It’s all fun and games until stereotypes affect us on personal levels. Karen, a woman from Statesboro, Georgia, knows this all too well. Despite her own name being pigeonholed as an entitled, older woman with unreasonable demands, it often isn’t true. Even so, she shocked herself when she used it to describe another angry individual. That’s when she decided to take a public stand.
According to Karen, who goes by @drkarenoffduty on TikTok, a woman with a sourpus passed her in a Statesboro, Georgia Big Lots store. Instinctively, she labeled the grouchy person Karen. Once back inside her car, she realized how silly that was. After all, she didn’t feel that everyone legally given the moniker fit into the mold. Likewise, those who weren’t born Karens, but still had atrocious behavior, were simply off the hook in terms of tarnishing their names.
She jumped onto TikTok to kickstart the #NotThatKaren movement, and shared some additional thoughts from the Georgia car lot where she’d parked:
We should all unite, today, October 11th, 2025, 10:20 AM, Eastern Standard Time. Now, the parking lot’s not big enough for all of us not that Karen to unite, but stand by for more. We’re gonna start a movement… happy Saturday!
She went on to create a slogan which she included for viewers in her TikTok caption: “We are smart. We are kind. We are strong. We are not that Karen.”
Did Georgia Karen Weaken Or Strengthen A Stigma?
Naysayers may feel the #NotThatKaren movement simply proves the stigma that Karens will always complain. Yet viewers were supportive of the Georgia woman’s efforts.
Thus far, Karen’s video hasn’t had all that much traction. Yet she hopes that more will join her by using #NotThatKaren in their posts as well. She has already added the hashtag to her TikTok posts. Ideally, she would like for the movement to extend to other social platforms.
In Georgia or elsewhere, her hope is that people will start judging characters, instead of putting targets on generic names. And while her laid-back nature indicates her post was made as a bit of banter, her point remains valid. Most trends push ideas that don’t give all people fair shakes.
