Question of the day: is Mhairi Black a Karen?

Speaking with journalist Graham Spiers this week, Black suggested that gender-critical commentators were “bad actors” and “50-year-old Karens”. She also compared the gender-critical school of thought to historic white supremacy and intellectuals “who made these big prolific statements about how race was a key factor”. 

[God only knows what she meant by “prolific” there.]

When challenged by a member of the audience, who asked if someone could be perfectly decent and simply disagree with her on gender ideology, Black replied “If you keep it to yourself, aye.” So her message to those of us concerned about our hard-won sex-based rights might be summed up as: shut up woman. 

It’s not exactly the kind of statement you would expect from someone who has made their name preaching about the problems facing women in politics. Indeed, not so long ago Black announced that she would step down from Parliament because of Westminster’s “sexist and toxic” environment. 

Yet it is hard to imagine any other group being maligned so casually by a sitting MP.

It’s true you know. Imagine Mhairi Black referring contemptuously to “Abduls” or “Aishas” or “Arjuns” or “Parvatis”. Wouldn’t happen. But women? Pfffffff, who cares.

Anything an SNP politician says about gender-critical women should, at this point, be taken with a truck load of salt. But what Black might not realise is that, in her tut-tutting at women who dare to speak out, she herself is demonstrating everything that is perceived to be wrong with “Karens”. By telling women to keep their political views “to yourself” if they don’t fit in with gender ideology, she exemplifies a bossy, self-righteous know-it-all. 

But sadly, this is an issue which goes far beyond one politician and her attention-seeking ways. Increasingly it is deemed OK for those in the mainstream to call middle-aged women (quite often lesbians) slurs like “Karen” or “Terf” – particularly when their views are shared by the multitude, such as that sex is real, giving hormones to kids is questionable, and women should be able to pee in peace. 

Why did Oxfam deem it acceptable to use a haggard woman’s face in their “terf” section of their Pride campaign? The answer is that there is a right kind of woman and a wrong kind. The right kind “keep to themselves” their concerns and questions about the erasure of sex difference and women’s freedoms. The wrong kind are the ones who won’t shut up. Well Mhairi Black, call me a Karen.

It could become a saying expressing surprise. Well knock me down and call me a Karen.