"How the 'Karen Meme' Confronts the Violent History of White Womanhood"

[Igneococcus]

This just popped up as a recomendation in Firefox when I open a new tab. I can't fully read it right now because I'm in a meeting any moment now (someone's still sorting out techinical issues), but a first quick scan makes me go "WTF" :

time.com/5857023/karen-meme-history-meaning/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Aye, it's not the 'skincare regime', m'dear, that is giving people the impression of a teenager.

Dear Charlotte/Amelia/Binky Fotherington-Smythe

1. 'Educate yourself'
2. 'Try not to be defensive'.
3. 'Don't be so loud'.
4. 'Basically, leave'

1. I already have, and have a couple of decades on you and your internally misogynistic cool girl act
2. Get fucked
3. Get fucked
4. Can you even hear yourself?

The whole Poshy McPosh would like working class women to shut up certainly does add an interesting layer, doesn't it?

Also, what does "leave" even mean? Leave Twitter? Leave the country? Cause post Brexit that's not really going to be an option.

Leave the sphere of discussion, I can only presume. Older, common sorts of women should be unseen and not heard?

"Educate yourself" has to be about the most patronising phrase ever.

I did. Let me tell you, the "girlslikeus" tag was quite the education!

www.vox.com/2020/2/5/21079162/karen-name-insult-meme-manager

Article from February. It’s just plain sexist.

It was popularised by a man complaining about his ex wife.

The whole Poshy McPosh would like working class women to shut up certainly does add an interesting layer, doesn't it?

It really does. As has been said, these women aren't offering to pipe down, are they? One can only hope this is considered effective and dynamic enough.

@TheProdigalKittensReturn

The whole Poshy McPosh would like working class women to shut up certainly does add an interesting layer, doesn't it?

It's as if intersection magically disappears when it involves class. Quite a magic trick, that.

Clearly, for the upper class 'read books! Shut up, mum!' crowd, anti racism is just a fashion, and not part of any consistent ethical approach to the multifaceted issue of societal injustice.

It's as if intersection magically disappears when it involves class. Quite a magic trick, that.

Very true.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/14/proud-to-be-basic-bitch

On the earlier, younger version of the ‘Karen’.

merrymouse

Oh yes I was thinking of "basic bitch" earlier reading this thread!

The most pumpkin latte sipping basic b I know is my gay, mixed race niece, ironically. I think she's the only one in the family to even enter a Starbucks.

Can people not see the correlation in the application of identity politics across different groups. This is no different from women claiming theres some kind of oppressive patriarchy. It uses group identity to form a narrative that is both destructive and destabilising to society as a whole.

Its got to stop.

This is no different from women claiming theres some kind of oppressive patriarchy.

?

The existence of misogynist memes is not evidence that racism and sexism don’t exist. I think your logic is faulty.

@merrymouse

This is no different from women claiming theres some kind of oppressive patriarchy.

?

The existence of misogynist memes is not evidence that racism and sexism don’t exist. I think your logic is faulty.

So you think society is an oppressive patriarchy because of the existence of a few memes?

And thats YOUR logic?

Patriarchy is still in literal existence in places on this globe.

It's within some women's living memories, being given the vote for the first time. Some women are imprisoned for not confirming to patriarchal religious law. Etc.

Patriarchy in those pure forms is much diminished in the West, it's true. But in some ways the attitudes towards women under patriarchy have just migrated to things like porn.

Patriarchy is still in literal existence in places on this globe.

It very literally still exists in the House of Lords.

However, patriarchy can just be a system where men, for whatever reason, hold most positions of power. You don’t have to believe that all men are involved in a plot against women to observe that a society is patriarchal.

@merrymouse

Patriarchy is still in literal existence in places on this globe.

It very literally still exists in the House of Lords.

However, patriarchy can just be a system where men, for whatever reason, hold most positions of power. You don’t have to believe that all men are involved in a plot against women to observe that a society is patriarchal.

True enough.

Yes I think that's a good point, merrymouse. I think a lot of people think it means something just short of Gilead in the Handmaid's Tale, to feminists, so they sneer at the idea.

But in some ways the attitudes towards women under patriarchy have just migrated to things like porn.

And yes.

@DancelikeEmmaGoldman

I’m probably like many women; I cry when I’m really angry. I’ve been taught that anger is not appropriate for women; rage is not acceptable, shouting or banging things is unfeminine.

I wonder how much of those women’s tears are actually female rage?

It’s also worth noting that Robin DiAngelo, who wrote a best-selling book disparaging women and their supposed “fragility”, and who rakes in a lot of cash through her corporate “diversity training”, is a white woman.

Me too. I was accused of doing it for attention or to get out of trouble when I was a child. I learned not to cry when they abused me but I still leak tears when I am angry.

@DivineTruth

Can people not see the correlation in the application of identity politics across different groups. This is no different from women claiming theres some kind of oppressive patriarchy. It uses group identity to form a narrative that is both destructive and destabilising to society as a whole.

Its got to stop.

Patriarchy means rule of the fathers. Look around you. It's everywhere.