Really? How about just getting sick of the meme, period...?
This thread on the unlikely site Reddit contained a discussion about the "Karen" meme, with some commenters making sense as they spoke against the meme, and others not so much.
The original post starting the thread was deleted, and the thread is locked.
There are great comments in here, pointing out how rude and stupid it is to perpetuate a meme that condemns an honest to goodness girl's name and turns it into a shaming term. There are other comments rightly pointing out this is a misogynistic meme, but others that just go on to spout feminist rhetoric.
I will indicate my feelings via emojies placed just before the comments and sections throughout.
I’m getting sick of what the Karen meme has turned into.
Posted byu/[deleted]
I’m getting sick of what the Karen meme has turned into.
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Gorang_Username See my barren field of f**ks
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This post is now locked because so many decided the support don't scold rule didn't apply here.
ohyouagain55
👍It bothers me for all the kids and adults actually named Karen (before it became a thing), who are nice and decent people. Can you imagine your name turned into an equivalent of bitch, and you're only 12?
allthebirdsinthesky
👍My Mum is called Karen, she doesn't even know this is a thing, haven't the heart to tell her. She's lovely!
beldarin
👍There's an update post in am I the asshole at the moment about a girl who named her baby Karen, and is only now realising the toxic memes associated with it, despite her friend trying to warn her a year ago.
nfgchick79
👍My name is Karen and now that they are using the Karen meme to describe racist white women, I am even MORE pissed about the meme. I was mad already but now I'm just...I cannot even anymore. I was named Karen in 1979 and it's my mom's middle name. I have no control over all of this and I've even had people IRL make fun of me. If I protest too much over any little thing people have said "oh do you want to talk to a manager?" Hilarious. I'm so over it, it's not even funny. Also as someone who has worked in retail and food service, this makes me inordinately angry. I would never behave like a "Karen."
jadis87
👍Ironically, all the real Karens I know are cool people.
gorkt
👍This. I don’t like these stereotype slurs that are actually people’s names like Karen, Stacey and Chad. Honestly it speaks to a lack of empathy in those that use them. My MIL is named Karen and is as far from the stereotype as one can get.
lionessrampant25
👍It sucks!
MzOpinion8d
🥱About Kate Gosselin - I won’t go into all the details but she is a horrible person. I’ve followed a blog about the family and yowza...she’s one of the worst people I’ve ever known of. She sent one of the sextuplets off to a disciplinary boarding school and wouldn’t tell Jon where he was, and she never had contact with the boy again...Jon was able to find him and get him out and he lives with Jon now. Another of the sextuplets chose to go live with Jon and she has also disowned her. There are court records that cover most of this so I know it’s not just vicious rumors.
Sorry that was off topic, but she is worse than any Karen.
amystarfish
🥱Came here to say this! Kate had her kids in the town I live in. I use to see them driving their big van around all the time. She’s was notoriously awful to the staff at the hospital where she had her babies. Definitely deserves her reputation.
ima_mandolin
🙄I agree completely. I think the Karen meme has come so far from its origins as a legitimate commentary on racial dynamics and is now used, often by men, as a way to shame women into sitting down and shutting up. I was raised to be a doormat and have come so far in learning how to be more assertive and speak up for myself. This is something I've been proud of myself for, but recently I find myself second guessing whether I'm being a Karen or not when I speak up or express any anger or frustration at all. I got frustrated dealing with the gas company on the phone the other day and found myself feeling guilty afterward even though expressing anger (directed at the situation, not the person I was speaking to who was not in control of the situation) was the only way I was able to make myself heard and be taken seriously. Women are not allowed to express anger, and the Karen meme has made it worse.
PookSpeak
I agree with you 100%. It's sickening actually and sexist to the core and 🙄not surprising that there is no male version equal to it.
random_nickname89
👍Kevin. For those with unbelievable stupidity.
therapych1ckens
👍Also Chad
Edit: For the record, I agree with you and OP. Just saying I’ve heard of a few before.
sparkletheunicorn92
👍Kyle.
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Monterey10
🙄I totally get it. It’s getting to be similar to how assertiveness is seen between men and women. Assertive men are being manly and getting things done. Assertive women are bitches who need to not be so emotional. Now it seems like any woman who speaks up about anything is a “Karen.”
ModoReese
Local Minecraft and Roblox expert. Not by choice.
👍My 9 year latched on to “ok boomer” pretty hard. I think they’re parrots of some sort at that age, and don’t get the meaning. But worth a “check in” talk for sure. It is out of control, sadly I suspect something new will be in the works soon enough.
