A Guide to TikTok's WASP Mom

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You’ve seen “WASP mom” jokes on TikTok—but what do they mean?
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No, they’re not the bugs who give birth to stinging insects. WASP is actually short for “white Anglo-Saxon Protestant,” so a WASP mom is technically any mother with that background. However, the term WASP mom was popularized during COVID by Caitlin Reilley, a comedian whose WASP mom character was a hilarious satire of a wealthy mom struggling to cope with quarantine. In this article, we’ll break down the WASP mom phenomenon and more.

Things You Should Know

  • WASP is an acronym from the 1950s that means white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant. Today, WASP generally refers to someone who’s white, wealthy, and a bit basic.
  • The WASP mom stereotype of the bored, annoying, and invasive mother comes from a series of viral TikToks made by comedian Caitlin Reilley.
  • While WASP mom’s do have a lot of “Karen” tendencies, a Karen refers to any woman with annoying and unrealistic demands.
Section 1 of 4:

What does WASP mom mean?

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    On a very literal level, a WASP mom is just a mother who happens to have a WASP background. That means she’s white, Protestant, and has an Anglo-Saxon background. The WASP mom stereotype pokes fun at how wealthy white moms are often a little demanding and annoying. [1]
    • The WASP mom character was popularized on TikTok by comedian Caitlin Reilly. In these videos, she’d make skits about a well-to-do mom who drank too much wine and wasn’t that fond of her kids. [2]
    • You can find a full playlist of the WASP mom skits here .
    • Anglo-Saxon here is just shorthand for someone with a British (or generally “white European”) heritage. The historical Anglo-Saxons haven’t been around for centuries. [3]
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Section 2 of 4:

Is WASP mom an insult?

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    While the TikTok videos aren't exactly flattering, they're all in good fun. On a literal level, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong about being white, having a European background, being Protestant, or having kids. There are a lot of stereotypes about WASPs though—especially WASPs from the New England region of the United States. In those contexts, WASP mom can be used pejoratively. [4]
    • John F. Kennedy, Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, and Don Draper and famous examples of WASPs.
    • Northeastern WASPs are stereotypically wealthy, judgmental, and needy. This is the character the WASP mom plays up.
Section 3 of 4:

Is a WASP mom a type of Karen?

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    The “Karen” is a popular archetype of a (usually white) woman who is super needy, demanding, and uptight. Caitlin Reilley’s WASP mom character certainly has some Karen-esque tendencies, but Karen is a much broader term. The WASP mom is a riff on a pretty specific type of person—wealthy stay-at-home moms who like their wine a bit too much and find a way to annoy everyone around them. [5]
    • Not all WASP moms are Karens and not all Karens are WASP moms, but there’s a pretty big overlap in that Venn diagram.
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Section 4 of 4:

Examples of WASP Mom TikToks

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    In this one , the WASP mom shows up to make sure her son is paying attention, only to immediately ask the teacher for her child to get out of work.
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    In this iconic clip , a small barking dog outside of the Starbucks drives the WASP mom to speak to the manager. This is probably the most “Karen” WASP mom clip out there, and it’s a good example of the two archetypes overlapping.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/15/i-rejected-my-parents-wasp-values-now-i-see-we-need-them-more-than-ever/
      2. ↑ https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-05-26/how-comedian-caitlin-reilly-used-tiktok-to-characters-to-break-into-tv
      3. ↑ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/many-myths-term-anglo-saxon-180978169/
      4. ↑ https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93740408
      5. ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53588201

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