New Meghan Murphy article - Karen

[ThinEndoftheWedge]

This article really got to me.

Misogyny is now so progressive - that you are not doing it right if you don’t utterly destroy women’s lives.

www.feministcurrent.com/2020/06/23/the-karen-becky-meme-has-officially-gone-too-far/?fbclid=IwAR0JtpW919H2BYiboGFsqBqmE6A13c3bxiSA0YHyYC5X0Ec0XAvWBpR4zgA

(b) shitty customers come in all ages, shapes, sizes, colours and both sexes. But there is only a dismissive, dehumanising, silencing meme for one type of person. And that is the same type of person as has been silenced and dehumanised since forever. It's not a fucking coincidence is it

This.

Also, it's lazy and offensive to women who are actually CALLED Karen, of whom there are a lot. I don't see how dismissing anyone whose name is Karen and associating their name with all kinds of awful things is really any better than dismissing someone for their skin colour or sexuality or sex or hair colour or all the other reasons lazy people hurt others by their assumptions. Maybe Karens are going to have to point out they were only assigned Karen at birth....

Just struck me today.

I "hear" the OK Karen thing in the voice of Henry Hill - remember, out of Goodfellas. His wife was called Karen and he was a prick to her.

@hypernormal

I'm sick to death of Karen memes and the gleeful way in which they're used to shut women up and call them 'c*nts'. A friend of mine posted one recently saying 'Karen you twat' and then referring to something that has nothing to do with the original use of the word (think a mundane pet hate). I'm fully aware of the type this word was originally meant to refer to ie. entitled, overbearing, petty women, often using racial slurs - and having come up against these women myself I have no desire to defend them. But the word has been weaponised as a way of calling any woman you don't agree with a 'dumb bitch', and it's being done with such misogynistic glee. Bad enough when men use it, when women use it it's just depressing that they are so desperate to gain approval for chastising those women who they're keen to point out are nothing like their young, desirable selves. Thing is, the original Karen 'type' doesn't even translate well to a UK context. People in general in the UK don't complain, we expect bad service! I've only ever complained a handful of times in my life, when something was really unacceptable and should have been complained about eg. being sprayed with concrete whilst walking past a building site! Now, I'd feel even more uncomfortable about complaining in case I'm branded as a 'Karen'. It's a way of silencing women, who already feel inhibited due to social disapproval of women being assertive. Are 'Karens' really the ones responsible for systemic racism, or is it just another case of women being blamed for everything?

In the states there is no male equivalent of "Katen" but white men LOVE to use it to explain racism while simultaneously excusing themselves.