A “Karen” is an entitled white woman who uses her relative power and/or privilege (often her white privilege) over someone in a given situation to get that person in trouble. 1/

I’ve made my peace with it. People who do that should be shamed, for the instruction of others if not themselves, and if my name happens to be used for that purpose then I’m fine with it. 2/

What Amy Cooper did is textbook Karen and her behavior should definitely be highlighted as unacceptable, so feel free to use my name for that. 3/

(gif: woman pointing and saying “permission granted”)

Aside: I’ve noticed that sometimes white men co-opt “Karen” for their own purposes, for example, to silence a woman who is speaking up about sexism. That is not okay. You do not have my permission. 4/

(gif: giraffe raising its head into view with caption, “I see you”)

(Unless she’s using sexism as a cover for racism, in which case, go ahead.) 5/