What is the Karen meme? According to Know Your Meme from Insider, “Karen” is a term used in memes to characterize an “irritating, entitled woman.” At times it is also combined with the “Can I speak to the manager?” haircut. However, in 2020 and in 2021, the term is broadly applied to white women who are filmed harassing people of colour, including unjustly calling the police for no apparent reason.
So what is the historical background of the Karen meme and how has it evolved?
While it’s unclear when exactly “Karen” became a pejorative character, some speculate that it perhaps started with the Oh My God, Karen, You Can’t Just Ask Someone Why They’re White meme from Mean Girls. Others believe that the popularity of the name may come from the character Karen from the 1989 gangster film Goodfellas:
There are several other possibilities of the origins. Still, since none are confirmed, I will focus on the evolution and spread of the meme. On August 7th, 2015, comedian Jay Pharoah released the standup special Can I Be Me? In the special, he refers to an annoying woman named Karen. “It’s always a ‘Karen,'” he said.
Years later, on October 23rd, 2020, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said of the joke, “I’m the one who started, ‘There’s always a white woman named Karen.”
On December 7th, 2017, the subreddit /r/FuckYouKaren was created, and has over 57,000 subscribers as of December 27th, 2018. The subreddit posts mock “Karens” for their annoying character.
On April 7th, 2018, Chadwick Boseman from Black Panther was on Saturday Night live playing a “Black Jeopardy” sketch. During the game, Boseman answers a question about a white person named Karen bringing her potato salad to a black person’s cookout.
Another viral example of the Karen trend was Central Park Karen. This nickname was given to Amy Cooper, a New Yorker who called the police on an African American man after he asked her to leash her dog in the Park. After a video of the altercation went viral, Cooper apologized for the incident.
The Karen meme functions as funny commentary and highlights these incidents mentioned, but also having a nickname like Karen adds to the virality. The audience targeted are those who are on social media and will click on the video/meme and help to spread it, thus contributing to the meme gaining popularity. Having an established nickname such as “Karen” automatically adds a certain tone, cleverness, and credibility to the video or meme: people already know what to expect and now many of the memes associated with “Karen” have a clear connection with entitlement or the surveillance of marginalized groups particularly from white women.
Apryl Williams, Ph.D. holder in sociology and an assistant professor in the Digital Studies Institute and the Department of Communication & Media at the University of Michigan conducted a visual Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis (CTDA) of Karen memes and argues that they are a “cultural critique of white surveillance and White racial dominance.” According to her research, she found that this genre of memes calls attention to, and rejects, “White women’s surveillance and regulation of Black bodies in public spaces.” Meme creators use humor, satire, and strategic positioning to show the collective reaction to these real incidents. What is interesting is that the “Karen” meme and others like it deviate from internet meme culture in that they act as a stand-in for news coverage of real-life events. Each new Karen meme is based on an actual altercation.
Historically speaking in the United States, the practice of regulating Black people, surveillance and control of Black spaces or Black people in White spaces is nothing new. Anti-Black Vigilantism is historical and has existed since American slavery and segregation. Ordinary white citizens have long engaged in vigilantism under the guise of performing civic duties. There is also a connection between the Karen meme and the historical narrative of white women’s victimhood. Historically, American society regarded white women as representing this idea of virtue and needing protection. White women have used these narratives of victimhood as a weapon, particularly against Black men and women. These narratives have also contributed to a sense of entitlement among “Karens.”
What has shifted with social media and particularly the Karen meme is that, even though Black communities and other racialized and/or marginalized groups continue to be under constant watch, the power of filming these incidents leaves no ambiguity and highlights what has been going on for a very long time. Ultimately, communities are deciding to take matters into their own hands and act as a stand-in for the ever-present watchful eye of White surveillance through Twitter, filming, and creating viral memes. Not only can Karen memes serve as a news source, and evidence for BIPOC people, they can also shine a light on a pattern of behavior and open the door to have a conversation about white fragility, entitlement and privilege; and hold the ones complicit accountable.
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