meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

The Surprising History of 'Karens'

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.81.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What do Alexa, Adolf and Karen have in common?


They're all names that have plummeted in popularity.


The most recent, Karen, is largely due to the meme-powered phenomenon of calling out white privilege by calling someone a 'Karen'.


What is the history of calling out privilege in this way? Is this a force for good, or has it become sexist?


Today Kate is joined by Senior Lecturer of Language and Linguistics at Leeds Trinity University, Linda Walz, who has researched this social phenomenon in great depth. 


This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.


Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code BETWIXT - sign up at historyhit.com/subscribe.


You can take part in our listener survey here.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to Between To Betwixt the Sheets, the History of Sex Scandal and Society from History Hit.

0:05.6

To listen to all of our episodes, add free and watch hundreds of history documentaries,

0:10.6

download the History Hit app or go to History Hit.com forward slash

0:15.6

subscribe. And if you're an Apple listener you can subscribe for new ad-free

0:20.4

episodes within the app. Hello, my lovely betwixters, how nice to see you here once again,

0:29.0

but before we can proceed with the show to make sure that everybody is safe and everybody knows

0:34.2

exactly what's going on here. I have to give you the fair dues warning and here it is.

0:38.4

This is an adult podcast broken by adults to other adults about adult things in an

0:42.6

adult way covering a range of adult subjects and you should be an adult too.

0:46.7

Whh! And if you can't tick every single one of those boxes then off with you.

0:51.0

Be off! Don't be hanging around here writing as nasty emails asking

0:55.0

for the manager being a right Karen because fair dues you have been warned.

1:01.0

Certain names do come and go in our lives right and many things can affect their

1:08.2

popularity. Nigel for example Nigel has almost vanished as a name here in Britain and come to think of it, I don't think I've ever met a baby called Nigel.

1:19.0

And of course, shout out to all the Nigel's out there. stay strong. Other names fall out of favour by association.

1:26.2

I mean, nobody, nobody would name their child, Adolph, would they? And if they did, the authorities might have to intervene.

1:34.4

We've also seen a drop in the popularity of the name Alexa. In fact, it has suffered one of the

1:39.5

sharpest declines of any popular name in recent years after Amazon released their voice

1:44.2

assistant and as for Karen well in recent years the name has become a widespread

1:50.7

slang typically meaning an ir rate an entitled middle class white woman.

1:56.4

It's also synonymous with a certain type of hairstyle now. There's also a carand, and women have made headline news all around the world

2:06.3

after being called out as quote-unquote Karen's.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.