Can't stand people referring to others as a 'Karen'

[shesellsseashells99]

I'm fed up with seeing it, I really have. it's gone way too far now. I have a friend who is ashamed of her name and won't post on any public forum because of the stick she gets. Constantly seeing stupid memes.

You may think I'm being too serious but I think it's so derogatory to people who have that name.

Where was the uproar when Shaniqua, Laquisha etc were used for YEARS to describe black women and their culture?

@MorrisZapp

Bingo! For Shaniqua, which even Google struggles to give many examples of. My ten year old kid has heard of Karen, it's one of the biggest memes of the last two years.

There is literally a documentary about the stereotypes of being named Shaniqua.

Maybe, just maybe, you don't care know about these stereotypes because they don't affect you, but perhaps you are more exposed to the 'Karen' stereotype.

As a description, 'Karen' doesn't refer to all middle-aged white women. It doesn't refer to everyone with the Christian name Karen. It refers to a certain type of entitled middle aged white woman who berates shop workers or servers and expects the world to roll out the red carpet for them.

@SomewhereInbetween1 As I've just said, I'd never heard of that until a few months ago, and other people on this thread have said they'd never heard of it until just now.

As I've said on here countless times, I don't give a shit that it's my name. My mum chose that name and I love it, regardless of what unoriginal idiots on social media do with it.

It's all women my age that are the target of the hate. Sarah, Cathy, Deborah, Nicola, Sandra, all the girls I was at school with. We're no longer in the fkable demographic so now when we speak we're a target of derision. It's about ingrained sexism, not the horror of being named Karen.

Don’t lie, @kness here are some of the other results for articles on the first page:

“Your name’s Shaniqua?” How a name can affect your life.

Searching for Shaniqua: What's in a name?

Even the baby name pages reference it’s stereotypes:

‘A regal-sounding name, Shaniqua has lost some appeal since it peaked in popularity in the early 1990s, perhaps because it has been used one too many times by comedy writers as shorthand for a sassy African-American woman.‘

I think it's used by people not intelligent enough to think of the proper adjectives.

It's all women my age that are the target of the hate. Sarah, Cathy, Deborah, Nicola, Sandra, all the girls I was at school with.

What about Britney, Chardonnay, Chantelle, stereotypes for young white women?

Shaniqua on twitter brings up... people called Shaniqua, chatting.

Karen on twitter brings up... Karen jokes.

I'm sorry this isn't 2008. I only got a twitter account last year.

I say we should all reclaim the name "Karen" and be proud to be middle aged, opinionated women

[quote kness]@SomewhereInbetween1 As I've just said, I'd never heard of that until a few months ago, and other people on this thread have said they'd never heard of it until just now.[/quote]
"Doesn't affect me or my friends so I don't give a shit how sexist or racist or classist it is but GOD FORBID someone comes up with a petty name to describe the stereotype of a racist, entitled, white, middle-class woman".

Aren’t ‘Shaniqua’ and ‘Laquisha’ used as stereotypical African-American names? I am open to being corrected on this, but whenever I’ve heard those names used to reduce women to stereotypes it’s African-American women being talked about, and therefore not something that exists as much outside America, where racist insults and stereotypes differ.

@Meraas

It's all women my age that are the target of the hate. Sarah, Cathy, Deborah, Nicola, Sandra, all the girls I was at school with.

What about Britney, Chardonnay, Chantelle, stereotypes for young white women?

They're sexist, classist shite.

@WaterOffADucksCrack

I think it's used by people not intelligent enough to think of the proper adjectives.

"We hate name calling of other women" Aka We hate name calling of white, middle class women.

@malificent7

I say we should all reclaim the name "Karen" and be proud to be middle aged, opinionated women

I never disowned it. Nobody has dared to make a Karen joke to my face! I've always liked my name.

@Meraas Google results are not universal. They depend on your past searches and other information about your account.

Which other female names are currently huge memes? I'm only aware of Karen.

It refers to a certain type of entitled middle aged white woman who berates shop workers or servers and expects the world to roll out the red carpet for them.

Wait, I thought Karen was a racist? No?

I’ve been a shop worker and a waitress (and several other customer service jobs) and been yelled at by plenty of women, but male customers were equally as bad if not worse. Condemning women, and only women, for vaguely-defined behaviour (“complaining to the manager” - yes? so? That can be unreasonable or entirely reasonable, can’t it?) when men are not condemned in the same way does not make me feel vindicated in dealing with those angry shouting customers of years gone by.

Speaking as some who’s worked in customer service that’s where the name comes from, the middle aged woman with the spiky haircut we have ALL encountered who will demand to ‘speak to the manager’ and shout at shop workers.

Now it has just become a name to call someone who will complain about anything and has that sort of always-angry attitude.

Maybe it’s because I’m in my 20s but it’s making me laugh that people think it’s mysoginisitc and anti-people-with-the-name-Karen😂 ok so it’s bad luck that it happened to be the name Karen but ‘Karen’ is more of a character that every person who’s worked in customer service will encounter at least once.

Yip, and apparently Karen doesn't wear her mask properly or at all despite statistics (and a glance round) showing that women are more compliant than men with all Covid precautions including mask wearing.

White middle class women only care about labelling of women when the label is attached to some white muddled age white women. Labels have been applied to women who are not white for years and white middle class women say they are not aware and never heard these labels.

Apparently oppression only happens to white middle class women. Oppression and name calling of other women do not exist or can be excused because white middle aged women are not aware of these.

I'll never get over how on one of the twenty billion threads on Mumsnet about this Karen issue someone in all earnest saying it was racist (towards white women) and someone else turning it up a notch and suggesting that much like the n-word is objectionable, Karen should be as well. This term is not unique in being co-opted by others for nefarious usage - and I don't think my 'right' to brand a certain kind of white woman a Karen is fighting racism - that's really not how fighting racism works.

It's not misogynistic, the male equivalents are Wayne or Kevin.

I've never seen a Wayne or Kevin meme.

Entitled = racist attitude. Usually thinking others who are not white are secondary to them and their needs.

@malificent7

I say we should all reclaim the name "Karen" and be proud to be middle aged, opinionated women

The ‘Karen’ is more of a character, with a spiky haircut who shouts at shop workers and demands to speak to the manager. Every customer service worker has encountered a ‘Karen’ and it’s just a way of coping with being treated badly at work.

The name Karen is just because it’s a random name that this middle aged ‘character’ might have. It doesn’t mean all women called Karen ARE this character in fact I’m sure most of them are lovely:)

So it’s not a stereotype of all middle aged woman it’s just a niche certain type of lady that we’ve all encountered