In praise of Karen memes
Who made the first Karen meme? Are Karen memes inherently sexist – or even racist? Do Karens deserve tolerance and understanding? Or is every last Karen a gigantic pumpkin-spiced bitch?
All the best memes – all the best jokes, for that matter – work not only because they’re silly, but because there’s there’s a nugget of truth lurking in there somewhere. And Karen memes are no exception.
Your relationship with Karen memes will depend very much on who you are. If you’ve ever worked a menial, customer facing job (hello) you’ll be all-too-familiar with Karen.
Karen is that thin-lipped, self-entitled shrew who loves lording it up over service sector workers. Her kink is tormenting our sorry underclass of minimum-wage suckers – suckers who are literally contractually forbidden from arguing back.
POOR KAREN
Chances are, she’s raised kids, which is stressful, and that’s why she’s so mean. Most likely her husband – let’s call him Randy – is no longer able to satisfy her sexually. We must be patient and kind.
If you look at the data. Karens are technically an endangered species. Between 1951 and 1968, Karen was a crazily popular baby name, never outside the top ten. Karen was trending, even back then.
Flash forward to today (well, 2020) and Karen is the 831st most popular baby name, with just 325 babies born with the name Karen in 2020. Presumably all to parents who don’t have the internet.
Karens are dying out – so have mercy.
HISTORY OF KAREN MEMES
It’s not entirely clear where the meme came from. Some point to this 2005 bit from comedian Dane Cook, who delicately suggested ‘nobody fucking likes’ Karen, and furthermore: ‘Karen is always a douchebag.’
Others suggest this scene in Mean Girls, or this passing reference in classic gangster flick Goodfellas.
In truth, Karens have always been with us. Their 21st-century manifestation is marked out by their ghastly Rod Stewart haircuts (technically an ‘a-line bob’, should you fancy freshening up your look), and cursed by the fact everybody has a smartphone now.
So Karen’s rants, which used to be intensely personal one-on-one attacks, can now be shared online by victims. Hence the meme.
Examples abound. Who can forget Amy Cooper, the ‘Central Park Karen’ who literally called the cops screeching ‘there’s an African-American man threatening my life’, when the African-American man in question asked her to leash her dog. Because that’s the law. And he was literally a birdwatcher.
Or her fellow New York Karen, who intentionally coughed on somebody for politely requesting she wear a mask during the paranoid days of early Covid. Or Los Angeles Karen, who used two (2!) hammers to trash her neighbours’ car, yelling, ‘get the fuck out of this neighbourhood’.
ARE KAREN MEMES RACIST?
Most of these attacks seem to be against people of colour. Indeed, it’s been pointed out that African-Americans struggled with Karens long before they were even called Karen.
In the 19th century, the slang term ‘Miss Ann’ was coined by slaves to refer to white women who mightn’t have technically owned slaves, but who nonetheless took full advantage of the social asymmetry afforded by their race, and the power it gave them over African Americans.
Still, is it fair to pick on white woman, especially white women called Karen? Not really, but going after Karen’s is undeniably cathartic. Like fighting with your mom, or sticking it to billionaires. For best results, hit up any suburban Starbucks.
It’s even been argued that Starbucks’ no quibble policy on comping drinks, coupled with their near-infinite customisations options, give Karens the perfect combination of caffeine and a reason to moan. It’s why Starbucks is basically the Karens’ respawn point.
PEAK KAREN
Arguably, the Karen meme jumped the shark with the release of Karen, a horror-crime-comedy film about a young Black couple who are terrorized by the president of their local Home Owners Association (who is, naturally, named Karen).
Still, there’s life in the old meme yet. Over in London, a new restaurant called Karen’s Diner will be opening its doors any day now.
The concept, imported from Australia, is that waitstaff are encouraged to be as rude and dickish to patrons as they like. A long-overdue turning of the tables? Or just a weary admission that the only way to truly defeat a Karen, is to become a Karen.
