It's like idiot, or dumbass, or loser, etc. etc. You could say literally any name, word, or even make up a new word and it could be used in the same way. Karen isn't meant as an insult to women. It's insulting the actions of an individual, maybe, but not women in general.

It STILL isn't anywhere near comparable to the N-word.

I've called people by all kinds of names. Karen, Steven, Brenda, Myrna, Jerry, etc. Obviously I don't know their real name, so I just say whatever as an exclamation. For example, I'll say something like, "Move faster, Martha!" if I'm trying to park in a parking lot and someone is walking slowly in my way. I'm not saying that people named Martha are slow, it's just what comes out in that moment.

Most of the time, calling a woman Karen is saying that she is the kind of person who demands to speak to the manager and raises hell when things don't go her way wherever she is. The expression would still be the same no matter what name or word you'd use. It's not meant as an insult to people named Karen or as a way to degrade women, it's about the actions of an individual in one particular moment.

Now calling someone the N-word is actually wrong because it is used in a derogatory way against an entire race of people. It's been used for hundreds of years to degrade black people and attempt to make them feel like they're lesser human beings. It is not in any way the same as calling someone Karen.

@Moravian I don't know why, really. I would guess that it started as a random name in a meme, but it just stuck out of popularity. Male equivalent is usually Chad, for equally unknown reasons.

@Kynlei in reality, the N word is the anglicized version of negger, the German word for plowman. Stems from the original slaves in America who were primarily Germans and Scottish political prisoners( a little known fact that slides under the mainstream history books). Their handlers didn't speak German but picked up the word for plowman and used it for all slaves.( After the many native Americans who were enslaved, yet another one that escapes the books)Once they figured out the germans and Scottish political prisoners who were the first large group of slaves, died like flies in the southern heat and had an astronomical high suicide rate. Then Africans became readily available, the name stuck.

@wolf041 Is it pure coincidence that the word for black in some languages is negro, then?

@Kynlei according to the source that uncovered all that, yes.( it was a German historic foundation about 20 years ago that had spent years trying to find out what happened to countless families that had dissapeared after leaving for America) while negro is a version black in many western languages, the derogatory version stems directly from negger. The two later merged to be one and the same. In this country.

@wolf041 Interesting. Thanks for that

If it were misandry, it would be Chad, not Karen.

In all seriousness though, it's not at all like the N-word. The N-word is actually derogatory toward a race. Karen is not directed at women in general, it's directed at a woman that's acting a certain way. You could literally substitute it with any name (or word for that matter) and it would have the same connotation.