By Camille Gear Rich and Julie Kvedar
Donald Trump has made a few last-ditch overtures to suburban white women in his campaign’s final days — most notably, nominating to the Supreme Court Amy Coney Barrett, an extreme right-wing jurist wrapped in the patina of an archetypal suburban mom. But his pandering to women in wealthy suburbs ignores a key demographic of Trump supporters: Country Club Karen’s working-class counterpart, Walmart Karen.
White privilege is often associated with wealth: the “Karen” caricature is typically of a wealthy suburban mom with a signature haircut, brandishing anti-Black sentiment to further her needs. Quintessential “Karen”…
The troubling implications of our favorite quarantine distraction
There is one thing, aside from COVID-19, that is monopolizing my group discussions right now: Tiger King. It is a Netflix documentary series exploring the outrageous and often illegal escapades of a group of for-profit exotic animal breeders. The show centers around a gun-toting, mullet-wearing, gay tiger breeder named Joe Exotic.
While the show’s plot itself is admittedly shocking and bizarre, there is an undercurrent of social class voyeurism that contributes to making the show so gossip-worthy.[1] Social class in America is a taboo discussion topic; we politely ignore its existence, instead…
Julie Kvedar
Julie Kvedar, JD, MPH, is a 2020 law school graduate with a public health background. She is passionate about the intersection of health, human rights, and law.
