The 'Karen' meme is everywhere and mired in Sexism

[whathehell]

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/13/the-karen-meme-is-everywhere-and-it-has-become-mired-in-sexism

[magicarpet]

1. Suggest alt,....

Caren

Or

KKKaren,...

So the real Karens are not hurt or offended.

[MLAA]

3. I like kkkaren, very apt.

However I fear the train has long left the station on Karen.

[madaboutharry]

2. Some on DU have no problem with it.

I wrote about the misogyny and sexism of the "Karen" meme and was told to "get over it."

I think this article makes a very good point how the real message is to tell women to shut up and stop complaining.

[marble falls]

6. I don't, and I have no problem with Kevin memes, either.

[JenniferJuniper]

7. Can't say I've seen many of those...

as in I haven't seen a single one.

[brush]

8. Come on now. There was just one of the white guy screaming...

"I feel threatened" in a grocery store, and there was the one of the creep on the bike taking the BLM posters from a teenage girl, and there was the one with his woman partner telling a POC home owner in SF that he couldn't paint "Black Lives Matter" on his own house.

Surely you seen some of these. Or how about the really extreme ones like the racists who videotaped their killing of the black jogger, Ahmaud Arbery?

And of course there are all the older ones with women like the BBQ Beckys, Pool Patrol Patties, and Starbucks creep who called the cops on the innocent black men waiting for someone.

[JenniferJuniper]

9. But who is the "guy" meme?

I think you are missing the point.

[brush]

10. I'm sure you've heard of the proposals for naming them...

Chad or Ken or Kevin. The male meme just hasn't stuck like the karen one has but there are many videos of white men acting out their entitlement, and often racism, on the public.

I'm sure you must get that point.

[JenniferJuniper]

11. Proposals?

"Karen" stuck. Not Ken. Not Kevin.

Why do you think that is?

[brush]

12. You tell me.

[JenniferJuniper]

13. I don't have to tell you.

You know what it is.

[brush]

14. See post 4.

These women often being captured on video acting out their entitled, white privilege, often tinged with out-and-out racism (like the Cooper woman in Central Park in NYC), does not bother me at all.

Why does it bother you?

[brush]

4. Is it sexism or just exposing white women being entitled and in many cases, racist?

There are just as many videos of white men being entitled and often racist. It's just that the "ken" or "chad" meme hasn't caught on like the "karen" meme.

I thank God for the technology of cell phone videos that have make people aware of these people and their vile antics.

[delisen]

15. The reason the Karen meme caught on while no male name has is due to sexism

Older white females are a group discriminated against and right now the faux virtuous are searching for a scapegoat.

We are a culture that is a scapegoating culture which tends to bind itself together by finding a group to scapegoat.

With males hold most of the reins of power and dumping on middle-aged women serves to keep people from changing that power hierarchy.

[brush]

16. Call it what you want but I have little tolerance for...

entitled women using their white privilege, often tinged with racism, to get their way, and often threaten black men, sometimes even getting them arrested. And we know what often happens when cops are called on black men.

Women who don't do that are not karens.

[whathehell]

17. If you ask yourself WHY the 'Chad and Ken' meme hasn't caught on

like the karen meme, I think you'll have your answer -- It's sexism. Women are always "easier" targets

As far as being "entitlled"" and/or "racist", white women are
no more so than white men. I'd argue, in fact, that they're generally far less.

In so doing, I'd point to the fact that there are many more white women in the Democratic party, than in the GOP. All you have to do is look at the gender composition of the Republican Congress compared to that of the Democrats. I would add to that, the greater likelihood of violence in male racism..

I certainly agree on the usefulness of cell phone cameras It's making people more accountable, and that's a good thing.

[brush]

18. Someone started the karen meme so start a ken meme.

Start posting videos of entitled white men using their white privilege, often racially tinged, and call them "Here's another "ken" idiot. Make it stick just by repetition just as was done with the karen videos.

Be proactive, scour the internet for videos. Women don't always have to play the victim.

[whathehell]

19. I could certainly do that, we all could,

but the fact that the 'karen' meme has been around awhile and its male corollary hasn't caught on -- even on a progressive board -- doesn't give me lots of hope.

I just don't think stereotyping any group of people is a good thing.

[LizBeth]

5. I have heard three women on DU ask if they are being a Karen because they wanted to address an

Last edited Thu Jul 9, 2020, 06:53 PM - Edit history (1)

issue or merely express an opinion. I have had a couple occasions when I wanted to say, I am not being a Karen, but can I please ask a questions as gently and kindly as I can without being labeled a Karen. One pertaining to my health.

My posting this alone, can place me in the "karen" meme.

At the point that it has gotten to where it is ONCE AGAIN silencing women, yes it is feeding into the Patriarchy.

I understand it originated from women hating men on reddit and became an insult to middle aged women who behaved in a manner customer service employees felt were entitled and now has progressed to racists. I think it is too slight for the racist and has become a tool to put women in "demanding, hysterical, out of control, emotional" categories to dismiss their voice.

I do not in anyway lessen the vile and destructive abuse white women use their privilege that literally harms the black community. I always have been and always will be an ally to the black community.

[whathehell]

20. Oh God.. That's sad.

I agree with your post -- I also think it serves a particular purpose for "progressive" men, and some self-hating women.

It allows them to indulge their generally suppressed misogyny without guilt, because the female in question "deserves" it*. One saw a lot of that here when Sarah Palin ran with John McCain, although they were called out on it by a number of
women.

*It's bullshit reasoning, of course, given that Palin's wingnuttery had no more to do with her gender than a black conservative's has to do with his race.

[LizBeth]

21. Right. To stand against sexism is not supporting the person and their behavior, i.e. Palin.

I worked in an environment that was mostly 20 somethings. Now, I get along really well with 20 somethings and enjoy working with them but there was a lot of whining of expectation from customers for basic customer service. They would talk about the "privileged" and I would tell them, tis their job. The Karen thing was picked up awfully quit from the service industry for a reason. And there are nasty customers too, but some were totally reasonable adult white women wanting good service. There was some attitude there from young inexperienced employees.

Edited to add: Kind of like the man who started it on reddit. He was pissed at an X and took it out on women and that was the whole start of it. Men with a chip on their shoulder with women.