Available via license: CC BY-NC 4.0 Content may be subject to copyright. ATLANTIS PRESS Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 491 Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Arts and Humanities (IJCAH 2020) The 'Karen' Fallacy: Debunking Reddit's Stereotype of Facebook Moms Sophie Ariella Tanujaya¹* Reynald Setyawan¹ English Department, Petra Christian University, Indonesia *Corresponding author. Email: a111 80020@john.petra.ac.id ABSTRACT The term "Facebook moms" refers to mothers who frequently participate in Facebook group discussions. They use Facebook as a platform because it allows them to create groups to accommodate their needs including attachments and express their opinions without the word-limit constraint. However, there is a stereotype on Reddit that all Facebook moms are karens. Karens are portrayed as middle-aged women who are often racist, entitled, and abusive. The purpose of this research is to see if there is any truth in the allegation by conducting a qualitative study on Reddit and Facebook posts. The analysis includes 120 posts made by English-speaking mothers in six different Facebook groups and 120 posts on six different subreddits. The identity theories proposed by Burke and Stets as well as and Benwell and Stokoe, along with Bell's audience-design theory. They are used to analyze the data. The result of this study suggests that Reddit's stereotype of Facebook moms is mainly false. In fact, facebook moms' groups are often useful for themselves and others. Keywords: Facebook Moms, Karen, Reddit, Facebook, Identity 1. INTRODUCTION As more social media options became available, more users began to abandon Facebook, particularly those from the younger age group. According to The Guardian [1], the number of Facebook users from the age of 13 to 17 dropped from 71% to 51% in 2015, following the emergence of Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube (Solon, 2018). However, a particular group of Facebook users shows no decline in number - Facebook moms. The number of Facebook users in the States amounts to 61% of the population, in which 81% of U.S mothers are recorded as active users [2]. Facebook moms' refers to mothers who frequently participate in Facebook group discussions. They choose Facebook as a platform because it allows them to create groups to accommodate their needs including attachments and express their opinions without the word-limit constraint. However, there is a stereotype that Facebook moms are the embodiment of karens. Karen is a pejorative slang for an obnoxious, angry, entitled and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or patronize others [3]. This stereotype originated from a subreddit in Reddit, r/EntitledParents, where karens are often described as anti-vaccination supporters, flat-earth believers, and entitled parents who often ask to speak to the manager [3]. ATLANTIS PRESS It is important to note that there are more male Reddit users than female users. Male Reddit users make up 15% of the total users, in comparison with the 8% female users, with the remaining 77% without an account; thus, unidentifiable. Meanwhile, in terms of age demography, 42% of Reddit users are from the ages of 18 to 29. The second biggest age group, which amounts to approximately 14%, consists of people in their 30s and 40s [4]. Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 581 1.1. Related Work The identity theory proposed by Burke and Stets [6] will be used to analyze the data. Burke and Stets [6] defined identity as the set of meanings that define who one is when one is an occupant of a particular role in society, a member of a particular group, or claims particular characteristics that identify him or her as a unique person. However, we should also consider another noteworthy definition of identity, proposed by Benwell and Stokoe [7] which states that identity is a public phenomenon, or more specifically a performance or construction that is interpreted by other people. This There has been a similar study on Reddit by Emily Merritt [5] in 2012. Merritt [5] used discourse analysis while analyzing four conversations that included the trolling culture on Reddit. The study showed that trolling as an online discursive phenomenon is complex, multifaceted, and serves a purpose in online communication, and it should not be written off as without purpose [5]. ||| The significance of this research is the investigation and identification of identity construction of Facebook moms in two sources: the secondary source (Reddit) and the primary source (Facebook) to prove the involvement of audience design in identity construction. It is interesting to see how different public phenomena which occur in the two platforms create different audience designs, which result in different identity construction. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 491 2. METHOD Karen is often portrayed as a supporter of anti- vaccination, flat-earth theory, and other conspiracy theories. Karen is often described as abusive, racist, and entitled. This is where the problem with the karen stereotype on Reddit begins. The subreddits often generalize all Facebook moms as karens because there are many karens who are Facebook moms. Hence, the purpose of this study is to dismantle the misguided truth surrounding Facebook moms. To achieve this objective, we analyzed posts from

