Misogyny is older than racism. More, it is ever present. It is present all over the world, within religion, and throughout history. It can be argued that that the entire structure of capitalism rests on misogyny. Capitalism relies on women working for free within the home or working for extraordinarily little outside of it. Child and elder care, housekeeping, cooking, shopping, etc. Essential work. Women’s work. The work that is foundational to a capitalist society, to American society, but remains both underpaid and under respected.
Some white feminists argue that Karen is just another slur against women. Another way of telling women to stfu. It is part of a long history of being dismissive of opinionated women, particularly in public. Of shaming women who speak out. The most obvious aspect of this is that the dude standing next to Karen doesn’t get a meme. Who was the guy standing next to San Francisco Karen? Or Chipotle Karen? Where are their memes?
The fact is that female rage is less scary than male rage. Male rage, white male rage, is directly linked to violence from lynchings and massacres to the hunting, raping, and pillaging of Black people. (#notallwhitemen). But female rage is also less daunting due to a long history of women being derided as hysterical; diminished for being emotional. Misogyny makes them easier targets.
Karen
Wikipedia
a pejorative term used in the United States and other English-speaking countries for a woman perceived to be entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is considered appropriate or necessary. A common stereotype is that of a white woman who uses her privilege to demand her own way at the expense of others.
Karen originated in the BANI (Black American Non-Immigrant) community as is common to most popular American culture. It was to denote the spirit of a particular kind of white womanism. The kind of woman whose investment in the white supremacist patriarchy meant that they were both frightened by Black people and held the belief that they were in control of Black people. Karen calls out those particular white women who call the manager on staff speaking “foreign” at work, who polices people for not having the right ethnicity to be where they are, who calls the cops on people living while Black.
There are class connotations. Karens are inevitably of at least middle class. Though, class discrimination is not just bigotry based on social class but the systematic oppression of lower classes to the benefit of the upper. It includes individual attitudes and behaviors, but also involves the systems, policies, and practices the upper classes have set up at the expense of the lower classes. Which makes it hard to put forth an argument that Karen is a classist slur. This does not stop white feminist from making the claim.
White feminist outrage over the Karen meme is a classic example of white tears. Let’s get this out of the way: #notallwhitewomen. There are lots of white women, even white women named Karen, who get it. Also, for those white feminists who are not American, they aren’t going to get it in the same way as should someone who has grown up with American branded racism and misogyny. Gender, race, and by extension racism, is a social construct. As such they are constructed differently in different societies.
That’s the thing about internet memes. They spread around the world, quickly outpacing their original context. This means they may take on new, unintended, or even unexpected meanings. Sometimes this will make the memes deeper and increase their ability to connect, and connect with, people. Other times they will end up wallowing amongst the lowest common denominator.
To begin to understand Karen is to delve into the racial hierarchies, gender hierarchies, and intersectionality within American culture. Karen embodies a minority of the population frightened of losing its place at the top of America’s racial order. She is supported by Trump’s attempts to once again normalize bigotry (good people on both sides) while Fox News paints lurid pictures of a diverse dystopia in which white folks are given the same treatment by people of color that people of color have received from whites for generations.
In the Jim Crow era and earlier, and not just in the South, Black people had to use honorifics when addressing white folks. (While white folks referred to grown ass Black people as boy or girl.) Miss Ann and Mr Charlie were the first Karens. Miss Ann is a white woman who recognizes her privilege and weaponizes it to keep people in their place.
Miss Ann
https://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Santeriasister
Historical – White mistress of a slave plantation or any white woman of authority in the southern United States during slavery and the Jim Crow era. 2. Current – Derogatory term for any difficult, bossy or perceived racist/bigoted white woman
More recently there have been Becky, Susan in HR, Janice in accounting, and Chad/Brad. These are archetypes defined by Webster’s as “the original pattern or model from which copies are made”. Black women are stereotyped, we are preconceived as an “oversimplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person, situation, etc.; an attitude based on such a preconception”.
The thing about Karens, in part, perhaps, because of their class, is that they are active participants in the white supremacist patriarchy. They are not, necessarily, aware of it. They may even seem woke, even believe they are. They say the right things, support the right causes, but are still deeply invested in the structure of racism. Rather than a simple demonizing of white women, Karen is someone who uses the white supremacist patriarchy to enforce her will. Karen is the acknowledgment that, in the US, white women have the power to suggest and enforce that Black people, particularly Black men, behave in a way that they dictate.
Karens don’t have to be white, or women, but to be a Karen is to weaponize privilege to uphold white supremacy.
Source
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/who-karen-and-why-does-she-keep-calling-police-black-men-on-the-media
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/891177904, https://www.npr.org/2020/07/14/891177904/whats-in-a-karen
https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/6/explainer-intersectional-feminism-what-it-means-and-why-it-matters
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/karen-n-word-racism-white-women-julie-bindel-coronavirus-a9453201.html
https://www.npr.org/2017/01/21/510986874/intersectional-feminism-representation-in-saturdays-womens-marches
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-07-09/the-karen-video-what-it-means-commentary
https://blackballad.co.uk/views-voices/dear-karen-your-class-and-gender-cannot-excuse-the-racism-you-partake-in?previewId=15703y2f&utm_source=Black+Ballad+Newsletter&utm_campaign=aa7ca91551-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_06_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_acaafaf5e3-aa7ca91551-461676129&mc_cid=aa7ca91551&mc_eid=38dc703a3e
https://blackballad.co.uk/views-voices/dear-karen-your-class-and-gender-cannot-excuse-the-racism-you-partake-in?previewId=15703y2f&utm_source=Black+Ballad+Newsletter&utm_campaign=aa7ca91551-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_06_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_acaafaf5e3-aa7ca91551-461676129&mc_cid=aa7ca91551&mc_eid=38dc703a3e
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/05/22/white-feminism-karen-alison-phipps-me-too-sex-work-trans-rights-middle-class/