Member-only story
Everybody Hates Karen
How it feels to share a name that became a meme, a stereotype, and a slur.
Today, I was subbing at a middle school in my neighborhood, and a seventh grader asked me what my name is. I wracked my brain for a minute, like I have every time someone has asked me that question for the past few years, trying to think of a way out of the conversation I was about to have — but coming up with nothing, I said, “Karen. But you can call me Ms. Karen.”
She immediately started to frown and said, “Most Karens are not nice, but you seem nice.”
I was — as I am every time someone chooses to remind me that my name has morphed into a racial slur that the majority of society has decided to allow because its racism is toward white women, so that’s acceptable — speechless.
It seems like forever since social media turned my name into a meme, but I still don’t have a good comeback for the times when someone decides to remind me about something I couldn’t possibly ignore.
I just want to say that calling someone a name, whatever your reason, based on their skin color, is racist. And the word itself? That’s called a slur.
I was given this name at birth and am too old to go changing it. I’ve established myself, in a tiny way, but still — I’ve “made a name”…
