Is calling someone a "Karen" offensive, or a light hearted dig?
 

I dunno about this one, unless it's delivered with venom and genuine nastiness, is being called/or calling someone a "Karen" offensive? Or just a light hearted joke?

I've seen the memes online, and more than 50% of the time it's a male being called a Karen. South Park did it recently with The Streaming Wars with Randy Marsh. I know one person irl who i'd consider a Karen, he's always taking to twitter to moan and get very precious about mundane things, as if he's the only person in the world experiencing these "non issues" :hehe:

I think it's driven by sexism and another way to try to get women to shut up. I know you will have people come on and say Oh but it's started as anti racist/speaking to the manager (not sure where it genuinely did start but these two are most commonly named) but it's now used to say shut up to women who just disagree with people on line

**Also most be **** if your name actually is Karen :p

also I disagree that more than 50% of the time it's a male being called Karen however even when it's a male being called Karen it doesn't take away the fact that it's sexist, basically saying he's "as bad" as this annoying type of woman

[Karen is a pejorative term for a white woman
perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the
scope of what is normal.
The term is often portrayed in memes
depicting white women who use their white privilege
to demand their own way.
Depictions include demanding
to "speak to the manager", being racist,
or wearing a particular bob cut hairstyle.
A notable example was the Central Park
birdwatching incident in 2020.

The term has been criticized as being ageist,
sexist, racist, classist, misogynistic and seeking
to control women's behavior]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_(slang)


Yes the Daily Show uses Karen alot.

whilst that may be how it started it is now done to shut down white women full stop even if their complaint is justified

Do you think it might of pivoted towards entitled males now though? Obviously people will use it as a form of sexism towards women, but from what i've seen recently it's ott men becoming all precious and getting in a strop over nothing.

Maybe it's not the best term to use. I found it quite funny with South Park and Randy Marsh. And this guy i kinda know irl, tweeting 10 times in 5 hours because an app was down for maintenance. Saying he was gonna contact BBC News. :laugh:

[calling someone a "Karen" offensive?]


Yes it seems after that NYC 2020
woman who went potty at a Black Man
for no reason.


It is now Rude to say "you are a Karen"

Its covert racism/sexism and very insulting imo

It’s a comment on someone’s actions, not their gender, if you act like a Karen, you get called a Karen, male or female

It's still a female based insult whether you use it towards a man or not, like calling a man a bitch, it's still sexist towards women, the actual insult itself - whether that's towards a man or a woman. Do you get what I mean?

Its a shutdown tactic to silence someones concerns and at the same time insult them by portraying them as a negative stereotype.



well that is how I tend to use it when my eldest daughter gets on one of her rants

Exactly. A negative female stereotype, that's why it's sexist regardless of whether you're using it towards a man or a woman

Yeah i know what you're saying. I guess i've not seen it out there as much as others. I had no idea it was a "race" thing either.

It’s offensive and more in terms of implied racism than anything-else, misogyny per-se not so much. I wouldn’t mind it so-much if there was a male equivalent given that no-other demographical group on planet-Earth is responsible for as-much racism (of all shades) as white males.

I guess the word "Karen" gets thrown around alot.

But the ones who usually get called it ,are deliberately causing a scene for stupid reasons.

Some of them actually harass innocent people, they're racist ,plus they act like they have some type of special authority to tell people what they can & can't be doing ..when it's non of their business .

Unless the other party is doing something illegal or causing harm then it really has nothing to do with the "Karen " in question. As for when they "ask to see the manager" , I will agree that has now become a dirty association with the stereotype 'karen' ,when asking to see the manager could be for a legitimate reason :shrug: .

The male equivalent is 'Gammon' , again it's usually a certain type of person . Usually an old man who's stuck in his ways , probably cantankerous & racist aswell.

Oh come on though, do you read comments on FB or youtube? anytime a woman posts a comment disagreeing with anything she's called Karen, it's very very rarely on stuff that has anything to do with race either

more than all the males in China, India, Africa and Pakistan?

Id check your math

Well in those instances then it is clearly sexism, I assume you just mean a disagreement? & Not some 'public freakout ' ?.

But I'm talking of the videos & stories I've seen and heard about, which are usually obnoxious people with a self entitlement snobbery about them ,who thinks the world should do what they say .

Yes, that's what I mean, that's how it's mainly used now as far as I can see

In accordance with the historical definition of racism, absolutely.

I don't really use the term, but I honestly don't care if other people say it.

Oh the term does get abused nowadays, just like mansplaining.

I would question what your definition of white is before you pick apart the word racist

That seems to have died off a bit, it definitely was very over used for a while though