The "Karen" Meme - UPDATED

I'm sure you've all encountered it by now if you spend any time on social media.  The "shares" or captioned pictures, starring a lady of a certain type, of a certain age, named Karen. I first came across it on Facebook, a few years back. At first it was mildly funny, for about five minutes.  Some of the captioned pictures were "Karen's" pets; the dog dressed up in a Santa's elf suit with a pained expression on its face, that kind of thing. Or a story about a woman who was annoying and a bit bossy, kind of a church lady type.
The thing I thought at the time was that it was unfair to people whose actual name is Karen, of whom I know several.  It was a name popular in the 1950s, kind of like Sandra, or Debbie, or Linda. Of course in Scandinavian countries it has been popular forever, being the Danish form of Catherine.  I had a great aunt Karen, born sometime in the 1890s. I never met her in person; she used to send pretty Christmas cards from Denmark.

But lately the "Karen" meme has taken on a darker meaning. It became not only the annoying lady, but the racist one.  The woman in NYC who called the cops on an African American bird watcher, who asked her to leash her dog, was called the "Central Park Karen"; even though her name is Amy.

There is also an undercurrent of contempt for women, especially middle aged or older women, in the "Karen" characterization.  This  article, by Sarah Dittum, a British writer, captures my feeling.  From the article:

"It isn't just a bit of fun aimed at entitled women: it's the new "pipe down, love"

"When Karen is used to belittle women, and especially when it’s being used to belittle women for showing solidarity with other women...It’s a finger trap insult, where struggling against it only makes it grip tighter. When its defenders say that there’s no reason to worry about it so long as you’re not a Karen, what they’re really doing is proffering an individual exit from the abuse — so long as you agree that some women deserve it, maybe you can qualify for a pass."

"...In a 1991 essay, the feminist scholar Catharine Mackinnon noted that the phrase "straight white economically-privileged women" had become a kind of "dismissive sneer" ...She flings her hair, feels beautiful all the time, complains about the colored help, tips badly, can’t do anything, doesn’t do anything, doesn’t know anything…” What a Karen."

".... Karens, it is known, lack a sense of humour."

"...Here’s what’s funny. There is no way out of the Karen double bind for women. It’s always there to keep you in line. Even if you embrace it, it’s still hanging over you."

'And one day, maybe you will need to speak to the manager after all. Maybe you’ll want to get a haircut that’s a practical length, but also flatteringly layered! Maybe, God forbid, you’ll want to run for public office like Clinton, Phillips or one of those other Karens."

"The only way to ensure you’re never a Karen is to be forever quiet and compliant. OK Karen?"

 UPDATE:
Coincidentally, this article on the America Magazine site, "Hi, my name is Karen. Embarrassed to meet you." popped up in my email feed today.
The author is Karen Park. She had this to say:
"Once, long ago, my parents were newly married and 26 years old. They lived in an apartment in Cleveland. Their first child was born on a dark day in February, and they gave her the prettiest name they could think of. “Karen,” my parents answered when the priest at baptism asked, “What name do you give this child?” Five decades later, the name has come to mean an entitled, racist white woman."
"In my wide circle of friends there are about a half-dozen Karens. One is a third-grade teacher in a low-income public school, one is a L.G.B.T. activist, one is a musician and choir director, one is a philosophy professor, and one is the diversity coordinator for my mid-sized Wisconsin city. All of these women are intelligent, good people. All of them are anti-racists, and not all of them are white. They are each creative and strong in different ways. And none of them named themselves."
"....But in the past year, the name Karen has moved from a meme to an epithet for an entitled person, often a racist. It is a powerful insult. When Amy Cooper, a white woman, called the police on a Black man who had objected to her taking a dog off-leash in Central Park, she was immediately identified by the New York Post as “Central Park ‘Karen.’” There is also “parking lot Karen,” a white woman who blocked a Black family from taking an open parking spot, and “coughing Karen,” who coughed on someone who asked her to wear a mask in a store. None of these women were actually named Karen, nor were the dozens of other examples I could find online, but Karen is now the word used to describe them, and “Karening” has even become a verb."
"...I do not think the term advances the cause of anti-racism. Calling the Kaylas, Amys, Joannes and Kathys whose racism is on display in Twitter videos the generic term “Karen” shames them but also helps to preserve their anonymity. It is also a term for which there is no true male equivalent, notwithstanding the half-hearted use of “Chad” for some entitled men."
 "...We respect the names and pronouns of others. But many of us seem to have forgotten that people really are named Karen, and the societal decision to take our name and change its meaning is uncomfortable and disorienting for us."

If you read the article on the America site, take a look at the comments. Sometimes memes hurt real people.