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Dear Anonymous Passerby, Don't worry, you're safe now! Your act of casual cruelty was successful. The complaint you lodged with the HOA was heard. They had me take down the small treefort that I built on this location with my sons during the pandemic. No longer will its presence offend your walk) past my house. Please enjoy your stroll free from the sound of my children's play and laughter. They are safely back inside now, watching television I'm sure. Enjoy the unobstructed view of my backyard. I will try to keep it up to code. Best, -Dave

Rylee @RyleeMoser FOR WHAT REASON DOES EVERY APARTMENT COMPLEX HAVE A DOG WEIGHT LIMIT OF 20 POUNDS? I can promise you my 90 pound golden retriever is a hell of a lot better behaved than Karen's 7 pound p------------ devil worshipping chihuahua

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joematar tumblr. Follow "Oh sh Karen brought her stupid Nintendo thing to the party again. We're DRINKING, Karen. We're having CONVERSATIONS." #nintendo switch #nintendo 16,988 notes 1

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Karen is just "asking for a friend" | /r/FuckYouKaren

18 See all > Like 16h. Question. If you have a sidewalk that runs in front of your house, is the part of the sidewalk at the end of your driveway public or your private property? If someone was standing at the end of your driveway on the "sidewalk part", can you technically ask them to leave your property, or does it belong to everyone? Asking for a friend..... ... O Comment X 56 comments Send

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Karen starts backpeddling and pearl clutching after arguing with everyone in the comments for 4hrs | /r/FuckYouKaren

rolling in. If you got offended by it I do apologize but I stand by my belief. Your opinion may differ from mine but that doesn't mean you need to contest my opinion because it's different than yours. 20m Like Like Reply you conveniently left out the part where you called everyone a "disgrace". That's not an opinion, that's you throwing out the first toxic insult, you at least knew that at a subconcious level since you started the sentence with "I'm sorry but". And then you go and argue with everyone without a shred of self reflection, all the while complaining about negativity. Like I said, the l... See more 4h O I'm sorry but if you use you are a disgrace. OOP Screeshot that's like using "no offense". It's a very common phrase. I truly didn't think that it would have offended people as much as it did. It wasn't clear intent to be toxic. 2m Like Reply no offense, but you're a complete idiot Just now Like Reply

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I thought I was safe on Emirates. | /r/Karen

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Karen : Into the Karen-verse | /r/Karen

Karen demanding The manager to see the manager H

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Karen believes that offending people is her right | /r/Karen

OO OC

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Nike Air Karens | /r/FuckYouKaren

Available wherever pumpkin spice lattes, Arbor Mist apple wine, and Victorian vampire novels are sold Live Love, Laugh NIKE AIR KARENS. Just Get Me Your Manager.™ NIKE

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Karen but a person who knows things attempts to purify her | /r/Karen

how am I supposed to be a good-person without getting the manager over the fact this place won't give me an 85% discount if you needed to get the manager you aren't a good person KAREN imgflip.com

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I felt like this sub needed this | /r/FuckYouKaren

Ew, I stepped in s---. Made by no struggles(numbers) Karens made with mematic

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I think we know who this sign is for... | /r/FuckYouKaren

DO NOT THROW C-------- BUTTS IN THE RIVER THE DUCKS ARE GETTING CANCER

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Someone in our apartment complex continuously puts clothing with thick dog hair, vomit and poop into the shared washing machines for someone else to find and clean. At first I tried to be understanding because it could possibly be someone who doesn't know

221 2221 22 คลออก 20000 20000 00

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I’m not sure if you can capture the 4th more succinctly on a 4”x4” side of a box. | /r/FuckYouKaren

FULL KAREN ALWAYS T PYRO ALWAYS THE BEST KING TM 25 SHOTS TM PYK501 WARNING-SHOOTS FLAMING BALLS AND REPORTS CAREFULLY READ OTHER WARNING ON SIDE PANEL. wewiola pu TENNIN

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Karen - Someone wrote a whole research paper to debunk the stereotype of facebook Karens | /r/Karen

