Karen advert

[IncognitoMam]

This shouldn't be allowed surely? Who comes up with this shit?
I'm not called Karen but I know Karen's that hate their name now because of the way it's used.

@BillaBongGirl

Australia is the founding home of “Karen’s Diner” with branches in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Perth and North Rocks, which must cover about 75% of the population of Australia.

You are not going to convince me with a dictionary definition, that the term "Karen" is primarily used to fight racism in Australia.

I will add that some time ago I lived in Australia and it was the most racist and sexist country I have ever been to, I cannot imagine how hard things must have been for women who aren't white. I very much hope that things have started to improve since then.

Would you accept being called a cunt in the workplace? If not, why not?

You said women being called 'Karen' to shut them up are 'complicit' in appropriating black culture. I did not say this.

As people have told you repeatedly, the origins of 'Karen' aren't necessarily even from the African-American community. It may well have been invented by a white man, on Reddit. I have debunked this.

The only way women can 'fix' this problem is for them to fight to have Karen treated as any other misogynist insult. No it’s not the only way, that’s the white feminism solution.

This thread is like the twilight zone

Karen is misogynistic. It's ageist. It's meant to put women in their place

If I was a buyer I would not use the company advertising

And people who use the term Karen other than to address someone of that name, are thick as fuck

You are not going to convince me with a dictionary definition, that the term "Karen" is primarily used to fight racism in Australia.
That wasn’t what I said or implied.

OK. I will try that.

What do I do about all the memes, newspaper articles, blog posts, You Tube videos, etc that do the same thing (except that they are calling whole swathes of women "Karens"[

It would be a full time job to contact all of the authors and tell them they don’t have the first clue what a Karen is and they are engaging in cultural appropriation. And I have an inkling that doing such a thing would result in being called "a Karen". (Call me cynical![

Do you see the problem here?

Why is Karen being targeting as the only insult that has to be banned because it gets misused? We don’t do that with any other derogatory term at all, ever

Wrong. Using overt racist and homophobic slurs will get you fired and possibly arrested.

Karen is not a slur. It is a derogatory insult for attitude/behaviour.

I am autistic and sometimes miss the point, so my apologies for misunderstanding your post, BillabongGirl. I still stand by the rest of my post though.

Why is Karen being targeting as the only insult that has to be banned because it gets misused? We don’t do that with any other derogatory term at all, ever.

Probably because it’s millions of women’s actual names. That, and its increasing use to shut down women for any disagreement, however minor. Other derogatory terms tend to be used more sparingly.

I am objecting to the contention that Karen is a slur used against middle aged white women “just for existing” as one poster put it or “disagreeing with a man” as another put it or “disagreeing with any younger man or woman” as another poster put it.

Your objection is wrong. That's how it is used, most of the time. Just go to Twitter and do a search for Karen, you'll soon see. When I did it two minutes ago, the first example is a video with a woman taking a picture of a truck she thinks is too close behind her. Maybe she was being awkward, who knows? But there's no suggestion she's being racist. The sound track goes: 'what is this bitch doing? Dumb bitch. See you Karen!' And the label reads: 'Karen thinks truck is too close to her at stoplight.' Can you see how 'bitch' and 'Karen' are used interchangeably?

Or try searching for 'OK Karen'. https://twitter.com/search?q=%22ok%20karen%22&src=typed_query The second example: 'Ok Karen, I’m a PATRIOT and I support Donald Trump.' Right-wingers can use Karen to put down left wing women (the aggressor here seems to be an older woman herself.)

