THE rIGHT IS THE lEFT:

There is a corner of the internet that is obsessed with depressed middle-aged women. Or, specifically, is fixated on a four-year-old study, which suggested that 41% of Americans who use antidepressants are white, female and over 45. The obsession has nothing to do with concern for these women. The viral tweeter "Bad" Billy Pratt (@KILLTOPARTY) is representative: in March he posted a graph tracking which demographics "have used antidepressants for at least five years", circled "White women 45+", and captioned this: "Welcome to Hell".

The Miserable Older White Woman emerges from the same blend of old-school misogyny and ageist ugh-mom-ism that brought us first the Wine Mom and then the Karen, in the summer of 2020. In theory, a Karen was a white woman who called the police on black people who were simply minding their own business. In practice, the term started getting used (and is indeed still used) in reference to any woman over the age of 25 who has spoken up, in any context. In the early pandemic days, I was once called "Karen" after asking some teenagers on public transit to put on masks. But anti-maskers also got labelled Karens too, so we can't win (unless we stay silent).

Who has it in for these women? A significant number of the Twitter accounts piling hate on middle-aged women seem to be controlled by young men who give off incel vibes. They are also angry at young women for rejecting them, and their mothers for not sending their favourite meal down to them that evening in their proverbial basement. What is clear is that these women are an avatar for complaints that span, or defy, the ideological spectrum. The Miserable Older White Woman inspires an intense, if difficult to pin down, political fury. Both progressives and the Right seem to agree that "Liberal white women on antidepressants will be the end of our civilisation", but the stereotype allows a range of people to channel a variety of frustrations.

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