The misogynistic and ageist slur ‘karen’

[Cursory]

I see this cropping up on here on a reasonably regular basis. It’s an acknowledged ageist and misogynistic term for women over a certain age with an opinion.

Will MNHQ moderate it accordingly if it’s reported, the same way you do for other derogatory terms?

I think the point is a British person would be seen as foreign in China, like an Irish person was seen as foreign/other.

Nope it was being used in the US before that.

And was aimed at women only.

But like "Twat" and "cunt" which are old the word for female sex organs it has moved to being a sex based slur.

Bitch v Dog
Cow v Bull
Mare v Stallion

Loads of slurs dont move between the two sexes

If there was a male term I'd make it "Darren" 🤣🤣🤣

I agree but this started with the comment

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Blinkyy · Yesterday 22:07

”. The whole Karen meme stemmed from racism eg calling the police on black people based on lies. Age isn’t really the defining factor, it’s more race I’d say.

So it’s white women - surely that makes it racist
--

I'm not sure why white Irish or white people in China is relevant.

It's white women in western society that get called Karen, it's not specifically white Irish women, it's not white women in China.

.... then someone said that racism= privilege + power.

If you read the chain, it is totally a tangent to be drawing an analogy with "Karen's " and white Irish or white people in China

I tend to find it’s a certain type of person that uses the term.

it’s a horrible term used to shut down woman, usually if a certain age.

It's the height of white entitlement to keep whining about supposed racism towards white people. Fuck off with that shit.

It's not racist. White people cannot be victims of racism. Prejudice yes, racism no. White people bleating about racism is like mean whining about sexism.

Nope just establishing a baseline of why words are used to diminish someone on the receiving end of the word.

If I call someone a White Bitch is my intent for the insult to only call the person (male or female) a bitch as a slur or is the full slur about being of a race and being an animal ?

Exactly!! I agree and what a great analogy.

No, it’s the law.

So so someone is arguing that a term used to describe a racsit is racist? Is just calling someone racist racist also?And ignoring the agism an and mysogeny? Is that sone kind of distraction attempt?

Yes it’s racist if it refers to one group -if I say my ‘particular race’ friend is a pig then thats fine but if I say everyone of the particular race is a pig then that’s racism. Karen is a general term for a group of people not one person.

What is Karen is being used for now on MN?

It was a lable used to create sub-group of women: white working / middle class mid-aged American women who called the police on black men ( generally, & not women).

This thread shows that it has changed it meaning of the sub-group of women to: any race, any social class, any age (once older than the speaker) any country, once they fail to meet whatever the local social norm for women is in that area.

Smallmercies · Yesterday 21:23

It's no more misogynistic than gammon is racist. Karen is an attitude, not an attribute. I will continue to use it with pride.

If what @Smallmercies said here ^ holds Smallmercies would call a Black British woman (or man?) a Karen

GeorgianaM · Yesterday 21:25

Smallmercies · Yesterday 21:23
It's no more misogynistic than gammon is racist. Karen is an attitude, not an attribute. I will continue to use it with pride.

Same here. It's not aimed at all women it's aimed at those with a certain look and a bad attitude.

@GeorgianaM may call a Black British woman a Karen but woiuld not apply it to any man.

It’s interesting that in spite of the many instances of male entitlement and poor behaviour that has been shared on SM, no man’s name has the same meaning as Karen.

Yes, misogyny is the over riding prejudice feature of the term

It's horrible and I report it every time I see it. I have a couple of friends with that name and they hate it.

It is used all over facebook, to shut up anyone who complains about something. The twats that use the phrase, are usually a certain type of person, who don't like it being pointed out, despite the fact that they claim it's ok to use on a certain type of person.

There is an advert where it shows bad decisions, and a couple have a baby and she says "Lets call it Karen" and he says "Lets not" - and that just about sums it up really.

Would you call your child Chloe now, if you knew that it 50 years time , everyone was saying "Shut Up Chloe" , "Alright Chloe" "Don't Be A Chloe", every time a woman dared to complain about something?

It doesn't matter how/when/why it originated, it is being used as an insult to women, and that is what matters.

What on earth would make you proud of using a hackneyed boring unoriginal insult?

I wouldn’t! I don’t

it's aimed at those with a certain look and a bad attitude.

look? Ummm so completely sexists

bad attitude = angry / annoyed /have an opinion so need to be “ put in their place “

so totally sexist and ageist

More like entitled/overbearing/unreasonable. The true Karen attitude is unmistakable, and it's nothing to do with having an opinion.

Of course it's ageist.

Fortunately it seems to be going out of fashion. I haven't seen it used nearly so much recently. So I guess people still using it are behind the times and misogynist. Not a good look.

Awful attitude 😒

Sorry. I meant to quote the poster who said they would.