]

Listening to Radio 4 and Caroline Hirons is on and she has already used the term Karen to refer to her followers. I'm just sick of it. It's as bad as calling a woman the B word or C word!

Why would she do it? Why do women do it to other women?

[quote Emeraldshamrock]@justanotherneighinparadise is your name Karen?[/quote]
No, it’s TERF 🙈

@ktp100 do you lack the capacity to articulate yourself when needing to describe racist, prejudice or generally rude people? Why regress to a stereotype when the English language is already expressive enough in its descriptive usage.

@inglory Generally, yes. There are some connotations about middle-class women specifically, but usually Karen is used when someone e.g. asks for the manager over a petty issue with the intent of getting a cashier into trouble. The term originates from poor treatment of retail/customer facing staff.

OK, so what do you suggest we do call people who act like total Karens?

What's a total Karen as opposed to a half Karen? Label people as their behaviour suggests racist, materialistic, snobbish, greedy etc.

i meant i have never - why would i say no karen has ever been racist that would be stupid and wouldnt answer your question.

@justanotherneighinparadise

My personal experience of this sub set are they are rude, monied, pushy, shop at Waitrose and normally have a husband who has a very important job 🤦🏻‍♀️

The only problem I see here is “rude” and “pushy” at a stretch How are any other things considered to be negatives? You just look prejudicial.

@whattimeisitrightnow I think it's clear from this thread that there is now dilution of the original meaning & or a dilution of the US meaning would you not agree?

@Kisskiss No, Karen isn’t just used to refer to white people. Actually, I’d accept an argument for it being a classist term - I’ve never seen someone WC referred to as a Karen, but that might just be my limited experience of it.
I think ‘racist term’, which would put it in on par with the N-word and other slurs, is a ridiculous thing to say, honestly.

@justanotherneighinparadise

I can understand why many of you are offended and I suspect a lot of your offence is because you fall into some of the criteria. But I see many of these people in my area and had my own name for them. They very much fall into the ‘Karen’ subset and I’m glad there’s now a name for them.

They very much fall into the ‘Karen’ subset and I’m glad there’s now a name for them.

How about you tell us what your name is and we can all start using it instead of Karen?

It refers to people who are pushy, opinionated, treat retail staff poorly etc.
That's how I've heard it used.

It's the sort of arsehole behaviour where people think they're above hospitality and retail staff and think if they argue like an arsehole and demand to speak to a manager then they'll intimidate the employee into doing what they want.

Pre lockdown I had the misfortune of being stuck on a queue as someone who meets the stereotype was awful to a retail worker for not giving them a refund on a worn item of clothing that they wanted to return without a receipt. Everyone in the queue was rolling their eyes.

What's telling is that somehow on MN people feign cluelessness and say 'oooh it's just because nobody likes it if a woman complains about bad service... Women should just shut up and accept terrible service' whilst ignoring the fact that it's totally possible to be assertive and complain without being an insufferable arsehole. It's the new 'I just tell it like it is, and some people don't like women having opinions' when it's entirely possible to express an opinion without being an arsehole.

@inglory Yes, that’s probably true. It’s moved away from the original meaning a bit to now just be a generic term for whenever a middle/upper class person does something disagreeable. Like I said, it is rude and I’d never use it. Its roots are not inherently sexist though.

Well if you meant you have never Helmet then I can't see how it was a silly comparison to make at all. Not least because it wasn't even a comparison, it was my personal musing on the possible behaviours of those within the current 'Karen' subset and the potential link between other forms of discrimination.

i dont know exactly what it means- i just see young women use it to laugh at older women and to pretend to themselves 'theyre not like that' - mate - you'll be middle aged too one day.

YANBU. It's a sexist slur, with a nice dollop of classism & ageism added in, too.

what is the karen sub set?

Karen is what women who treat service staff like shit and expect to get better service by carrying off are called

Unemployed is what people who work in the service industry and alienate an entire section of the population based on the failings of a few are called.

Exactly, @LolaSmiles. There’s a certain type of person who treats retail staff poorly, and they always use ‘poor customer service’ as an excuse when usually it’s just that the poor person serving them isn’t able to bend the rules to their will.

So driving 4x4s, shopping in Waitrose & being married to a surgeon, doctor etc are all things to be judged for?

Just compiling my list, anything else I should add?

Just out of interest, I just did a search for “Karen” on twitter and clicked latest. The first thing that popped up, posted literally 1m ago, was a white man tweeting “Karen! Shut up and make a sandwich”

of course its sexism but its 'safe' and pleasing to call out karens- when you cant call out the actual people behind most shit in this country - and that is middle aged men.

I do think it's important to point out that given the current climate, these frustrations aren't likely to carry very far with the world's sympathies. It's a long way away from 'Karens' being denied job opportunities, housing, social respect or basic care. I don't think the level of outrage is justified at a time like this, although that's my personal opinion, but I am certain you will find others of the same opinion.

I think we can all be a little bit ‘Karen’ at times. It comes with privilege and it’s good to check that, not be outraged by it.

“Karen” is a perdiendo of women a certain age and race. It’s misogynistic and racists.

Ironically the people who use it tend to be other white people trying to off load white guilt from themselves to others who they judge to be on the other side of an age or sex line.

Forgive me for not thinking we can tackle racism by making memes & acting like men have no power.

I worked in retail as a teen & yes some people do act like dicks, because they are dicks.

Perdiendo? Put down!

Sorry, I have bilingual spell check!