Please Don’t Call Me “Karen”: Thank You

I’ve kept my mouth shut about the “Karen” thing except for a brief mention in my recent article about how Joe Biden’s crude, animalistic dominance behavior over female adults and children is overlooked by his enthusiastic upper-middle-class white supporters.

I get the “Karen” stereotype. Now that I have short hair again, I regularly get called “Karen” by Red and Blue MAGA alike whenever I question any of their deeply-held assumptions and cultural tenets.

Every time I see the “Karen” stereotype I think of my school friend Karen. This girl was one of the nicest, most caring, generous and humble friends I ever had. She is still the same kind, warm, giving person as when we were in 7th grade. Every time a libertarian or Men’s Rights Advocate (MRA) or incel calls me “Karen,” I think of Karen, Beyond Shelter’s Administrative Assistant: endlessly patient, giving, self-motivated, a fantastic mother who attended school while working full time. I am ashamed to say that Karen at Beyond Shelter was paid one-third what I was paid. We should have been paid equally — and ten times either of our salaries would not have been enough for what we went through on the job: but that’s another story. This Karen not only didn’t have all the bad Karen stereotyped behaviors, she was also not “white.”