Is 'Karen' an ethnic slur?

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1287806545846312962

[brucejoel99]

'Tucker Carlson' is an ethnic slur.

[Del Tachi]

The term plays on certain racial stereotypes, so maybe

[Tetro Kornbluth]

What do these guys think?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_National_Liberation_Army

[HisGrace]

I would say no just because it is used in a lighthearted, joking way. To me for something to be a slur there has to be a more serious connotation. But of course we know that the identity politics left would absolutely say it was racist to call someone a "Rasheed" or something in reference to stereotypical bad behavior. So they're still hypocrites.

'Tucker Carlson' is an ethnic slur.

Being a "Tucker" should be the male equivalent of a Karen.

[Ferguson97]

Ethnic slur? No.

It's basically become a replacement of the word "b-itch" so it's arguably been appropriated from black women by sexist white men, but it's clearly not an ethnic slur since it applies to white women.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

No, although it has sexist undertones.

[Alben Barkley]

Ethnic slur? No.

It's basically become a replacement of the word "b-itch" so it's arguably been appropriated from black women by sexist white men, but it's clearly not an ethnic slur since it applies to white women.

If it applies excusively to white women though, I can sort of see the argument.

[Battista Minola 1616]

Maybe a sexist slur?

Does a male version of the "Karen" nickname even exist?

[Person Man]

Maybe a sexist slur?

Does a male version of the "Karen" nickname even exist?

An Eric or Kevin. That sounds like a name of someone who is always causing problems and ordering seasonal coffee drinks that are basically boiled sugar water that have no macronutiritional value and yet have the price and caloric content of meals.

There's a Kyle, who is reckless heathen.

[Battista Minola 1616]

Maybe a sexist slur?

Does a male version of the "Karen" nickname even exist?

An Eric or Kevin. That sounds like a name of someone who is always causing problems and ordering seasonal coffee drinks that are basically boiled sugar water that have no macronutiritional value and yet have the price and caloric content of meals.

There's a Kyle, who is reckless heathen.

None of what you said suggets "White person who is clueless about racial questions", though.

[RINO Tom]

Maybe a sexist slur?

Does a male version of the "Karen" nickname even exist?

An Eric or Kevin. That sounds like a name of someone who is always causing problems and ordering seasonal coffee drinks that are basically boiled sugar water that have no macronutiritional value and yet have the price and caloric content of meals.

There's a Kyle, who is reckless heathen.

None of what you said suggets "White person who is clueless about racial questions", though.

Not really a perfect pair for a "Karen," but there IS calling guys a "Chad."

[Person Man]

Maybe a sexist slur?

Does a male version of the "Karen" nickname even exist?

An Eric or Kevin. That sounds like a name of someone who is always causing problems and ordering seasonal coffee drinks that are basically boiled sugar water that have no macronutiritional value and yet have the price and caloric content of meals.

There's a Kyle, who is reckless heathen.

None of what you said suggets "White person who is clueless about racial questions", though.

Not really a perfect pair for a "Karen," but there IS calling guys a "Chad."

There's Chads, Kyles, Staces, and Brads.

"Karen" was originally not the given name for racially ignorant entitled white women but for basic bitches who crazy "pumpkin spice" on everything.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It depends on the context, but in a way that's kind of beside the point (more on that later).  

While "ethnic slur" felt like a stretch at first, as I thought about it, I realized that one could certainly argue that - in certain contexts - calling a white person a "Karen" is not all that different from calling a black woman a "mammy" and I'd hope we can all agree that the latter is pretty racist.  I'm not saying I necessarily agree that the two are equivalent, but it wouldn't be an unreasonable take by any means.  I definitely think there are folks on the left who really just want to call white people a racial slur of some sort without getting called out on it and have started using "Karen" in what is clearly a racially pejorative manner.  I've definitely seen the word used pejoratively to refer to white men and women alike, even if the latter usage is far more common.

Regardless, it is definitely been used in a very sexist manner by some, again, especially on the left.  Specifically, some left-wing activists (especially #RoseTwitter types) have pretty clearly started using it as a "socially acceptable" (*barf*) way to call a woman a see you next Tuesday.  In this context, it is definitely a deeply sexist slur and will hopefully start being treated as such before too long.  

Then you have folks who use it the way the NRCC did, which is just as way for obnoxious people to display their contempt for a comment they disagree with while being as dismissive as possible.  For example, I'm sure someone will respond to a post in this thread - probably this one, in fact - with "okay, Karen" or some variation thereof.*  

However, there's obviously nothing wrong with it when it is actually someone's name  Basically, it depends upon the context.  Either way, whether it's a racist/sexist slur or not, I'd argue that a good rule of thumb is not to attack each other with pejorative language that - at best - carries strong negative racially-charged or sexist undertones.  

Moreover, I know the idea of civility has been devalued a lot since Trump took office, but we're never going to heal enough to shift back from being a collection of individuals sharing a geographic space to a national community until we can stop being malignant a**holes to each other every chance we get.  Even in the little things like voice tone and how people drive, you can see every day that we've all gotten so much angrier at each other.  One way we can all help deescalate is not see how many pejorative terms we can get away calling each other

*All I can say to that is congratulations on making a dumb joke everyone else who read this thread before you already thought of

[Nightcore Nationalist]

There's a Kyle, who is reckless heathen.

[Mexican Wolf]

I don't really think so, but since I hear people complaining about Karens way more than I ever hear them complaining about Chads or Kyles or Hunters or whatever the male equivalent is, I will say that current usage does feel somewhat sexist.

[dead0man]

I think we should give the worst stereotype of every gender/race combo it's own name:
white women that want to talk to the manger/call the cops on black children selling things=Karen
<rest of text deleted by user to save himself>

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

Ethnic slur? No.

It's basically become a replacement of the word "b-itch" so it's arguably been appropriated from black women by sexist white men, but it's clearly not an ethnic slur since it applies to white women.

If it applies excusively to white women though, I can sort of see the argument.

It doesn't. I could see someone make an argument that Kamala Harris is a Karen

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_people

[Fuzzy Bear]

Since it's directed toward a white, non-Hispanic demographic, it can't be an ethnic slur.  Right?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I have long found it unfunny outside of very select situations. I am unsure if this means that its users are bigoted, or just bad at comedy.

[Greedo punched first]

Is 'Sheldon' the male version of 'Karen'?

[chubbygummy]

Technically yes.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I don't know if I would call it an ethnic slur, but it's pretty silly.  It's also worth noting that Karen is a name that implies a very specific age, as it was an extremely popular name from about 1945 to about 1970 (50-75 years old in 2020) but is almost extinct for women born past 1980.

https://www.everything-birthday.com/name/f/karen

[Person Man]

I don't know if I would call it an ethnic slur, but it's pretty silly.  It's also worth noting that Karen is a name that implies a very specific age, as it was an extremely popular name from about 1945 to about 1970 (50-75 years old in 2020) but is almost extinct for women born past 1980.

https://www.everything-birthday.com/name/f/karen

When I was in Elementary school, our babysitter was named Karen. She was 16 when I was about 7. So she would be 44 now.

I've met a lot of Karens about 5-10 years older than me throughout my life. Isn't it also the name of Plankton's robot wife on Spongebob?