Also, unless the helicopter thing happened in more than one area, hello neighbour! I’m waving at you from the town just NW of the city. :)
ellameaguey
👍Yes!! I hate how it’s normalizing and making villains out of regular women. I recently was telling my 19 yo sister (who is liberal and a feminist) about how annoyed I am with this overused trend and she called me a Karen. And she says white women can deal with it. I mean yeah, Is this THE biggest issue? Of course not, but it’s still shitty and not at all funny anymore
jonquillejaune
👍It’s become a way to silence women
The_Bravinator
👎Something I said a few hours ago on another thread--
When it went from black people punching up at entitled white women to entitled white men punching down at any women ever is when it ran its course.
I've started seeing white men call black women Karens. It's dooooooooone.
Lil_MsPerfect
I'm here to complain so I don't yell @everyone
🙄Yuuuup. And other entitled white women sniping at other white women. I was just saying that it reminds me of the misogynistic label women were given back in the day of having "hysteria" by virtue of our uterus making us batshit and nothing we say could be taken seriously. So glad we've come so f**king far in our age of enlightenment. Bravo, fellow human beings.
I've started seeing white men call black women Karens. It's dooooooooone. Just thinking about that enrages me. F**k them so much.
gregslastday
👍I used to work in retail and it seems to me that a lot of “Karens” just have a lot on their plate and one minor inconvenience is the straw that breaks their backs. Oftentimes, something as simple as a sincere apology (without even offering any freebies) would disarm them and they’d end up crying. They just feel like they are trying to balance armfuls of spinning plates and everyone is taking them for granted. This makes me extra sad for these women whose misery is now both an insult and a joke. Of course there are terrible people who treat service people like they are trash, but I didn’t notice that a particular gender presentation, age, or income class predominated in that respect.
Lead_Sulfide
👍It's completely misogynistic and designed to teach women 'their place.' Might as well call a woman 'frigid,' 'manly,' or 'barren' - except 'Karen' hurts worse nowadays. Saying it's not misogynistic is like saying 'boomer' isn't ageist. It is. And they're both cruel. They're dogwhistles and they're designed to cut deep. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's not hate speech. And let's not pretend that old people don't suffer from age discrimination or that women don't suffer from misogyny. If using the word automatically makes the person's concerns mean less - which in both cases it does - it's a dehumanizing word and it is PREJUDICE.
Rosiecat24
Damn. That is well said. I too deeply dislike what the Karen meme has turned into. And I'll embrace my Karen label if it means a woman who believes that her voice matters.
IrreverantUsername
👎Another day, another version of misogyny. Times change, but woman hate is universal.
IllSpite0
👎I liked the Karen meme when it was about a woman who thought she was entitled to things and yelled at workers over simple inconveniences. You're right though, it has become a very sexist thing. Can we come up with a male version of this? For all the males that make us feel uncomfortable when we are walking down the street, or working, or just hanging out with our kids, or just living. For the males who put us down because they think they are ENTITLED to things, like our bodies or our time? How about the males who think they have it so bad because God forbid their wives or girlfriends ask them to grow up and be responsible?
littleflamingo48
👍My Son two weeks ago told me I'm obviously a Karen because of my haircut, tank tops and leggings, and I drive a minivan. I FELT Karen about that. I said "you know, if all anyone has to say about me is hateful shit then they can just shut the f**k up." I was legit mad. I had a bad day already. He was kidding and usually we can joke with each other but that shit got to me. Is this how I'm perceived?! WTF.
RunnerMomLady
👍No one is complaining about women just going about living their lives - when they harass others - that’s when they end up on the video - I’m a soccer mom who drives a massive suv but yet no one has targeted me? Wonder why
JoNightshade
Official BrMo 🐜Lice Protective Services🐜 Officer
👍Yesterday I saw two woke white people on twitter arguing about whether white people calling out other white women as "Karens" was appropriation because it was clearly instituted as part of the BLM movement and therefore only for black people to give that label. Sooooooo yeah I'm done with the whole Karen thing.
AppalachiaVaudeville
👍Oh yeah, it's straight up misogyny.
It's just another way to treat women like shit and blame us for getting upset AbOuT A jOkE.
Same goes for "Basic", "Thot", "Not Like Other Girls", and "Dependa". It's just new slang to give misogynistic people a license to hate women publicly.
WaxyWingie
👍I hated the Karen thing from the get go, because, yeah... It's just another way to shame women who try to stand up for themselves.