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Available via license: CC BY-NC 4.0 Content may be subject to copyright. ATLANTIS PRESS Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 491 Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Arts and Humanities (IJCAH 2020) The 'Karen' Fallacy: Debunking Reddit's Stereotype of Facebook Moms Sophie Ariella Tanujaya¹* Reynald Setyawan¹ English Department, Petra Christian University, Indonesia *Corresponding author. Email: a111 80020@john.petra.ac.id ABSTRACT The term "Facebook moms" refers to mothers who frequently participate in Facebook group discussions. They use Facebook as a platform because it allows them to create groups to accommodate their needs including attachments and express their opinions without the word-limit constraint. However, there is a stereotype on Reddit that all Facebook moms are karens. Karens are portrayed as middle-aged women who are often racist, entitled, and abusive. The purpose of this research is to see if there is any truth in the allegation by conducting a qualitative study on Reddit and Facebook posts. The analysis includes 120 posts made by English-speaking mothers in six different Facebook groups and 120 posts on six different subreddits. The identity theories proposed by Burke and Stets as well as and Benwell and Stokoe, along with Bell's audience-design theory. They are used to analyze the data. The result of this study suggests that Reddit's stereotype of Facebook moms is mainly false. In fact, facebook moms' groups are often useful for themselves and others. Keywords: Facebook Moms, Karen, Reddit, Facebook, Identity 1. INTRODUCTION As more social media options became available, more users began to abandon Facebook, particularly those from the younger age group. According to The Guardian [1], the number of Facebook users from the age of 13 to 17 dropped from 71% to 51% in 2015, following the emergence of Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube (Solon, 2018). However, a particular group of Facebook users shows no decline in number - Facebook moms. The number of Facebook users in the States amounts to 61% of the population, in which 81% of U.S mothers are recorded as active users [2]. Facebook moms' refers to mothers who frequently participate in Facebook group discussions. They choose Facebook as a platform because it allows them to create groups to accommodate their needs including attachments and express their opinions without the word-limit constraint. However, there is a stereotype that Facebook moms are the embodiment of karens. Karen is a pejorative slang for an obnoxious, angry, entitled and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or patronize others [3]. This stereotype originated from a subreddit in Reddit, r/EntitledParents, where karens are often described as anti-vaccination supporters, flat-earth believers, and entitled parents who often ask to speak to the manager [3]. ATLANTIS PRESS It is important to note that there are more male Reddit users than female users. Male Reddit users make up 15% of the total users, in comparison with the 8% female users, with the remaining 77% without an account; thus, unidentifiable. Meanwhile, in terms of age demography, 42% of Reddit users are from the ages of 18 to 29. The second biggest age group, which amounts to approximately 14%, consists of people in their 30s and 40s [4]. Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 581 1.1. Related Work The identity theory proposed by Burke and Stets [6] will be used to analyze the data. Burke and Stets [6] defined identity as the set of meanings that define who one is when one is an occupant of a particular role in society, a member of a particular group, or claims particular characteristics that identify him or her as a unique person. However, we should also consider another noteworthy definition of identity, proposed by Benwell and Stokoe [7] which states that identity is a public phenomenon, or more specifically a performance or construction that is interpreted by other people. This There has been a similar study on Reddit by Emily Merritt [5] in 2012. Merritt [5] used discourse analysis while analyzing four conversations that included the trolling culture on Reddit. The study showed that trolling as an online discursive phenomenon is complex, multifaceted, and serves a purpose in online communication, and it should not be written off as without purpose [5]. ||| The significance of this research is the investigation and identification of identity construction of Facebook moms in two sources: the secondary source (Reddit) and the primary source (Facebook) to prove the involvement of audience design in identity construction. It is interesting to see how different public phenomena which occur in the two platforms create different audience designs, which result in different identity construction. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 491 2. METHOD Karen is often portrayed as a supporter of anti- vaccination, flat-earth theory, and other conspiracy theories. Karen is often described as abusive, racist, and entitled. This is where the problem with the karen stereotype on Reddit begins. The subreddits often generalize all Facebook moms as karens because there are many karens who are Facebook moms. Hence, the purpose of this study is to dismantle the misguided truth surrounding Facebook moms. To achieve this objective, we analyzed posts from

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