9 Women Named Karen Talk About, Well, Being An Actual Karen
The first time lifestyle journalist Karen LeBlanc was shown a “Karen” meme centered on the coronavirus, she freaked out a little.
LeBlanc, who’s the host of GenXtra, a lifestyle show for Generation X, said her 15-year-old showed her a collage of white women, all sporting Kate Gosselin’s now-iconic reverse mullet and self-righteous smirks.
“The Karenovirus is responsible for 3 managers being fired this month alone,” the caption read.
A post shared by MuCuSandChEeSe (@mucusandcheese) on Feb 26, 2020 at 8:53am PST
In the earliest incarnation of the Karen memes, a Karen (or a Stacey or Becky) was a pushy, coupon-loving, entitled, middle-class white woman who, in the face of even the slightest inconvenience at a store or restaurant, would very much like to speak to the manager.
But as LeBlanc learned, today’s Karens contain multitudes: Now, Karen has a decidedly conservative political viewpoint. She distrusts science (and Dr. Anthony Fauci) and won’t wear a mask in public. Worse, she weaponizes her whiteness by calling the police if she encounters anyone who looks like they don’t belong in her neighbourhood.
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“I thought, ‘Wow, my name not only symbolizes a social pariah, it’s associated with the pandemic,’” LeBlanc said. “Now I overcompensate in social situations, as if apologizing for all the kind Karens out there who don’t deserve to be socially skewered.”
Karens in the news recently include New Yorker Amy Cooper, who feigned hysterics and called the police on a Black bird-watcher in Central Park, and Lisa Alexander, a San Francisco...