RunnerMomLady
0 children
Vegetable_Burrito
👍It’s 100% misogyny, plain and simple. 👎There is no male equivalent to ‘Karen’. 👍It’s used to make women feel badly about speaking up for themselves. I’ve been saying that since this whole Karen shit started and get blown off and called a Karen for, guess what, speaking up for myself. 🤷🏼♀️
CertainlyNotYourWife
4 kids, RN in grad school, legit crazy
🙄Yeah, at first I didn't mind it too much because it was pretty hyperbolic and the whole character was very exaggerated. It has slowly become less and less of hyperbole and more of an excuse to attack women for just about ANYTHING. 👍Like it used to be a "Karen" was just this over the top rude, entitled, absolutely so involved in themselves they lacked empathy entirely. Now it's a lady who is annoyed by the loud house party on a Tuesday night still raging at 11 pm. That's not a "Karen" that's a normal person. I have heard male equivalents 🙄but they are not at all universal. I've heard Chad, Kevin, and Richard (because they're dicks) which makes the most sense to me but yeah...not universal like Karen. I don't find it as funny as I used to and 👌I think it's overused and now abused and 👍👏time for it to die.
solngnthx4allthefish
👍Karen on reddit also now apparently is a conservative Christian who is against BLM and only cares about her city opening up so she can get a haircut.
sockmonkeyboxinglove
👍Karen has just become a lazy insult. Seriously, I'd have more respect for you if you just called me a bitch, because frankly, I can be, I know it, and I'm okay with it. But because some obnoxious twunt has decided that I'm oppressing them because I'm neither afraid nor ashamed to call them out for being an asshole, that makes me Karen. Okay then, Karen it is. You're still an obnoxious shit weasel who 🙄should have been Plan B.
WinterOfFire
👍“Karen” has the superpower of being multiple insults rolled into one. That’s what’s so shitty about it. If I’m being a bitch, with one word I get labeled as grumpy, middle-aged, with a bad haircut, unreasonable/bitchy, bigoted and selfish. It’s a blanket slur for everything negative. And to top it off, it completely dismisses/invalidates your point. A bitch is strong and has to be dealt with.
1241308650
👍i get a little dusturbed that a cousin of mine who has been a waitress for years, refers to every complaining customer as this. i think its more Bout her skirting responsibility in her job - its never her, everyones just such a karen. shes 30 and only recently moved out of her parents house and just recently got a drivers license (in a rural midwestern area where u need a car) bc she was afraid of driving. she talks on fb constantly about karens making her “job hard.” i honestly think some people have adapted the concept to a too-broad range of situations, like my cousin has, that conveniently allow them to blame others for their own issues.
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Get_off_critter
100% do not consider this a "karen" type post. Totally justified and I get what you're saying
Pantone711
👍It's a stand-in for a kind of class war that's going on right now, only in the USA we don't openly talk about class, or haven't in the past. I think the USA is awfully close to some kind of civil war, or in any case something a lot worse than name-calling, although I don't indulge in it. I think it's viewed by those who toss the "Karen" name around as a kind of payback toward those they feel got an easier life handed to them, whereas maybe the person they're calling a "Karen" has not actually had an easy life. Anyway, I sympathize...my first name is the same as a famous public figure who also lands in the news from time to time and people make the same tired jokes to me, not realizing I've heard it a thousand times before. Also, because of my age I get tagged "Boomer" meaning "conservative" when I've been a flaming liberal all my life, grr
takecare0904
I wholeheartedly agree with you!
mamaneedsstarbucks
🙄I totally agree with you. The only people I’ll call a Karen are the ones who are racist or call the cops for stupid shit. 👍Otherwise it’s gotten really misogynistic and I think it’s gross.
kaemeri
👍I completely agree with you. I’m also sick of the Boomer memes as if all of us born in that generation are all the same.
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G_Ramsays_crappy_egg
👎Think about how the whole of society has told women to sit down and shut up for thousands of years. Then think about a meme that is designed to convince women that it's not okay to stand up for themselves. 👍It has been wrong since its inception. 🙄And if you don't think that's true, imagine a world where racism doesn't exist. Do you still feel safe? Or is there a certain amount of oppression left? I assure you that the assault on femininity does not leave you out.
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crinklecut25
😑I think Rob Drydek from Ridiculousness show coined the derogatory connotation of a Karen.
Deafisnotdumb
Really? Granted I don't watch the show super regularly but I have only seen him use Karen as a placeholder name. I have also seen him do it with the names Mark, Jeff, and Debbie. I think he tends to use Karen more with plus sized women and Debbie with older women.
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Lil_MsPerfect
I'm here to complain so I don't yell @everyone
edited 2 months ago
You're being quite rude in a lot of your replies, and rudeness isn't tolerated in this sub. It's clear that you're very new to the sub and may not be aware of the rules, but we ask that people not be rude to other members when discussing things even if we feel strongly, or make personal attacks, as we're all moms here and this is a support sub above all else. Rule 4
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