What exactly is a " Karen "?

Anton_Berg said:
So basically it's any woman you don't like, for whatever reason.
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CNN)It may soon be illegal to make discriminatory, racially biased 911 calls in San Francisco.
The "CAREN Act" (Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies) was introduced on Tuesday at a San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting by Supervisor Shamann Walton.
The ordinance's name is a twist on "Karen," the name social media gives people making racially biased 911 calls.
And it's not just "Karen." There are also names like "Becky," which has also come to symbolize a stereotype of whiteness. And "Susan." And "Chad."
The ordinance is similar to the statewide AB 1550 bill introduced by California Assemblyman Rob Bonta, making it unlawful and accountable for a caller to "fabricate false racially biased emergency reports.".
"Using 911 as a tool for your prejudice towards marginalized communities is unjust and wrong!" Bonta tweeted.

No its a woman who acts in a particular way. I think the male version is Darren.
 
Uksake said:
So, heard this banded around the past few days to a bit of confusion. Anyone shed any light?
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You’ll know one when you meet one mate! Think of some self entitled cnut who will quite happily bring some 16 year old waitress to teasers in a restaurant because she’s politely asked them to control their spoilt brat!
 
It's an American thing and has been knocking about on social media for a couple of years now. Not sure why it's suddenly gained a bit of traction over here.

It is basically just a name for the self-entitled oblivious types. I don't think anti-vaxxers/anti-maskers etc are Karens in the traditional sense but the definition seems to have been changed a bit to just include all women doing something people don't like.
 
Try ever living with one ! It was murder trust me and thank God I’m alone and not bullied or put down anymore . She even punched me once , mind I did retort with “and you’ve got dinner lady arms “ 🤗
 
I thought it was a thing reserved for Facebook experts on everything, law, politics, sport, vaccines, pandemics etc etc

"Never mind what * says, Karen from Facebook says........"
 
I saw a Karen in Saltburn a few days ago. She stormed away from Sainsbury's after the girl on the door pointed out the short queue she'd need to join before getting in. Loudly told us how it was ridiculous and she was off to Asda.
 
There was also that incident the day before George Floyd's death when a black man who was bird watching in Central Park, called out a woman who had let her dog off its lead in a part of the park where that's not allowed. She decided to call the police claiming this black man was trying to assault her and she was scared... a lot of the responses were calling her a Karen.
 
TheYorkshireTerrier said:
There was also that incident the day before George Floyd's death when a black man who was bird watching in Central Park, called out a woman who had let her dog off its lead in a part of the park where that's not allowed. She decided to call the police claiming this black man was trying to assault her and she was scared... a lot of the responses were calling her a Karen.
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Just seen this, and yes, this was what I meant above.
 
It’s been used for ages on both the UK and US, it’s just increased in the last year or so. Calling a storm Karen last year resulted in loads of memes which generally increases an audience, then there was all the COVID stuff leading to racial abuse which magnified it and all the BLM stuff. In fact looking at google trends it’s jan 2018-2019 that it started to take off in the uk which follows a similar trend in the uk, but a larger spike there after storm Karen.
 
TheYorkshireTerrier said:
There was also that incident the day before George Floyd's death when a black man who was bird watching in Central Park, called out a woman who had let her dog off its lead in a part of the park where that's not allowed. She decided to call the police claiming this black man was trying to assault her and she was scared... a lot of the responses were calling her a Karen.
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She lost her job and is being prosecuted for a malicious 911 call over it.
 
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