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How the name 'Karen' became a stand-in for problematic white women and a hugely popular meme
https://www.insider.com/karen-meme-origin-the-history-of-calling-women-karen-white-2020-5How the name 'Karen' became a stand-in for problematic white women and a hugely popular meme
Rachel E. Greenspan Jun 26, 2020, 1:19 PM
The Karen meme has evolved to reference a hair style, white women who ask to speak to the manager, and people being racist in public.
[...]
Before the general public learned the name of a white woman who called the police on a Black man in Central Park on May 25, she could easily be identified by a moniker. The internet agreed with certainty that Amy Cooper was a "Karen."
Just days later, another woman went viral for leaning on a car in a parking lot to prevent the driver from getting their desired parking spot. The internet also agreed that she was a "Karen."
In the weeks since, the internet has been entranced by viral videos labeling women "Karens," including "coughing Karen," who coughed on patrons at a New York City bagel shop and a woman who, with her husband, called the police on her neighbor for writing "Black Lives Matter" with chalk on his own property.
The "Karen" meme, which has become so ubiquitous it's been used as a Halloween costume, burst onto the scene in the last couple of years to describe white women who were perceived as acting entitled in public. Now, it's used as a moniker for any white woman who's thought to be acting inappropriately, rudely, or in an entitled fashion.
[...]
Rachel E. Greenspan Jun 26, 2020, 1:19 PM
The Karen meme has evolved to reference a hair style, white women who ask to speak to the manager, and people being racist in public.
[...]
Before the general public learned the name of a white woman who called the police on a Black man in Central Park on May 25, she could easily be identified by a moniker. The internet agreed with certainty that Amy Cooper was a "Karen."
Just days later, another woman went viral for leaning on a car in a parking lot to prevent the driver from getting their desired parking spot. The internet also agreed that she was a "Karen."
In the weeks since, the internet has been entranced by viral videos labeling women "Karens," including "coughing Karen," who coughed on patrons at a New York City bagel shop and a woman who, with her husband, called the police on her neighbor for writing "Black Lives Matter" with chalk on his own property.
The "Karen" meme, which has become so ubiquitous it's been used as a Halloween costume, burst onto the scene in the last couple of years to describe white women who were perceived as acting entitled in public. Now, it's used as a moniker for any white woman who's thought to be acting inappropriately, rudely, or in an entitled fashion.
[...]
10 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
is rooted its sexism -- We're seen as "easy targets". 
appropriate, misogynistic, or whatever (the behavior certainly DOEs need to be called out)....
That said, why "Karen?" Thinking back in life, that is such a common name and I don't really associate bad feelings with that name. In fact, I can remember two black women from college and at least one colleague of Asian descent, named Karen, all who I liked a great deal. For that reason, it is sort of jarring to me.
