Karen is my Name

Oriel

Hi Kazzie, sadly your experiences mirror my own. You have my utmost sympathy.

My reason for posting on Gransnet was to find out if anyone else had changed their name and also alert people to what is actually going on. It simply cannot be right that a section of society is being abused as they are now.

I've been surprised at how many people haven't heard of it at all. I'm also surprised that some people are so dismissive. The empathy generator is absolutely reflects what Karens see regularly it is horrendous.

Do you think you'll change your name?

Thanks Oriel for getting back to me.
I absolutely hate my name at the moment (I used to really like it). I have considered just changing my name on social media as you cannot give an opinion on anything at the moment without getting the usual “oh we have a real Karen” or “Calm down Karen” the Kate Goslin meme “Karen intensifies” or their favourite “shut up Karen”
I don’t think I would go the full hog of changing it officially. My Dad and the nurses in the hospital named me 65 years ago. I was several months old when I left the hospital with my Mum as she nearly died after giving birth to me and spent the months in an oxygen tent. They are both gone now but even though at times I am tempted I personally would feel I couldn’t because of I was always their Karen.

Pammiel none of these people actually committing these horrible acts though are actually named Karen.
Central Park Karen was named Amy. Why can’t people actually call them by their own names or for what they are doing.
Sharon103 I think it is totally wrong for anybody to have their Christian name used for anything other than what it was intended for. Your name and your identity.

I am sad that some of you feel so abused, it is of course the abusers who should be ashamed and changing their behaviour.
However, I think that changing your name is up to you. I sympathise both with those who want to hold their head high and shame the abusers; and with those who feel that they don't want to put up with the abuse.

The ladies' loo in the old anarchist pub, The Lamb & Flag in Covent Garden used to have some graffiti scrawled over the usual rubbish - it said 'Come on sisters, don't we have anything better to say to each other?'

And thank you kazziecookie for sharing the story of your name.

My name is Karen and I have a blond Bob haircut and I am actually the manager of a small shop ??my friends think this is hilarious. Doesn’t really bother me what people say they are not referring to me personally and I wouldn’t consider changing my name

@kazziecookie. Not disagreeing with any of that and have said so several times.

Hi Pamiell

I agree with your observations regarding BLM and Antifa. Neither are interested in dealing with the problem of black on black crime. They have their own agenda, top of the list appears to be to defund the police and disband the notion of family. The main aim to to create division where non existed before. Young against old black against white, men against women, etc, etc. Frankly, they're doing a pretty good job in achieving that!

I think there are always going to be individuals who have unacceptable racist views. People are right to call them out on it. What isn't right is that they use Karen as a catch-all for any vile behaviour. Call a racist a racist.

I don't know why my age group and sex are being accused. I certainly can't imagine old white women carrying assault rifles and going mob-handed to terrorise innocent people such as was shown on the videos I linked to above. From what I could see the mobs on those videos were exclusively young white and black men and women. Why aren't they called to account?

Hi Oriel. I think you make some good points. I think the woke and ‘right on’ younger generation consider themselves better educated than us oldies, judging by some of the terminology they use. I think it’s up to everyone to call out racism wherever we see it but frankly I think that the whole issue has been ‘intellectualised’ to the point where it’s often difficult to figure out why so many of us are being regarded as racist for the most obscure reasons. I can get on board with the notion that ‘white privilege’ is not having to worry about how your race or colour affects your life but I think it could be termed in a way that’s less offensive, and I still genuinely don’t know what a white supremacist is - I associate that kind of language with the KKK, so perhaps someone could enlighten me !! I really do think that free speech is under threat - there have been some debates on TV recently where the word ‘racist’ has been used to shut down debate with anyone who has a differing opinion.

I have a son called Kevin and it was fine when he was born but has become a laughing matter since. Harry Enfield s Kevin didn’t help . It doesn’t seem to bother him but I regret it now

@Ellie Anne. I remember that character and also ‘Tim nice but dim’. I worked with a Tim who took some stick when that was popular - he took it with good grace but admitted privately that it really pissed him off sometimes !!

I challenged someone on Twitter about doing this, he responded in a dismissive way, no more than I expected looking at his previous post and Twitter page, nob!

I tried the link and it told me to go F myself.
A delightful link.
Stand up and be proud. I know several Karens who are all gorgeous, inside and out.

Forgot to add: I'm married to a Gordon. He's had to put up with being a moron, a gopher, a sweary chef, an expletive"Gordon Bennett".
But he is the strongest, most resilient man I know. And he's hot stuff.... !!!

Sorry Never heard of this Karen thing. Only heard of a Plain Jane. Ha Ha !! But Not funny either.

