For real Karens, actions speak louder than words

“Karen” was in the top three most popular baby names between 1951 and 1968. It hasn’t been that popular since, so it’s a pretty reliable indicator of age.

Many of us women of this age are self-assured. We want what we paid for. We don’t tolerate injustice.

Karen Bayless Feldman, 52, was among a group of women in 2006 who pushed for a bill to allow women to breast feed in public. Until then, nursing mothers could be charged with indecent exposure. For eight years, Feldman sat on the Human Relations Commission, which advises the Phoenix City Council on human relations issues.

She’s half Latina and hasn’t liked her name since she was old enough to realize “how white” it was. She wishes she’d been named “Consuela.”

“It is what it is,” Feldman said. So, she embraces being Karen.

Karen Kurtz, 54, speaks up when something is wrong, whether it’s no toilet paper in a store bathroom or her son moving into his college apartment to find a filthy bathroom and urine-soaked mattress. (She talked to management. He had a clean bathroom and mattress in no time.)

It was only right, Kurtz said, no matter how horrified her son was. It’s why when a woman in line at the grocery store couldn’t get her debit card to work, Kurtz paid her bill. She’s like that at work, too. When one of us needs more time than our editors can spare, she steps in.

Karen Penn, 58, a flight attendant, knows if she makes a fuss, someone will say, “OK, Karen.” It doesn’t stop her.

Penn is part of Moms Demand Action to prevent gun violence. She attends an online group called “Do Black Lives Matter to White Women?”

“I’m learning so much,” Penn said, about how to support Black organizations. “Today, action speaks louder than words.”

So she’s going to speak up, and do something about it. Same as the others I know. After all, they’re Karens.