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| White woman practicing yoga, naked, in a Portland Street, facing officers in riot gear. Officers backed away and left the demonstration. Credit: Donovan Farley, https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1284412288774975489 |
It is significant that she appears White, able, youthful and lithe. I cannot imagine a darker skinned woman, a fat woman, a woman using a wheelchair, getting the same treatment.
I felt a strange energy at the Women's March in Washington DC in January 2017--I had prepared myself to be potentially arrested and tear gassed. Instead, Police Officers were high-fiving us. It took the perspective of Black women walking with our group for me to realize, duh, it's because we are white women.
The Slave Patrols from which our police systems emerged were ostensibly to protect White womanhood from Black rapists. I think this phenomenon occurred, of (mostly) White militants backing away from this literal display of vulnerable femininity, because of this history. These men were moments earlier firing tear gas and rubber bullets. When she walked up to them, pointed to them and began doing yoga stretches/positions, it shortcircuited something. The confused men backed away.
So much of the problems we are facing today are due to toxic masculinity structures like fear of the "nanny state." Nannies. Mother-adjacent. The power of a woman saying "no" to a man. Making him feel small, like a child, chastened by a person with authority over him.
Also meme-ing this week are Karen memes. I happen to be named Karen, and I've had 5 different friends reach out to me recently to say something like "these are funny, but I don't think you're one of these Karens! :) "
I have lots of thoughts on the Karen memes, and I think they are connected to this Portland "Naked Athena" as Farley the photographer calls her.
My take on the Karen memes (as texted in response to one of those friends)
Yes the Karen meme is about white women weaponizing their “tears” in service of creating and maintaining White-only spaces literally and figuratively. From public parks to higher education etc. some of these memes however are created by WHITE MEN which is rich, given that the karens are doing this unpaid dirty work which white men overwhelmingly benefit from
Karen
Also, the Wine Mom part of the meme touches on how cis-hetero white women who are married to (wealthy) white men have the free time during the day to do their mischief and overwhelmingly work to improve the conditions of their (white) children at the expense of everyone else’s. Private schools for us, decaying public schools for them, etc. and we know plenty of progressive “democratic” white women who may post Black Lives Matter icons etc to virtue signal but will make family/kid based decisions about which school district to enroll in etc which do the opposite of affirming those values
Karen
And me personally, I’ve got extra Karen energy because white women are overwhelmingly teachers (English teachers!) who police the margins of language, expression, what is allowable to write your term paper about etc
White nurses policed the margins of racial identity by coding which children were biracial etc on birth certificates. Karen energy is about policing who counts, who is discounted in these power structures. their proximity, access and affiliation to white men is the motive, and the desire to protect their children and create the best conditions possible for them (giving them an edge over others) is a very strong urge.
White nurses policed the margins of racial identity by coding which children were biracial etc on birth certificates. Karen energy is about policing who counts, who is discounted in these power structures. their proximity, access and affiliation to white men is the motive, and the desire to protect their children and create the best conditions possible for them (giving them an edge over others) is a very strong urge.
KarenAnd creating a category to mock, “hahaha look at that Karen” can be helpful if it’s focusing on drawing attention to who benefits from these power dynamics and then using that new info to do something. Creating a “Karen cocktail” is just a cheap thrill to make an extra buck for (probably) a white man who owns the bar
KarenAnd creating a category to mock, “hahaha look at that Karen” can be helpful if it’s focusing on drawing attention to who benefits from these power dynamics and then using that new info to do something. Creating a “Karen cocktail” is just a cheap thrill to make an extra buck for (probably) a white man who owns the bar
Karen
KarenWhite nurses policed the margins of racial identity by coding which children were biracial etc on birth certificates. Karen energy is about policing who counts, who is discounted in these power structures. their proximity, access and affiliation to white men is the motive, and the desire to protect their children and create the best conditions possible for them (giving them an edge over others) is a very strong urge.
KarenAnd creating a category to mock, “hahaha look at that Karen” can be helpful if it’s focusing on drawing attention to who benefits from these power dynamics and then using that new info to do something. Creating a “Karen cocktail” is just a cheap thrill to make an extra buck for (probably) a white man who owns the bar
Karen
And creating a category to mock, “hahaha look at that Karen” can be helpful if it’s focusing on drawing attention to who benefits from these power dynamics and then using that new info to do something. Creating a “Karen cocktail” is just a cheap thrill to make an extra buck for (probably) a white man who owns the bar
Karen
Love is the only way through this. And by love I mean, we have to love other people’s children, black children, immigrant babies in cages, people we will never meet, as if they were our babies, our grandchildren etc. and gently but firmly bringing our other kin (like my Trump supporting Mom) along on the journey towards wholeness
Karen
So that is part of my thoughts on this Karen meme. And since White women and our Very Powerful Tears have this sort of power to either prop up the structures of White supremacy or work against it, let us consider how we might use this power differently. Not all of us look like the Yogani pictured above (nor have the ovaries to walk naked into a crowd of riot police). But a lot of us look like we are somebody's White mom. We can do things like this too:
https://ntvhouston.com/2020/07/moms-protest-use-of-federal-officers-in-portland-calling-it-unacceptable/
A ring of Moms, arms linked, surround protesters and chant "Feds stay clear! The Moms are here!"
