By Alec Pruchnicki
A new expression or meme has come into the English language. A “Karen” (sometimes described as a “karen” to turn it into an adjective from a proper noun) is an entitled, obnoxious, spoiled, often middle-aged white woman who believes she has the right to special treatment. She is the type of person who will call the store manager for what she perceives as a lack of recognition of the treatment she believes she is entitled to. It is also a racist, sexist, and possibly ageist stereotype which should be avoided like any other similar stereotype against any other group.
I’ve never used this phrase in my writings but I recognized the term and the ease with which it is used. Like many stereotypes, it is convenient and immediately recognized and I didn’t think much of it. Often, it is a snap accusation people make on Facebook or Twitter after seeing a short video of some women acting this way. But my eyes were opened to the toxic nature of this term by a letter to the New York Daily News by a Karen Temple who complained about the racial and sexual aspects of this phrase. It became immediately clear to me that she was right. If an obnoxious black woman were described as an Oprah, or a histrionic black male were described as a Kanye, there would be universal condemnation.
A Karen Martin in a letter to the Los Angeles Times bemoaned the fact that she would never have her name back without having a negative tinge to it. Misogyny and the desire to suppress women, and women in particular, made this phrase particularly unacceptable to her.
We’ve been through this before. When I first entered high school in The Bronx, I met many Jewish boys who used the phrase JAP, to describe a “Jewish American Princess” stereotype. Like all generalizations, it was often used aggressively and inaccurately, but widely used nonetheless. Eventually it was used to describe other women who were “JAPy” or sometimes even used against a similarly spoiled “Jewish American Prince”. It eventually disappeared from common usage, maybe because its obvious anti-Semitism, even coming from other Jews, was unacceptable. I haven’t seen or heard it in decades.
Recently, a much more profane phrase used to stereotype women was graphically described by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the floor of Congress.
Whether a woman is described as a karen, a JAP, or a fucking bitch, they do have certain things in common. They describe behaviors in a woman that were they to occur in a man might be considered admirable. Aggressive, assertive, taking control, forceful, decisive, etc., male behavior can easily overlap with similar female behavior but without the negative implications. Criticizing the female version of this behavior, but not the male, can sometimes be used as a common, simple cultural tool to keep women quiet. The threshold for unacceptable obnoxious male behavior just seems a little higher than for similar female behavior. No more karens, please.
This article was clearly written by a Karen. Trying to call the manager of the West Village to lodge a complaint? 😂😂😂
This article misses the currently-used point of the Karen meme. Or at very least is outdated reporting by a year or two.
While the origins of the term may have started as the embodiment of the “entitled white woman who always asks for the manager”, – dating back to the reddit website, or it’s possible original use in the film “Goodfellas”, this is simply because Women of Color who were publicly disruptive were called much more troubling things (“uppity black”, and worse). The assertion that they would be called “Oprahs” and take offense misses the point that WoC have been called much more denigrating things throughout history.
But like most memetic language, during 2019-2020, it evolved into describing anyone who acts in an an incredibly selfisih and inappropriate way in public, regardless of ethnic origin and sometimes even gender – though male ‘Karens’ are often called ‘Kevins’, they historically have just been called a more normalized slurs such as “d*ckhead” or other more commonly heard anatomical phrases that are very rarely said about us women.
A quick search of the many sites and YouTube channels that feature Karens/Carens the Karen meme (Keeping up w/ The Karens, et. al.) it can be easily seen that these sites feature people of all races (and genders) being “Karens”, whether that is by making a scene in a store for being asked to wear a mask, being racist (calling the cops on POC for no reason), trying to save parking places by standing in them, etc. etc. etc.
My point being, that it’s no longer strictly a ‘white female’ thing, and it hasn’t been for a while – like most things that exist on the internet, it has evolved and mutated quickly (it’s the reason why these are called memes – see Richard Dawkins, “The Selfish Gene”)
Where we still see it used most incorrectly is in reporting of the phenomenon/meme, and reporting, especially on cable, is hardly what it used to be.
The last paragraph completely misses the mark of what a Karen is. A Karen is not someone who is simply assertive decisive or self-assured, they are someone who has no self-awareness, only thinks of themselves, and breaks social norms in public to the point that it makes them look ridiculous (and sometimes worthy of being recorded via phone-cam).
The article looks as if it utilizes research by academics as the source material – almost all articles at some point go back to referencing a single paper (by Heather Woods) – but that rarely works for memes, or anything that moves (especially language) at the speed of the internet.
And while I understand the sentiment of the article and the attempt at spreading the idea of making discourse less divisive, the Millennials and Zoomers (Gen Y and Z) have already moved way past this, and have transformed “Karen” into something that is outside the narrow boundaries of race and gender.
In short, “Okay Boomer” 🙂