In fact, white women were seen hugging and thanking police who oversaw the 2017 Women’s March, which says a lot about their anti-racist priorities. Beneath the protest selfies and proud shows of feminism, the fact that a majority of white women had voted for Trump remained unaddressed. Although white women rallied behind feminist principles to defend women’s rights from the Trump administration in 2017, the Women’s March was criticized as performative and exclusive of women of color. I often compare white women’s commitment to Black Lives Matter with their participation in the Women’s March. White women have historically failed to confront their role in white supremacy, often using their feminist politics as a shield against accountability for racism. Another journalist, Julie Bindel, described Karen as a “ woman-hating slur.” In the ensuing discourse, an uncomfortable trend has arisen in which white women use progressive language to shield themselves from accountability. British journalist Hadley Freeman argued that Karen is “ mired in sexism,” since there's no equivalent nickname for racist white men. The other angle to this conversation is how Karen has been argued by some to be a manifestation of the patriarchy and entirely anti-woman. The rebuttals to the popularization of Karen are especially instructive in revealing how white women using the term is bitterly ironic. As Leigh Stein recently noted, “Working on your white privilege is fast becoming the next elite social club.” There are cases of Karen being wielded by other white women in a way that feels like posturing an allegiance to Black people, including Hilary Duff in her recent Instagram caption about “Karens won’t wear masks.” It’s unsurprising that amid the racial justice reckoning, Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility - a 2018 book by a white woman for white women about race - topped the New York Times bestseller list, beating out books by actual women of color. Now that white women have discovered Karen, and the language of racial justice at large, they’ve turned both into self-serving trends. In another recent example, white women co-opted Colin Kapernick’s “take a knee” protests. For example, the #MeToo movement was founded by a Black woman, Tarana Burke, but most of the focus went to wealthy, white celebrity women, and women of color survivors have too often gone unnoticed.
The next century, feminists in the '60s and ’70s drew inspiration from the civil rights movement of their own era while creating the “second wave” of feminism, often critiqued for centering whiteness at the expense of anti-racism. Suffragettes drew inspiration from the slavery abolition movement while leaving out Black women. There is a history of white women using the language and struggles of oppressed communities in this country. Explainers and think-pieces from media outlets appeared, including this real headline: “What Does it Mean to Be a Karen? Karens Explain.” Certainly, it’s an easy retort to use against people who require more than “Okay, Boomer.” However, as is the case with many trends created by people of color, the second white woman caught on, things became less fun. What’s interesting is that, within months, Karen has transformed from an inside joke within communities of color into a mainstream phenomenon.
0 kommentar(er)
