![\"The](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_0048-copy-e1593149741446.jpg\")
<\/a>The artist creatively drawing my name. (The full artwork is shown in its entirety in the big pic above. Thanks to my good friend, Marc Winer, for being kind enough to have this done for me!) Both photos by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n
I\u2019ve always loved<\/em> my name. My whole life. There\u2019s never been a day where I have not wanted to change my middle<\/em> name, but \u201cKaren\u201d has always done right by me. (Until now, that is.)<\/p>\n When I was doing my former TV show, no one even seemed to know my last<\/em> name\u2014everyone in town just called me \u201cKaren,\u201d period. Whenever I gave my full name on the phone to someone new, or returned a call to a\u00a0viewer, they\u2019d seem to not know who I am, and when they recognized my voice, they\u2019d invariably say something to the effect of, \u201cOh, is this Karen<\/em>??? What was that other<\/em> name you said?\u201d I was always so proud of being known as just plain \u201cKaren.\u201d I got such a kick out of that. Even now, whenever someone calls me \u201cMiss Salkin,\u201d I always tell them, \u201cIt\u2019s just Karen.\u201d<\/p>\n My name has also led to some welcome nicknames, mainly by my guy friends. Mr. X has always called me \u201cKah,\u201d even when we\u2019re fighting. (I don\u2019t think he\u2019s ever even used my full<\/em> name, until now<\/em>, when he\u2019s been trying to comedically torture me.) And others have used \u201cKar,\u201d \u201cK,\u201d \u201cKareBear,\u201d and \u201cKaah-ren.\u201d And this one is my fave: My little friend, Alexa, even recently asked her mother, \u201cDo you think her name is \u2018Kare-n\u201d because she cares<\/em> so much?\u201d Ahh shucks.<\/p>\n A bunch of stories that are making a mockery of my name.<\/p><\/div>\n So what idiot(s) recently decided to make \u201cKaren\u201d a title for bad or obnoxious females??? I don\u2019t get it. I had a slightly bad experience with this new situation a few weeks ago, (where some insecure actor didn\u2019t like my mini-review of his performance, so he came up with, \u201cOf course her name is Karen\u201d–wow, how clever of him,) but I got over it quickly. And then one day soon after, I awoke to this headline about that idiot woman in Central Park who called the police, saying that a black man was threatening her life, when he had just rightfully asked her to put her dog on a leash: \u201cCentral Park \u2018Karen\u2019 finally apologizes…\u201d<\/p>\n Early on in this debacle, I couldn\u2019t figure-out what insult \u201cKaren\u201d is trying to convey, so I did some research, of course. (Maybe \u201cKaren\u201d should mean \u201cmajor researcher,\u201d rather than something bad.) It appears to have been started by a disgruntled ex-husband in 2017, who was going through a bad divorce with his wife, Karen, but the name has all of a sudden gained ground. No one seems to know why now, though.<\/p>\n This is the description that was on Wikipedia originally, (but it has been updated and expanded since then, if you\u2019re curious): \u201c\u2018Karen\u2019\u00a0is a colloquial term that is used to typify a person perceived to be entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is considered appropriate or necessary. One of the most common\u00a0Karen stereotypes is that of a white middle-aged woman, typically American, who displays aggressive behavior when she is obstructed from getting her way; such women are often depicted as demanding to \u2018speak to the manager\u2019 and sometimes have a variation of the bob cut\u201d<\/p>\n How is this the “Karen?” It looks more like the “Rachel” to me!<\/p><\/div>\n They say the usage is: \u201c…common to \u2018basic white women\u2019; the most notable is the stereotype that a\u00a0\u2018Karen\u2019\u00a0will demand to \u2018speak with the manager\u2019 of a hypothetical service provider. Further common stereotypes associated with the\u00a0\u2018Karen\u2019\u00a0pejorative include anti-vaccination beliefs, racism against black people, and a bob cut with blonde highlights, engagement in multi-level marketing schemes, and Facebook posts sharing trite motivational messages.\u201d Oysh.<\/p>\n Okay. Not even one of those things describe me<\/em>! And I\u2019ve had my name for a long time.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve actually never even met a ton of other Karens, but the ones I have, I\u2019ve liked. Most don\u2019t even spell their names in the basic way I do. I\u2019ve come upon Karins, Caryns, Carens, and Karans. I\u2019ve even met a Karon.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>