"Karen"

What does it mean to be a "Karen"?

被当做 Karen 是什么意思？

It is the eye-rolling retort that Karens everywhere have come to know all too well: "OK, KAREN." Yes, it is their given name — but on the internet, "Karen" has come to stand for so much more. According to a popular meme, Karen is a middle-aged white woman with an asymmetrical bob asking to speak to the manager.

所有叫做 Karen 的人都已经逐渐深刻意识到，人们总会翻着白眼这样回应她们：“好的，Karen 来了呢”。没错，Karen 是她们的名字——但是在互联网上，Karen 代表的远不只是一个名字。在一个流行网络迷因中，Karen 是一个留着侧分的波波头、老是要求找经理投诉的中年白人女性形象。

The name was chosen for its association with whiteness. It is that privilege that the meme sets out to skewer.

之所以是 Karen，是因为取这个名字的人多为白人。而这个网络迷因的初衷，就是要抨击白人的特权。

In 2018, it was among a handful of female names to become attached to a spate of viral videos showing white women racially targeting people of colour. The antagonist of one such clip, of a woman calling the police over a group of African American men having a barbecue in a park in Oakland, California, came to be known as BBQ Becky (another name applied to white women online).

2018 年，一连串白人女性因种族之别针对有色人种的视频，在网络上病毒式传播。有几个女士名也和这些视频挂上钩，Karen 就是其中之一。在其中一个视频里，加利福尼亚州奥克兰市的一位女性看见一群非裔男子在公园里烧烤，因而报了警。作为视频中的“大反派”，这名女子后来被称为“烧烤 Becky”（Becky 是网络上另一个常用来称呼白人女性的名字）。

The meme has new resonance in the time of coronavirus, increasingly being applied to those who are protesting against social distancing measures or treating the pandemic as permission to unfairly police others.

Karen 这个网络迷因在新冠疫情期间也有了新的含义：它被越来越多地用在一个新的群体上——这些人反对保持社交距离的措施，并且认为疫情给了他们许可，能肆意监管他人。

The male equivalent might be the "Kyle" meme: an angry, aggressive white teenage boy. But "Karen" is far more popular than "Kyle" — and the fact that an older woman's name has been made an internet-wide figure of fun has led to criticisms of the meme as misogynistic.

与 Karen 相对应的男版可能是 Kyle 这个网络迷因：一位愤怒、有攻击性的白人青少年男孩。但是 Karen 远比 Kyle 更受欢迎，而一个年长女性的名字成为了全网嘲的笑料，这让一些人批评这个迷因仇视女性。

Karen Sandler, an attorney and software freedom advocate, says at first she was "a little sad" to see her name being applied so negatively — but it has in some ways been a wake-up call.

Karen Sandler 是一位律师，也是自由软件运动的倡导者。她说自己刚得知这个迷因的时候，看到自己的名字被用在如此负面的场景里“有点儿伤心”。但某种程度上，这也为她敲响了警钟。

"It has helped me really appreciate the advantages that I have in life, and emboldened me to speak out when I see people being ignored or disadvantaged," says Sandler.

“它让我意识到自己享有的优势，也让我在看到他人被忽略或受到不公待遇的时候，更勇敢地为他们发声。”Sandler 说道。

主编：毛西、阿树

品控：毛西

审核：Lala

重点词汇

eye-rolling

/?a?.ro?.l?/

adj. 令人翻白眼的