Black American expression, including hip-hop, rap and remix culture, drives global social media culture and shapes language. Well, many of us decided that Karen, or, say, Becky, works for us. There isn’t a specific name that is used for problematic young white male behavior the dismissive “OK, bro” is what we’ve got for now.įreeman largely ignores race in her piece, save for one throwaway line: “People of color should describe their experiences of racism in whatever language works for them.” But the origins come from Eminem’s song “Stan,” in which a male fan named Stan is so utterly obsessed with Eminem that he kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend. A more recent example is “Stan,” which in recent years has come to mean a person who is an admirer of a public figure. There’s “Uncle Tom,” used to describe a black man who is seen to be excessively subservient to white people.
It’s not as though men’s names haven’t been used to depict problematic behavior. Being a Karen has probably given me some advantages.įreeman goes on to lament that there are “memes about Chad and Zach,” but those “have never had the popularity of ones about Becky, Susan or Tammy, let alone Karen.” My mother, who grew up in Nigeria, named me Karen precisely because she wanted me to blend into white American society and face fewer problems in life than I would have with a foreign or a “black-sounding” name. Thus, many Karens are, in fact, of the boomer generation.
“That’s a white lady’s name.” Karen was a popular name for baby girls in the 1950s and 1960s. One of them raised an eyebrow and looked puzzled when I told him my name. But Freeman seems to believe "Karen” originated with white men, when these notions about the name and white privilege have been circulating in the black community for a long time.Īs a kid in South Dallas in the ’90s, I remember one time when I introduced myself to other black kids at the mall. In her piece for the Guardian, Freeman’s basis for labeling the Karen meme sexist was that white men are using the word to make fun of white women. Anyone who disagrees can take it up with my manag … - I mean, with history. “Karen” is not and will never be an oppressive slur.
Another viral tweet went so far as to call “Karen” the equivalent of the n-word.Īs a millennial black Karen, and a child of immigrants, I find the brouhaha hilarious and twisted. Hadley Freeman wrote in the Guardian that the Karen memes were sexist. Nonetheless, the conversation around Bindel’s tweet included white women who did feel Karen memes were offensive.
“Does anyone else think the ‘Karen’ slur is woman-hating and based on class prejudice?” tweeted Julie Bindel, a British feminist writer, whose credentials in oppression include being known for espousing anti-trans rhetoric. The most recent Karen fires came from across the Atlantic, fanned by white British women claiming that “Karen” is - wait for it - an oppressive slur. And a Karen at the peak of her powers will call the police on someone for a mild inconvenience. Middle-aged Karen is the one asking to see your manager. A young Karen likely would have been the class snitch, tattling on her classmates to the teacher to get them in trouble.
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