INSULTING STEREOTYPES BEHIND THE KAREN SLUR

THE disparaging term ‘Karen’ became mainstream last summer – principally in the US – in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, to describe self-entitled white women.

They are said to behave in a privileged manner – for example, demanding to speak to the manager when thwarted in a shop and thus seen as those who enjoy belittling service staff.

Such women are also said to weaponise their relative privilege against people of colour – for instance, when making a complaint to the police about black people for minor or even fictitious infringements. Karens are said to tend to be Tories, pro-life, judgmental and ‘annoying church-lady types’. They also allegedly love to run parentteacher associations so they can impose their views on both their children and school staff.

During the pandemic, the term was extended to ‘Coronavirus Karen’ – the kind of woman who refuses to wear a mask in shops.

Last year, the pizza delivery company Domino’s offered Karens in New Zealand the chance to win a free pizza ‘as a break from negativity’. However, the deal was scrapped after a backlash.

Incidentally, the word ‘Karen’ also refers to a group of Sino-Tibetan-speaking people in Burma.