If someone has ever called you “Karen”, it could have come from one of your peers or because they believe your behavior to be unusual.
Karens are typically white women in their mid-40s who feel entitled and entitled to something from society. They typically sport a bob haircut and often come accompanied by children.
1. Don’t React
Have you been using Twitter lately and noticed an upsurge of people calling you Karen? It has quickly become one of the most inflammatory insults online.
Karens have become an insultingly-named stereotype of people with privilege and entitlement who act out on social media, often by calling police on a Black bird-watcher, demanding they wear masks or demanding to speak to managers.
Names have long been used to symbolize archetypes or stereotypes in society. Names have long played an essential part in upholding social rules – during the 19th century alone “Paddy” and “Mick” were used as derogatory terms against Irish and Italian people, respectively; “Stepin Fetchit” became a widely used nickname for German Jews.
Names hold inherent power to define individuals, which explains why many films depict characters with racist names in racist ways. Such language theft has always been controversial but now that racism remains so pervasive and power disparities persist so egregiously is it even more potency in America.
Evans, an onomastics professor from Bellevue University in Nebraska, states that there has long been an unfortunate practice of using proper names as insults or pejoratives – notably “Uncle Tom” and “Mammy”. But this practice extends far beyond stereotypes such as those seen with “Uncle Tom” or “Mammy”. There’s far more going on when it comes to names than meets the eye.
An example would be using Karen as an insult in a joke or as an offensive term against someone. While funny, such remarks could also be quite hurtful and degrading if used against an individual or group of people.
Next time someone says, “It’s a Karen,” don’t get upset or react emotionally; take a deep breath and consider why your anger might have arisen in such an abrupt manner.
It’s especially important to keep this in mind if something you said in the past comes back to haunt you, even if it means responding or defending yourself, but do your best not to retaliate; doing so could harm both yourself and others in the long run; also, don’t make this an ongoing practice; doing so could damage your professional reputation.
2. Do a Correction
Karens typically refers to white women between their mid-20s and late 30s who are white, have children, reside in suburbia, drive SUVs and sport blonde highlights. Although not generally recognized for their fashion sense, Karens can occasionally be found sporting their locks tied into buns on top of their heads.
Correction is defined in terms of stock markets as any action taken to reverse an increase in prices. This typically happens by selling stocks and then buying back at lower prices – an event such as major corporate announcements or changes at the Federal Reserve can trigger this action; investors typically know when it is best to buy or sell.
When someone refers to you as “Karen,” the best course of action is a firm and appropriate correction in order to make them aware of their mistake and gain respect from the other individual in return. Doing this will result in long-term benefits as it will make you stand out more from among your karen peers.
3. Don’t Say You’re Right
Karens have become a topic of much online laughter and concern; from grocery store encounters to violent outbursts over masks. Their number has steadily been on the increase over time.
Karens have become part of a wider dialogue surrounding white supremacy, specifically middle-aged white women and their longstanding association with power. Karens often act as protectors of virtue for white people while quietly upholding white supremacy more so than white men do.
However, there’s no reason for you to become defensive when someone calls you Karen; use your name as an opportunity for raising awareness and showing kindness instead.
Karen Sandler is an attorney and software freedom advocate who was taken aback when her name began being applied negatively. But it’s important to remember that Karen is an acronym that stands for “to stand up for”.
Karen uses her name as a way of teaching people about being more aware of how their actions impact others. She’s managed to show other Karens that their actions can make an impactful statement about who we are as people, while reminding them that not all people are bad.
So it should come as no surprise that many are confused or even outraged when being called a karen online – as this slang term becomes increasingly widespread, many don’t understand what it means and how to respond.
But it is essential to recognize that, most often, it is just a name – typically generic female names – given to us at birth and not something special or unique about ourselves.
That is a good sign, because it shows that people can relate to your name.
Kiley Reid discusses this trend in her book, “Such a Fun Age.” This practice mirrors other common terms like Becky or Stacy which have also come into the limelight recently.
4. Don’t Say You’re Not a Karen
Karen is an epithet for certain types of white women who tend to be rude, demanding and self-entitled. Social media users have come to use it as an epithet, while service industry workers cringe when hearing that name spoken out loud.
Though not exactly new, terms associated with whiteness have gained massive momentum on Twitter and other social media platforms in the form of mocking memes and are used as symbols representing stereotypes associated with being white.
Stereotypes play an enormous role in how women are seen around the world, so it’s essential that women understand what such terms imply when used negatively. When someone calls you a Karen, don’t take it personally or become angry; just stay calm.
When someone uses “Karen” negatively, it could be to draw attention to racism or systemic racism, as well as show they possess certain levels of privilege.
Amy Cooper became famous when she made headlines by calling the police on a Black man birdwatching in Central Park. Cooper’s behavior was widely perceived as racist and she later made headlines after being charged with a hate crime for her actions.
Racial profiling has long been a reality, with white women acting this way in real life and documented on video for sharing online. What makes these cases different, though, is the fact that these incidents have now been captured on video and made public online.
Recent years have witnessed another viral meme of Karen: the “Coronavirus Karen.” This version of Karen defies pandemic quarantines by refusing to wear masks, becoming a hot button racial issue within US society.
Some have argued that this trend represents an appropriation of racial stereotypes associated with the term karen; others see it as legitimate criticism of her; yet none can deny its negative nature; this name-calling trend hurts a powerful woman known to wield significant influence in society and can exercise that influence in dangerous ways.
