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How Did The Name 'Karen' Become An Insult Directed Against Older Women? Karen Hate On The Internet Explained
The name Karen has increasingly become associated with a certain brand of often older, often white, and always very cranky women. At one point on the internet, videos of "angry Karens freaking out" over innocuous things became almost inescapable. But where did this characterization of an angry older woman named Karen come from? Here's a deep dive into the history of the meme.
What Is The Karen Stereotype And When Was The Name 'Karen' First Used Negatively?
The name Karen is often used online as a pejorative for middle-aged white women with a grandiose level of entitlement who often engage in combative arguments in public. The name developed out of the collective internet hivemind after video upon video of older white women unfairly targeting people of color went viral in the late 2010s.
The precise origins of the "angry Karen" stereotype are hard to pinpoint, but a look at the oldest meme using the name might give us a clue in the right direction. The quote "Oh my God, Karen, you can’t just ask someone why they're white" is a popular meme from the teen movie Mean Girls, and is perhaps the oldest popular meme using the name Karen.
But memes aren't the only things that influence internet sentiments; some people think that the pejorative use of the term "Karen" can be traced back to a popular joke from a 2005 Dane Cook standup routine called "The Friend That Nobody Likes."
When Did The Name 'Karen' Become Associated With Annoying Women In Memes?
One of the earliest viral memes to bestow the name "Karen" onto an annoying woman was Nintendo Switch Karen. The meme grew popular after the promotional video for a new gaming console showed someone bringing it to a rooftop party. A Tumblr user screenshotted the groan-worthy scene and captioned it, "Karen brought her stupid Nintendo thing to the party again. We’re DRINKING, Karen. We’re having CONVERSATIONS.”
The name Karen also began to be associated with memes like the "speak to the manager haircut" after someone made a subreddit dedicated to hating on so-called "Karens" in 2017. The forum existed primarily to share memes and experiences of having run into rude and annoying older women, with the memes shown below being the typical fare on the forum.
When Did The Name 'Karen' Become Associated With Rude Older Women In Pop Culture?
By the late 2010s, negative use of the name "Karen" began to seep into popular culture, with Saturday Night Live running a segment in 2018 where late actor Chadwick Boseman spins a story about a white person named Karen bringing her raisin-potato salad to a black person's cookout.
What Solidified 'Karen' As The Go-To Nickname For Annoying Older Women?
Rude and racist older white women were not always given the de-facto "Karen" moniker on the internet. In fact, white cop-caller nicknames are their own genre of memes, with people who needlessly call the police getting a personalized nickname like BBQ Becky.
Who Are Some Of The Most Viral Examples Of 'Karens' From Over The Years?
The 2020 Central Park Karen incident led to the internet coming to a consensus, much to the chagrin of nice women named Karen everywhere. "Central Park Karen" is the white cop-caller nickname of Amy Cooper, who was recorded calling the police on an African American birder in Central Park in New York City after being asked by him to leash her dog in the park. After a video of the altercation went viral, Cooper apologized for the incident.
San Francisco Karen was featured in a viral video where a white man and woman confronted a person of color who was stenciling Black Lives Matter in chalk on their own property. In the video, the woman, Lisa Alexander, assumed James Juanillo was not the property owner and called the police. She later apologized, but the damage to her and Juanillo was done.
A white couple call the police on me, a person of color, for stenciling a #BLM chalk message on my own front retaining wall. “Karen” lies and says she knows that I don’t live in my own house, because she knows the person who lives here. #blacklivesmatter pic.twitter.com/rOpHvKVwgP
— Jaimetoons (@jaimetoons) June 12, 2020
What Are Some Memes About 'Karens'?
For the full history of Karens on the internet, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