It's the person inside the body - not a person's name-.

I didn't put my name into that page. This is an anonymous site and I don't choose to share my name online with people I don't know in real life.

It's a shame you got bullied into changing your name. I'd have kept it. Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

kazziecookie

Oriel

Hi Kazzie, sadly your experiences mirror my own. You have my utmost sympathy.

My reason for posting on Gransnet was to find out if anyone else had changed their name and also alert people to what is actually going on. It simply cannot be right that a section of society is being abused as they are now.

I've been surprised at how many people haven't heard of it at all. I'm also surprised that some people are so dismissive. The empathy generator is absolutely reflects what Karens see regularly it is horrendous.

Do you think you'll change your name?

Thanks Oriel for getting back to me.
I absolutely hate my name at the moment (I used to really like it). I have considered just changing my name on social media as you cannot give an opinion on anything at the moment without getting the usual “oh we have a real Karen” or “Calm down Karen” the Kate Goslin meme “Karen intensifies” or their favourite “shut up Karen”
I don’t think I would go the full hog of changing it officially. My Dad and the nurses in the hospital named me 65 years ago. I was several months old when I left the hospital with my Mum as she nearly died after giving birth to me and spent the months in an oxygen tent. They are both gone now but even though at times I am tempted I personally would feel I couldn’t because of I was always their Karen.

Hi Kazzie,

I know what you mean about hating your name. Once I changed mine I realised that it was easy for me to use my new name. My old name had become almost more than a name in my subconscious.... the association with it was negative in the extreme, a bit like aversion therapy.

Unlike you I didn't have to take my parents into consideration - both being long dead. I know they'd approve of what I've done and I kept my middle name.

It must be dreadful to be in a position like yours. I don't know if this will help, but you can do a statutory declaration and get it witnessed at a solicitor's office without going through the Royal Courts of London. This will enable you to change any documents that you need to. Legally you don't have you have to obtain a Deed Poll. Could you swap your middle and first names?

Whatever you decide, you will always be their Karen.

OnwardandUpward

I didn't put my name into that page. This is an anonymous site and I don't choose to share my name online with people I don't know in real life.

It's a shame you got bullied into changing your name. I'd have kept it. Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

You aren't sharing your name with anyone on the empathy generator. It is means of seeing how you might feel if it were your name used in a derogatory fashion. You only enter your first name.
___________________________
This is from the site explaining how it works......

Here we have a sampling of real-life uses of the name “Karen”. Enter your name and select your gender to adjust sex-specific vocabulary such as she/he appropriately. Press the Change Name button and see how everything looks.

A person’s own name produces a special response in the brain; take your time and notice what this is like. Imagine that the internet and mainstream media are full of examples like this, with your name. You can remind yourself that of course, they aren’t talking about you personally. Does that make it better or worse?

All quotes and images are reproduced exactly. Numbers of Likes, Shares, Views, group members, etc. are all accurate. Except where writers specify that they are speaking of “real-life Karens” etc., none of the people described or addressed here as “Karen” were actually named “Karen”.

Whether you are a Sharon, Tracey, Barbie, Hyacinth or Karen
“ No one can make you feel inferior without your consent ."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Try it.

Love that quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. It's so true!

There will always be ignorant and nasty people in the world but how they behave is about them, not about you- whether you're called Karen or something else. The Karen thing will die down I'm sure. It's already old and people move on.

Over time there have been other names used offensively, which have also died down. People get bored and stupid memes get old, so I'd say hold your head up high. It's not you, it's them.

I must say I tried the site using different names, even used some rare names and ethnic names. All came out saying the same. So, if you want to change your name what the hell are you going to call yourself. Load of rubbish. Personally if I was named Karen I would ignore the insults, it’s just a trend and will go out of fashion at sometime

I've never heard of this detrimental use of the name. I only know one Karen and she's lovely.

Why is it that anything which comes across the Atlantic is taken up so readily by the UK, they sneeze we get a cold.
Most of it is nonsense, we all make fun of It so why do we take so much notice . We are surely better than that.
Karen.

I dont know of anyone over the age of 30 who would use the name Karen in a derogatory way, but even then their Emotional Intelligence is low.

I always thought of Karen as a youngish person’s name, probably because the ones I have met were at least 10 years younger than me. Whoever thought up that nasty connotation must be really thick and have definite racist tendencies picking on one name like that. Hate to say it but it kind of fits with a certain American demographic ( hope that isn’t a racist comment!)

Oriel and nanna8, as far as I’m aware, this originated in America, not in the U.K. - another import we could well do without.