Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 12:04     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
1. Attorney
2. Massachusetts
3. 18, for university
4. Sometimes but not usually
5. Yes, planning to
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 11:57     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:“Karens” are only white women. From dictionary.com:

Karen is a pejorative slang term for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviors.


Karen is a pejorative used to demean any middle aged woman whether or not her compliant is valid (and often it is). It’s let’s go Brandon for middle-aged white women—just shut up, we don’t care what you think. Invented by Incels on Reddit and adopted widely by black women after the (horrible) Amy Cooper incident.



I disagree. Not all middle-aged white women are deemed a Karen, only the ones exhibiting Karen-behavior, which has included young white women.

-middle-aged white woman


I have seen middle aged white women deemed Karens (by other white people) for things that have nothing to do with white privilege. Like I've seen women called a Karen for complaining to customer service for valid reasons (like lost luggage or a product that doesn't work). I've also heard people say that a middle-aged white woman "looks like a Karen" because she is has a certain hair cut, dresses in a uncool or dowdy way, or has a middle-aged body (i.e. gains some menopause weight). All of this is just agism/misogyny, but the people using the Karen term this way have found a socially acceptable way to express those feelings about older women.

I'm glad you haven't experienced this. I haven't either. But I've seen it enough to be wary of the term except as deployed by POC to describe a woman who is exploiting white privilege. Pretty much any other application of the term is likely veiled misogyny.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 11:50     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:“Karens” are only white women. From dictionary.com:

Karen is a pejorative slang term for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviors.


Karen is a pejorative used to demean any middle aged woman whether or not her compliant is valid (and often it is). It’s let’s go Brandon for middle-aged white women—just shut up, we don’t care what you think. Invented by Incels on Reddit and adopted widely by black women after the (horrible) Amy Cooper incident.



I disagree. Not all middle-aged white women are deemed a Karen, only the ones exhibiting Karen-behavior, which has included young white women.

-middle-aged white woman
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 08:44     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
1. Law.

2. New England.

3. Age 36, transferred here by employer.

4. Retire here? I can’t stand living here period. Who wants to spend the rest of their days in a mediocre medium-size city surrounded by some of the worst sprawl in the country? If you do, I guess Leisure World awaits.

5. There is great info on the Travel and school-related forums (local schools through College) I overlook the snark and hive mind in the other forums (Family Relationships? Cut off contact! Religion? Become a Unitarian! Money and Finances? Vanguard index funds, and nothing else! Political Discussion? Biden is doing a great job! Local Politics? Homelessness is bad, but I don’t want them camped out near me!) because the Travel and school related forums are so good.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 08:26     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:“Karens” are only white women. From dictionary.com:

Karen is a pejorative slang term for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviors.


Karen is a pejorative used to demean any middle aged woman whether or not her compliant is valid (and often it is). It’s let’s go Brandon for middle-aged white women—just shut up, we don’t care what you think. Invented by Incels on Reddit and adopted widely by black women after the (horrible) Amy Cooper incident.


Not quite https://www.npr.org/2020/07/14/891177904/whats-in-a-karen


The problem of course is that it’s not just oppressed POC using the term. White people, and especially white men, use it as a weapon against white women they don’t like. And often to describe a white woman who is complaining, even if her complaint is about, say, misogynist or otherwise unfair behaviors of other white people. “Karen” has been co-opted to depict certain women as unserious, with invalid opinions.

If it was just POC using it I don’t think it would bother most people.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 08:16     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:“Karens” are only white women. From dictionary.com:

Karen is a pejorative slang term for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviors.


Karen is a pejorative used to demean any middle aged woman whether or not her compliant is valid (and often it is). It’s let’s go Brandon for middle-aged white women—just shut up, we don’t care what you think. Invented by Incels on Reddit and adopted widely by black women after the (horrible) Amy Cooper incident.


Not quite https://www.npr.org/2020/07/14/891177904/whats-in-a-karen
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 07:57     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
1 What field are you in?
Lobbying - trade association

2 Where did you grow up?
Central PA

3 At what age did you move to the DMV and why?
22; job after graduation

4 Did you or are you planning to retire here?
Probably not - too pricey

5 Does the tone on here bother you?
No. I don’t take the posts personally and if I find a topic dumb I stop reading it. Agree though there is a lot more troll posting from the far R side the last few years it seems
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 07:24     Subject: Re:Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
1. Physician
2. Farmtown in Midwest
3. Early 40s, briefly for work
4. Doubt it
5. Nope. I report posts and then move on. I find the recurrent "people are so mean here!" threads to be useless and read as attention-grabbing. I've been on the internet for a long time, and I'm really surprised at the number of adults who want their hands held over tone. Outright cruel insults, racism, etc., are different, but not being "nice?" Come on.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 06:38     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
Anonymous wrote:I’ve been active here for about a month. Lots of fascinating topics.

