Karen and the Generational Divide

[LucilleBluth]

My very good friend kept sending me TikTok videos via whatsapp and told me to get on it. I resisted but last week I decided to have a look what it was all about.

Now I’m 40, friend is 42, both white and degree educated with teenagers and primary aged DCs. It would seem that according to this app that middle aged white women are the actual devil. I’m from a working class background and friend is MC.

I’ve never seen younger people be so vitriolic against people they don’t know. It’s definitely misogyny and ageism but dressed up as being woke???

I can’t quite figure out why or where it’s coming from. Any sociological explanation for this?

[Anna12345678910]

I do have a FB 'friend' that posts herself dancing around on Tic Toc there is funny and there is cringe ... her doing some type of swimming whilst wearing a snorkel mask in her sitting room almost made me ring for help for her.

[Anna12345678910]

@Anna12345678910

I do have a FB 'friend' that posts herself dancing around on Tic Toc there is funny and there is cringe ... her doing some type of swimming whilst wearing a snorkel mask in her sitting room almost made me ring for help for her.

Oh posted too soon.
She is a typical 'Karen' in many ways and fits the profile and tries so hard to appear cool and down with the kids at the same time as being a right Karen about somethings

[Chocolatechocolatechoate]

@7Days
I completely agree with that. Being real there are horrible people in every generation and those people should be held accountable and not everyone!
Whilst I have used the Karen insult (not on SM) I have only used it when the person was acting completely out of order

[kwiksavenofrillsusername]

The Karen thing seemed to ramp up during the USA elections. Apparently it was Karen’s fault that Trump got elected because all white women love him or something. And he was bound to win in 2020 cos Karen.

Of course, nobody complained about the men or people of colour who voted for Trump. It was all Karen’s fault!

[starrynight21]

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz

Middle aged women are the only group you could do this to on SM.

////// This.

And I really feel for women who are called Karen, it must be awful to hear your name used like this.

Try being a Baby Boomer - we've been copping the insults for years. Seems that everything is our fault.

[apalledandshocked]

@LucilleBluth To be honest, most "young people" /zoomers (I feel so old typing that) are lovely in person, I am sure your teenagers are. But social media (for all ages) can bring out the worst sometimes and those with the worst opinions tend to be the loudest and the most hurt. So you have "boomers" criticising snowflakes and the woke, millenials bitching about boomers/gammons, zoomers criticising "Karen's"/middle aged sorts (which alas includes some millenials now.) In real life most people rub along fine. The problem is we have been exposed much more to social media and much less to real life this year and I dont think its healthy.

One thing which should be illegal is that millenials are apparently no longer the younger generation.

And yes the name Karen is particularly hurtful because some people have that actual name. The same way that making fun of stereotypical black American WC names is hurtful and harmful - I knew a Letisha and she was lovely. Two wrongs dont make a right (especially because some of the people using the Karen meme will be people who make/made reference to those other names as well.)

[Helocariad]

Name calling any group is wrong.
It says more about the person using the slur than about the group itself.
I was blind to the existence of ageism, especially against middle aged and older women, until I hit the 45 mark and started experiencing it myself.
Having teenage children also made me aware of dismissive attitudes towards young people.
So yeah, can we please be truly kind to each other?

[AbsintheFriends]

If there was ever a way to go fishing for Karens this would be it

I get it. Women over 40 - behaving in any way that distinguishes you from a doormat makes you a 'Karen'. If someone flings ageist misogynistic slurs at you and you push back? Ha - you just proved them right.

It's like the age-old test of ducking a woman to see if she's a witch. If she drowns she wasn't, if she survives she is. Burn her.

[thebabessavedme]

poor behaviour is poor behaviour at any age and tbh I think every human is quite capable of behaving like twat, 'Karen' is used as an insult to shut older women down and make them feel gulity for having any sort of opinion - fuck that, at the age I am I have earnt my opinions and if I want to voice them I bloody well will, I refuse to be shut down/erased/told what to think or generally silenced!

[JaywickCaravanOfLust]

Of course, nobody complained about the men or people of colour who voted for Trump. It was all Karen’s fault!

Similarly there are large parts of social media where there's a lot less noise about the (predominantly male) officers who target people of colour than there is about the women who call them.

[MsTSwift]

Slurring innocent individuals by dint of characteristics they cannot help (age/sex/race/class) is always wrong and demonstrates prejudice, sloppy thinking and frankly dimness in whoever does this. Anyone who does this would utterly plummet in my estimation.

