Karen meme is part of a long and troubling legacy in America of white women exploiting their victimhood. Other tropes include ‘Becky’ – an insulting term for an ignorant white woman – and ‘white tears’, which has become popular on Black Twitter spaces to highlight how often white people experience ‘white tears’ (Donnella, 2018).
Though often associated with middle-aged, entitled white women, ‘Karen’ also refers to instances when privileged white women use their power against service workers and those they perceive as having lower social standing. This often results in viral confrontations such as Amy Cooper’s video standoff with Christian Cooper in Central Park in 2020 that garnered widespread public attention.
The Legacy of White Women Weaponizing Their Victimhood
Amy Cooper’s call to police on a Black man for jogging through Central Park is just the latest example of white women exploiting their victimhood. For instance, many white women have called 911 on Black people for doing everyday things like walking into Starbucks or going to the movies – yet these incidents never make headlines.
According to Aya Gruber, these actions are “the outcome of decades-long efforts by middle and upper class white women to use the police as a means of asserting control over men – particularly black men”; this trend was fuelled by feminist demands for protection from male violence.
White feminism’s dependence on the state as its source of power makes it a racialized form of politics and an avenue for social violence that may result in racial trauma (Di Angelo, 2011).
One example of racialized power is the way some white women can’make themselves believed’ when under threat. This ability to be accepted allows them to access the fear and rage associated with being a victim, whether legally or socio-culturally.
White women have historically been able to’make them believe’ even without experiencing physical or sexual violence (Hartman, 2007: 6). According to Hamad in White Tears/Brown Scars, “Believability has often been defined as being seen as having faith in oneself.” This conditional nature of ‘women’s unbelievability’ and its implications for political trust as well as capitalism play a large role here.
However, while conditions of believability can be beneficial to those who are ‘truthful’, it is not enough for other groups. Indeed, it has been precisely this lack of belief that has enabled numerous historical crimes against people of colour as well as the ongoing silence of women of colour within both our public and private truth culture.
The Central Park Karen
In 2020, Amy Cooper made headlines when she called the police on a Black man while bird-watching in Central Park, New York City. Her video went viral and quickly earned her the label of “Karen,” an internet insult used to denigrate demanding white women who go viral when they call police on people of color.
On May 25, 2020, Amy Cooper was filmed confronting a Black birdwatcher who asked her to put her dog on a leash.
After a brief conversation, the two began to fight. This altercation lasted for around one minute, with Amy Cooper reporting to dispatch that “a Black man was threatening her life.” She called 911 for assistance.
Moments later, her video went viral on social media, garnering millions of views and earning her the nickname “Central Park Karen.”
One year on, Amy Cooper is still struggling with the consequences of her actions. Recently she appeared on Bari Weiss’ podcast Honestly with Her to reflect on the incident.
She defended her decision to call the police, asserting that she was simply following New York City law. Additionally, she expressed uncertainty as to whether calling police had been the right move or not.
Cooper revealed in this interview the consequences of her behavior and why she chose to leave America. At times, Cooper even admitted to considering taking her own life due to being so distressed.
According to a news release, she is now suing her former employer Franklin Templeton for racial and gender discrimination. She alleges the company and its chief executive Jenny Johnson perpetuated an image of her as “privileged white female ‘Karen'” through public statements regarding her dismissal following the viral incident.
On Wednesday, Cooper filed a lawsuit in US District Court. Judge Ronnie Abrams rejected her claims of company-wide double standards, noting that three male colleagues involved in similar incidents weren’t fired and there was no proof of any “reckless disregard” for her life.
The Anti-Vaxxer Karen
The Anti-Vaxxer Karen is one of the most beloved memes of our time, appearing everywhere from social media platforms to British supermarkets.
This sexist and classist insult has become so widespread, it even spawned a subreddit, r/Fuck_You_Karen. Created two years ago by 17-year-old karmacop97 from Irvine California as a joke to compile stories behind those who were calling people “Karen,” the subreddit has grown from 4,000 members to over 435,000 members.
It’s an umbrella pejorative term that has come to refer to middle-aged white women who are racist, homophobic, transphobic and anti-vaxxers. This label has been used in various ways – such as a sexist Halloween costume meant to scare those with big hair and narrow minds or Dane Cook’s stand-up routine about Karen who nobody likes.
Many Anti-Vaxxer Karen memes have been created from screenshots taken from the video game Sims 4. The character Karen in that game is a short blonde female character whose name has been given by its creator. On Reddit, Karen’s sarcastic remarks are used to poke fun at her hesitation with vaccines.
One of the most infuriating anti-vaxxer Karen memes compares a woman in a lab conducting vaccine research to her anti-vaccine mother doing her own ‘anti-vaccine research’ in a washroom (Figure 1). The young mother is depicted as doing her own ‘anti-vaccine research’, which contrasts with official government vaccine research. Furthermore, it’s implied that she does better research than FBI even though it’s never explicitly mentioned that her work takes place on the toilet!
Another pro-vaxxer meme with over 12,000 upvotes critiques a blonde, ‘worried’ mom who conducts her own research at home instead of doing vaccine research in an actual laboratory environment. Although her name is put in quotation marks to indicate she isn’t a scientist, her findings are accepted as legitimate by other scientists seen in the image.
Memes like these are highly effective at inflaming hesitancy with vaccines and have been utilized in campaigns and public health initiatives across the United States. They convey anti-vaccine messages and demonize those who refuse vaccination, while raising awareness about the potential risks associated with delayed vaccinations.
The Pandemic Karen
After the COVID pandemic, a particular Karen meme has gained momentum. Unlike Central Park Karen or Anti-Vaxxer Karen, this version of Karen refuses to wear face coverings in shops, will not observe quarantine restrictions and strongly opposes treating pandemics as serious public health emergencies.
It’s an affectionate riff on a stereotype of middle-aged white woman who drives minivans, wears rhinestones on her glasses and lives by the motto “live, laugh, love.” Some have pointed to a 2017 subreddit mocking an imagined version of Karen character while others attribute this new meme to a 2005 Dane Cook joke.
The Pandemic Karen has sparked an exciting discussion around what type of shaming is legitimate and inappropriate, while people try to understand this novel coronavirus. At the same time, it has served to highlight how much this culture has been built upon AIDS-era fears and purity anxieties which are now being repurposed in an effort to establish new social norms.
When it comes to the “Karen” meme, it’s clear that it stems from an idea that certain white women possess some kind of social power over people of color. By exercising their privilege, they can police minor inconveniences or even make up crimes without legal justification.
That is why, when protests against racial justice and Black Lives Matter took hold in America, Karen-ing from all ages and genders was out in full force. Examples ranged from the white man who called 911 on a group of Latino and Black men launching boats at a marina to the White couple whose video went viral for pointing guns at peaceful protesters passing by their home in St. Louis.
Karen-ing for the wrong reasons can take many forms. In many cases, these actions are done with the purpose of humiliating others or gaining social solidarity over an injustice. In others, people may simply be being officious and ruining everyone’s day for themselves. It’s such sexist and insensitive behavior that you cannot help but take offense. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid such behaviors by understanding your anger causes and dealing with them directly.
