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.

@DeeCee77 thank you but American history is irrelevant to the usage of the term in the UK and to the ethnic makeup of the UK.

Racism in the UK is real and forcing American dichotomies on to us is not helping - it's erasing the issues and lived experiences of whole swathes of the population.

Please educate yourself.

The ageist and misogynistic use of the term has been explained much better than I ever could by other posters.

Aye. ❤️ To paraphrase badly an old meme.. Many years and many threads on and I can't believe we still have to protest about this shit.

And yes OP, you are being very unreasonable missappropriating a term given to racist white american women that have had deadly consequences for a group of oppressed people.

Here's one of the victims of the Karen, the racist white american woman who weaponised her white pivilege.

This is Marnie Till, mother of Emmett, at the funeral of her 14 year old son who had been lynched after a Karen said he wolf whistled at her.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emmett_Till%27s_funeral_-_mourners.jpg

DeeCee77

Nobody owns the meaning of words. With today’s speed of communication words get picked up by new groups quickly and the meaning gets altered.
Karen no longer means what it used to mean.
Woke no longer means what it used to mean.

Karen has been appropriated as a misogynistic insult directed a women who speak their mind. Often middle aged women at that. There is no male equivalent in wide usage.

There is a legitimate discussion to be had around the cultural appropriation of language but, in the case of Karen and woke, the change has already happened.

Came to say something like this but this explains things much better than I could!

Thank you DewinDwl. Succinctly put. Now lets hope DeeCee77 takes heed.

Now lets hope DeeCee77 takes heed.

I suspect we’ll get another cut and paste, and gaslighting claims that it’s women who are “misappropriating” the term Karen.

someone upthread suggested the term was used for someone complaining about a service; IMO it's regularly thrown around for a woman complaining about ANYTHING, service or not. Horrible term.

The Karen = a racist white american woman who uses her white privilege to inflict terror upon a non white person.

So who is the 'Karen' (because it is a definite article Karen) the cat/company are referring to in the meme posted by OP?

I would have grave concerns about any healthcare practise that had this attitude towards patients.

'Nookal is a cloud-based practice management software system that helps allied health therapists and practitioners manage and grow their practice. Patients can book appointments, pay online, and receive reminder messages. Clinicians can write detailed clinical notes, monitor progress and more.

Nookal has a range of booking types to choose from, allowing you to quickly and easily schedule your patient bookings across all your practitioners, clinic locations, and schedules. The variety of booking types available helps keep yourself, and your clinical team organised while also helping to ensure that your clinic is running smoothly and efficiently.'

... and allows you to label patients with sexist, derogatory terms?

Please could everyone stop feeding the troll?

On the topic- I shall have a look at how to complain to the ASA when I'm back at a computer. I suggest others do the same.

Yes

And also the ‘if you complain about it that makes you even more of a Karen!’ line.

They....the people on this post, or did your little brain think I meant something else. And wtf are you bringing black boys into this discussion for !

Yep.

Creating straw-women hate figures to blame and detract attention from the men who are actually committing violence.

"Karen is just the latest term used by African Americans to refer to a meddlesome white woman from the US who uses her white privilege, sometimes to deadly consequences."

No, it's also anyone who is a bit difficult with customer service staff of any skin colour.

Wow! A health care associated company? That is absolutely appalling. I wonder who on earth came up with that ad?

The absolute insistence of some people to call any criticism of women's behaviour as misogyny is outrageous. No. Some women behave like shite bags. When I worked in retail as a youth some awful women made me cry with their bullying behaviour. I don't particularly like calling it "karen" and some men are just as bad. But no. Its not misogyny. It's a crap and ill thought out word that describes very real and unacceptable behaviour.

Well sadly this thread shows that misogyny is winning.

It has achieved women of different colors fighting between themselves of what "Karen" means.

Well done my sisters 🙄. You are doing more for men than they could do for themselves.

I agree with your point, but I think it's the same for any word/phrase used to group people together. E.g., "ok boomer" started off being a way to highlight the often privileged position some snobby boomer-generation people had when they were being derogatory towards younger generations. Now it's used to shut down the opinion of anyone over a certain age.

Not saying it's right, but I think it's a human nature thing not specifically a misogyny thing (although agree Karen also has misogynistic undertones).

Anything that groups people into us vs them will tend to descend into "I can say anything about them because they are not us". Karen is just the latest in a long line of people trying to "other" particular groups so they can treat them poorly (racism, sexism, etc etc).

But the OP isn't misappropriating the term.

One could argue that those who gleefully chuck the term around in contexts that are nothing to do with historical American racism and slavery are misappropriating it. (Or one could accept that the meaning and usage of the term has evolved.)

Your posts might make more sense if you were adopting either of the above positions.

Accusing the people being called "Karens" of misappropriating the term is bizarre and nonsensical.

👏

Of course bullying is wrong. Anyone who's worked in a public facing role of any kind will have seen the best and worst of humanity. Call out bullying, refuse to serve rude people, escalate to management if need be.

But why use a gendered insult? Why not call rude, entitled behaviour what it is?

Hello all - on a related note - I have been pondering making printable "business cards" that people can print out and keep in their wallet to hand out if they hear someone using the term "Karen" in a derogative way; mainly to educate on the misogynistic nature of the term and inform the person using it that it is unacceptable.

What do people think of this idea?

Would the below be ok to go on it?

“Karen” is a misogynistic and ageist term aimed to shut women down and prevent them speaking out about issues that affect them. Using this term derogatively undermines ALL women and says more about the person who uses it as a slur than it does about the woman being complained about. For the sake of all women, please avoid using this misogynistic term".

There's probably better wording, and no doubt I would be called a "karen" for handing it out! If anyone has suggestions let me know as this has been on my mind for a while. I'll be happy to design some sheets people can print and put in their wallet if they think it is a good idea.

When I worked in bars and as a waitress, by far the most bullying, aggressive and nasty behaviour I experienced came from men. Isn’t it funny how there’s not a term for them?