My friends lovely teenage son and mates were horribly shouted at by a shop keeper they had done absolutely nothing wrong bar being 15 and male. It’s not acceptable whoever is the target.

[elizabethdraper]

Can you we please stop with the name Karen

My name is Karen and I have effectively been silenced by this terminology.

Anytime is state an opinion or fact, I am shot down as being a Karen.

[thebabessavedme]

and another thing, young women would do well to listen to us sometimes or they will find themselves having to re-fight for hard won rights that generations of women before them have spent so long fighting for because their voices will be ignored like their greatmothers were!

see, told you all I had opinions

[Sweet666]

Karen refers to the type of person who yes is usually middle aged who always wants to speak to the manager and find reasons to complain, give the staff a difficult time etc. I see it often when I'm out and about, the stereotype exists for a reason. When I worked in Lidl before the Karen term was used I ran into this type of person very often and it was horrible and they were usually middle aged and white. Younger people have more respect for staff usually...

[VladmirsPoutine]

Of course, nobody complained about the men or people of colour who voted for Trump. It was all Karen’s fault!

Nope. We complained about them too - we even have specific terminology for them as well. The two aren't mutually exclusive I am delighted to inform you.

[MsTSwift]

In my line of work older women are the best clients. The older the better actually. Met some fantastic 90 year olds recently.

[Sweet666]

'Karen' doesn't mean any white middle aged woman, it refers only to the vile type of person who is always wanting to speak to the manager and complain or call the police on minorities doing nothing wrong, really horrible people who deserve to be ridiculed.

[AbsintheFriends]

Whilst I have used the Karen insult (not on SM) I have only used it when the person was acting completely out of order

I'd suggest that in resorting to lazy insults like that you completely undermine your point. Call out the behaviour, but do it without using an ageist slur.

[demelza82]

@Chocolatechocolatechoate

How is it different tho to older people calling millennials snow flakes and telling them to shut up?

It's honestly so ridiculous to take it to the level of saying it's misogynistic and ageist. Tbh it makes people look like more of a Karen when they get so outraged over it. You don't have to agree but that's how it is

Exactly this!

Also, the overuse/misuse of the word 'woke' on this forum is frankly embarrassing to see. 😆

Nothing like jumping on a bandwagon eh?

[apalledandshocked]

@JaywickCaravanOfLust

Of course, nobody complained about the men or people of colour who voted for Trump. It was all Karen’s fault!

Similarly there are large parts of social media where there's a lot less noise about the (predominantly male) officers who target people of colour than there is about the women who call them.

To be honest, that particular dynamic has a long and dark history particularly in the USA but also elsewhere. I definately think its worth discussing because white women have not always, historically, been innocent bystanders in the violence of white men against black people. In fact, it is really interesting when you start to examine how sexism and racism support each other and intensify each other - and how that ends up in "chivalry" and a certain type of woman over-performing their feminity in order to gain a sense of power/proximity to power (dependant on being backed up by white male force). And how that killed people. I could write pages on THAT. I really dont think the way the word "Karen" is used at the moment helps though.

[Cadent]

It would seem that according to this app that middle aged white women are the actual devil

I’ve never seen younger people be so vitriolic against people they don’t know.

I saw a video yesterday of a man screaming at an old woman and filming her, all the comments were along the lines of ha ha white Karen. I couldn’t figure out the context.

You're grossly misrepresenting the videos. I don't use the term Karen ever but I think this is a reaction to videos of women and men behaving very badly to black/Asian/Mexican people.

[Millenialcunt]

I feel like people are purposely ignoring the main point here: being a ‘Karen’ isn’t defined by your age. You can be a millennial and behave like a Karen. Shit you can be a Gen Z and still behave like a Karen! It’s the entitled, always-thinking-you’re-right & disregard for the way your negative attitude might affect someone else. Different generational groups are all guilty of this so stop with the ‘I’m just finding my voice & I’m getting picked on’ martyr routine, I swear some people just WANT to feel oppressed

[poppyzbrite4]

Apparently Karen is an African American insult aimed at white, middle aged women but seems to have been taken up by everyone wanting to have a pop at white, middle aged women. Yes to 'white' being used as an insult. I worked with someone who used to say 'That's so white!' 'That's such a white thing to do!'

It's misogynist, or at least it is now.

[gigity]

It’s the entitled, always-thinking-you’re-right & disregard for the way your negative attitude might affect someone else

Why do so many men get away with this?