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The most active thread yesterday was titled, "Is Karen considered a racial slur?" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The original poster says that her high school-aged daughter told her about a discussion at school in which a student was corrected by a teacher for using the term "Karen" because the teacher viewed the term as a racial slur. The original poster does not view "Karen" as a slur and asks whether this is a common interpretation. There are a number of issues to consider here. One is that there is no universally agreed upon definition of "Karen". Wikipedia defines "Karen" as "a middle-class white woman perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is normal." Dictionary.com's definition is slightly different saying "Karen" refers to "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." When I first encountered "Karen" as a meme rather than a first name, I remember it differing somewhat from both of those definitions. "Karen" was a middle-aged, perhaps middle class, White woman with a bob haircut who wanted to speak to the manager. I always found this a bit bewildering because I was always taught that, if you were not satisfied with the service being provided, you should speak to the manager. In fact, I have spoken to a great many managers in my lifetime. So, what was the problem here? Eventually, the meaning of "Karen" morphed to describe a White woman who uses her racial privilege to harm or otherwise disadvantage others, especially Black men. However, I have seen posters on DCUM use "Karen" to mean any number of things. To some extent, it has simply become a substitute for the word "bitch". "Karen" as a name and in its original connotation as a meme is closely associated with white women. As such, there is no denying its racial and gender implications. Therefore, many consider it to be a racist and sexist pejorative. Several of those responding in this thread argue that "Karen" is used to silence women, particularly White women. An interesting discussion could probably be held on the relationship of race, gender, and privilege and how those things relate to the term "Karen". In its most common usage, "Karen" assumes that White women have racial privilege which they exploit, frequently against Black men. White women, on the other hand, often see themselves not as privileged, but rather suffering from gender discrimination that encumbers them with a host of disadvantages. As such, "Karen" is simply a misogynistic effort to discourage women from standing up for or asserting themselves. Another thing to consider is the difference between how the term many have been meant when used and how it was interpreted. Someone may very well call someone a "Karen" due to the individual's overly-entitled behavior. But, this could easily be perceived as criticism resulting from the individual's race and gender. For this reason, while I think the idea behind "Karen" can be useful, in actual practice, "Karen" is not the appropriate term for it. It would be great to have a term to refer to overly-entitled, self-absorbed, self unaware, obnoxious folks of whatever race or gender. But, instead of "Karen", I propose "Elon".