"Stop being a Karen"

[ValsCupcakes]

I heard this on Tuesday from a young, no more than 20, guy saying it to his girlfriend in the street in town.

Is this still going on? I'm out this afternoon at my friend's house. She is called Karen and is sick of it. I heard a woman phone into the radio too the other week saying her husband's satnav was an annoying female voice so he called it Karen.

Can't say I struggle with vaginas being called fannies. Nobody thinks fannying about means behaving like women named Fanny (a nickname for Frances).

The many many Dicks of the world will be fine.

Because misogynists believe women are inferior to men and deserve all the multiple names they've been called throughout history. It's as simple as that.

Oh god, what's wrong with the word fanny?

Personally, I prefer 'bitch' to 'Karen' as an insult. 'Bitch' feels more honest, somehow. It sounds crude and people are more likely to react negatively to hearing it. 'Karen' has become socially acceptable among too many people, so there's much less of a risk to using it, compared to 'bitch'.

My main reason for hating the term is that it's a name still commonly in use, but I also don't care for the fact that it was originally aimed at a specific race. (I'm not certain whether this has changed or not.) Would it be deemed acceptable to use a name primarily associated with any other race as an insult? I doubt it.

I don't honestly care about the origin of the term; I would just prefer it to go away.

Why is that behaviour associated with my best friend’s name though? Why is her name used to put down women who are simply asserting themselves?

Nothing. That was the poster's point.

Because "fanny" the slang word =/= Fanny the name.

Just like "dick" the slang word =/= Dick the name.

Everyone knows this, which is why it is obvious that the various people making comparisons between "dick" (NB: not capitalised) and "Karen" are not doing do in good faith.

Because Karen is a woman’s name.

And in any case, “bitch” is a terrible term too.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to a poster who claims that her driving instructor has "never really worked". That post is just a mish-mash of assumptions, prejudices and downright nastiness about a woman who doesn't appear to have done anything wrong (but might possibly be a little lacking in self-awareness).

Nothing at all, it's common slang for a body part. Like dick.

In a week when a boy has stamped on an elderly man's neck and killed him in a racial attack, a man has set light to his olympian ex and killed her, a French rape case has been in the news where a man has been drugging his wife so multiple men can rape her, the misogynists are still trying to justify why women deserve to be called names as they are worse than men.

Depressing and true.

The objection is that a woman’s name is being used in association with despicable behaviour.

Calling out racism is right. Using a middle aged woman’s name to do so is lazy, sexist and ageist.

Can we have a word that describes abusive men??

Well said.

100%. Yours is the first good post on this thread.

Unfortunately there are an astonishing amount of ignoramuses in the world, and this thread is flooded with them.

The "Karen" is a white american woman who uses and abuses her white privilege, offen instigating racial violence. The term Karen is merely the latest in a long line of monikers that African people in america have labelled such individuals. The moniker has since been misappropriated (an idiot in the OP's first post), but if you are not a white american woman who uses her white privilege at the expense of others, YOU ARE NOT A KAREN, so cease taking offence over something that has nothing to do with you.

The Karen is in literature (Scarlett O Hara), in film (the white woman in Birth of a Nation who runs screaming from "the big bad black man"... a 1917 film that inspired the second era Ku Klux Klan). She is an exceptionally dangerous individual who uses her white status to inflict harm on non white people.

14 year old Emmett Till was murdered after being confronted by a Karen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmmettTill

Is this still going on?

Yes we are still behaving like Karen.

A bitch is a female dog. Women aren't dogs so shouldn't take offence. I get where you're going with this.

Yes it is horrible.
It’s such a childish insult, putting down all the women called Karen out there.

You're the ignoramus. This slur is used in this country to shut down middle aged women giving opinions on any subject. If someone calls me a sexist slur I have every right to take offence.

Read up on who a Karen is, an american woman who uses her 4 centuries long white privilege in america to inflict harm on non white people, before taking offence at a character that has nothing to do with you.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/27/karen-race-white-women-black-americans-racism

It is not racist in the US! Lol

Nevermind I get it..yes it is used towards racist white women.

It's irrelevant and the origin is disputed anyway.

We're objecting to it's current, UK usage. Which is sexist.

I am fully aware of its origins, but what you are describing is not how the word "Karen" is actually being used in real life in the UK.

Read the OP - do those examples sound like it is being used to call out racist behaviour?

It's being commonly used by white misogynists as a generic insult for a woman expressing an opinion they don't like. It's used as a generic synonym for "mouthy bitch".

"if you are not a white american woman who uses her white privilege at the expense of others, YOU ARE NOT A KAREN, so cease taking offence over something that has nothing to do with you."

Regardless of whether someone is a "Karen" according to your definition or not, the fact is that they may find themselves being called one simply because they are female. Which means it does have something to do with them, and they have every right to take offence.

Indeed.

The Karen is an exceptionally dangerous individual.

The millions of non white people over 4 centuries in america who have been murdered, lynched, raped, often at the instigation of the Karen, who then gets her partner (the man) to do the deed.

There is no way this is in good faith. Murders, lynching and rapes are done by men. You know this.

What special word do you have specifically for men who commit these crimes?

The idea that men do what women tell them to is laughable.