Wondering stuff like:

1 What field are you in? Seems to be a lot of attorneys
2 Where did you grow up?
3 At what age did you move to the DMV and why?
4 Did you or are you planning to retire here?
5 Does the tone on here bother you?


1-I'm in education.
2-Grew up in NYC.
3-Moved here 10 years ago, in my 30s for DHs job.
4-I'll probably retire here. Depending on where my kids end up.
5-the tone us mostly awful. But in between there's a lot of good information and people.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 01:04     Subject: Re:Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
1. Lawyer by training, currently co-run the local branch of a fitness business
2. Cincinnati (Kentucky suburbs)
3. Mid-20s for a Big Law gig after law school
4. No, will not retire here. Probably someplace warmer, maybe overseas. We love to travel though, so I could see us technically keeping a home here but spending most of our time elsewhere.
5. Sometimes. I am torn between sometimes disliking the snark and sometimes agreeing with it (and yes, occasionally participating). Sometimes people on here are dumb and earn the needling.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 00:51     Subject: Re:Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?

1 What field are you in? currently in grad school

2 Where did you grow up? CT (suburb of NYC)

3 At what age did you move to the DMV and why? Have never lived in DMV. I live in CA but migrated to this forum when another one I was on shut down.

4 Did you or are you planning to retire here? [b]Nope, plan to stay in CA[/b]

5 Does the tone on here bother you? [b] Hmm, sometimes I find all of the anti affair/other woman posts tedious or some of the black and white takes on relationships and the world in general. Overall though, no. I love posts like the one about Culture Shock or when people from other countries talk about differences they notice. I've learned a lot from people. Plus I've never known a Fed so that's been a whole new world for me. I've learned a lot about GS ranks and how different agencies operate. I find it surprisingly interesting.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 00:46     Subject: Re:Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
1 What field are you in?
Education

2 Where did you grow up?
In multiple regions of the country

3 At what age did you move to the DMV and why?
At age 17 for college. That was over 20 years ago.

4 Did you or are you planning to retire here?
Doubt we will retire here. For job reasons we can't really leave the area but we always wanted to live in a few specific other places, so I assume we will do that during retirement.

5 Does the tone on here bother you?
No. I am bothered by what seems like an influx of rightwing nutjobs these past few years. It seems like it has really dragged down the average IQ
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 00:42     Subject: Re:Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:1 What field are you in? Ornithology

2 Where did you grow up? Texas

3 At what age did you move to the DMV and why? 29 for family

4 Did you or are you planning to retire here? Idk

5 Does the tone on here bother you? Nope. I love it! Pure entertainment and I have been following this site since 2010 when I looked for things to do around here and learn the lay of the land.

AA female HHI 260k so nope no Karen here.


I had no idea that Ornithology can be a high-income occupation! My daughter wants to pursue that field.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 00:21     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
1. CPA, work for a giant audit/accounting firm
2. Eastern Europe then MoCo
3. Tween. Immigrated here with family.
4. No idea. I would like to be somewhere near a beach ideally.
5. Yeah, but sometimes I contribute to it so…
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2022 00:09     Subject: Poll. DCUM regulars. Who are you?
SAHM who has worked very PT on and off at a nonprofit (started volunteering there when our children were very young, help them on and off when needed)

NY suburb

18 - came to DC for college and never left (although I now live in a suburb)

Not sure about retirement. While it is getting closer, we still have no idea. My fantasy is a place in New England (summer/early fall), a condo here (spring), and travel every winter to a new warm place via Air BnB or VRBO. Will not consider moving until child number 3 has finished college (still in HS)

Some snarky replies you see over and over bug me ("divorce!"), but sometimes they make me laugh. Cannot stand all the "HHI" posts (who cares?), or "is this tacky?" (in the eye of the beholder), or "can we afford this" (if you have to ask...." or "can I eat this?" (probably, how did you get to be an adult without being able to figure this out for yourself, and I sure hope you do not have children).

You know how some people say there is no such thing as a stupid question? Well, people who say that have cleary never been on DCUM!