There's also examples of 'ok Karen' being used as a generic term, without being directed at any particular woman. https://twitter.com/PrinceBeorn/status/1693190000534249591

This one carries a threat of violence: https://twitter.com/HighsTriple/status/1694048385798652136

Sooo what's the term for a middle age woman who isn't 'white' skinned who is also racist? Or does judging someone on the colour of their skin or ethnicity only apply one way? Racism works in all & every direction imo. EVERYONE has the capability to judge others based on their skintone or ethicity. Us Irish were discriminated against forever & you couldn't get a whiter breed! In all honesty is it not much better just to call someone out for being a racist on an individual basis, rather than putting a common woman's name on it?? Its tribalism & divides us all, especially as woman who need to stick together 🤷‍♀️

No it did not the Reddit, r/F**kYouKaren, created back in December 2017 was about a man who complained about his ex-wife, actually named Karen, saying she took both his children and his house after their split.

Thats it.

That was not the origin of the Karen meme. That is just a coincidence with the same name. There is nothing about a middle aged, white woman acting all entitled and racist in any of the Reddit posts.

Anti-social is an umbrella term covering entitled and condescending.

But nothing in it says it is a misogynistic or ageist slur, not ever, not even “primarily”

As you're clearly struggling I'll spell it out for you, once more.
No, anti social doesn't mean condescending or entitled, Billabong. Being condescending or entitled isn't anti social behaviour.

Anti social according to a dictionary you're familiar with (try using it).
1. unwilling or unable to associate normally with one's fellows.
2. opposed, damaging, or motivated by antagonism to social order, or to the principles on which society is constituted.

Génération X (so middle aged - ageism ✅), entitled (✅) and condescending (✅) - common 'Karen' traits according to UK definition also, and the fact that this is only used as a derogatory term applied to women (there's the misogyny ✅) then often racist tagged on the end. Understand?

So primarily then, predominately as the definition says, and just like the Australian poster said earlier who was quite certain of its use.

Why I'm engaging with this nonsense I don't know!

Karen is not a slur. It is a derogatory insult for attitude/behaviour.

I don't agree with you, and that will not change.

Except for Dick?

I wondered when Gen X was going to start getting it in the neck btw - I see it has indeed started to creep in over the last year or so. The Boomers will be relieved.

Am I the only person who feels they are being gaslit here?

Literally nobody, not one human in the UK, thinks anti social behaviour is an umbrella term which covers being condescending.

If it was then my mother would have a fkn ASBO.

What do you think a slur is? 🙄

From Wikipedia:

In African-American culture, there is a history of calling difficult white women or those who "weaponize" their position by a generic pejorative name[...] As late as 2018, before the use of "Karen" caught on, alliterative names matching particular incidents were used.[..]

For the term "Karen", several possible origins have been proposed. Early uses of Karen as a joke punchline include the airheaded character Karen (played by Amanda Seyfried) from the 2004 film Mean Girls, Dane Cook's 2005 sketch "The Friend Nobody Likes" on his album Retaliation, and a 2016 Internet meme regarding a woman in an ad for the Nintendo Switch console who exhibits perceived antisocial behavior and is given the nickname "antisocial Karen". In December 2017, Karen memes regarding entitled women went viral on Reddit, the earliest being from user karmacop9, who ranted about his ex-wife Karen taking custody of their children. The posts led to the creation of the subreddit r/FuckYouKaren, containing memes about the posts, and inspiring spinoffs including r/karen and r/EntitledKarens dedicated to criticizing Karens.

According to Wikipedia, 'Karen' didn't originate with African-American culture at all! 'Karen memes regarding entitled women went viral on Reddit in 2017, but Karen didn't catch on the African-American community until 2018 at least.

Oops breaking my own advice by replying to you when you're being a disingenuous, dishonest spammer continually derailing this thread with false information.

'Karen' was used widely on Reddit long before that specific subreddit was set up. I'm not sure why you're so fixated on that subreddit, except because you like trying to prop up a fake narrative I guess? 'Karen' in its original and mainstream usage was around since before 2010. I remember arguing with users on Reddit that it was sexist back then. Its great that you're happily continuing the white man's good work, because of course you definitely aren't a white man who knows exactly what's he doing.

Am I the only person who feels they are being gaslit here?

Maybe, but there's a whole range of sincerely held opinions in this world.

Oh yeah, a diminutive of Richard that hasn’t been used or years!