Normalizing Abuse: A Commentary on the Culture of Pervasive Abuse

by Karen Tate

E-book

The ebook is available to download through Amazon.com on most devices

Paperback

The paperback book is 350 pages and 8.5 inches by 5.5 inches available from Amazon.com

NORMALIZING ABUSE: A Commentary on the Culture of Pervasive Abuse

You always sensed something wasn’t right. You were right.

Abuse doesn’t always leave bruises. It doesn’t always come from yelling or threats. Sometimes, it hides in silence, shame and the systems around us. For many of us, abuse became so familiar we mistook it for normal life.

Abuse is everywhere and we’ve been conditioned to deny it and look away.

What if much of what we accept as “normal” in our institutions, workplaces, media and even families…is actually abuse? What if silence and complicity are fueling a crisis of trauma we can no longer afford to ignore?

In this hard-hitting and deeply researched book, activist and thought leader Karen Tate issues a call to arms for truth-tellers, change agents and anyone ready to challenge the systems that enable exploitation. Drawing on years of investigation, interviews and her own experiences, Tate reveals how abuse can be collective, cultural, and nearly invisible – until we learn to see it.

“I considered myself savvy and educated. I thought abuse was something that happened to others – not to me.”

--- Karen Tate

A guidebook for the Trauma Survivor, the Activist and Changemaker and the Spiritual –

For The Trauma Survivor…

Recognize abuse you may have endured without realizing it

Learn how trauma shows up in everyday life

Understand why society too often ignores or excuses abuse

Find tools and practices to begin your healing journey

Know that you are NOT ALONE – and never were.

For the Activist & Changemakers…

Expose abuse hiding in plain sight – in politics, religion, education and business

Understand the psychological mechanisms of control and complicity

Explore the stories of whistleblowers who risk everything t stand up

Be empowered to speak truth, build solidarity and drive real change

For the Spiritual…

With compassion and fierce truth-telling, Tate explores:

The spiritual cost of tolerating abuse and injustice

How exploitation has been normalized by religion, government and cultures

Practices, tools and insights to reclaim sacred power and personal sovereignty and take part in soul centered change

Stories of healing, awakening and standing up to toxic authority

With a powerful foreword by spiritual pioneer Matthew Fox, Normalizing Abuse is a call to awaken, speak truth, and reclaim your power in a world that desperately needs healing. This book is a lifeline for anyone who has been gaslit, dismissed or broken down by systems and relationships that were supposed to protect them.

MORE>>>

We can no longer ignore the truth. Abuse is not normal. And healing is sacred work!Normalizing Abuse...

Do you make excuses and rationalize abuse because it is so familiar that you discount it as being normal?

Many of us may be enduring some kind of pervasive abuse or are witness to it and may not even be aware of it. We're being bombarded from so many directions that we may have become blind to it. The abuse almost feels normal. We might sense something's not right, yet the problem is not apparent. That could be because abuse and resulting trauma is not always blatant or obvious. It can be collective, insidious and pervasive. We may also be conditioned to it so deeply that it is no longer recognized as abuse by the victims, perpetrators and greater society.

Normalizing Abuse - A Commentary on the Culture of Pervasive Abuse helps you to...

• Redefine and recognize abuse and exploitation in your life and community

• Determine if you’re experiencing trauma or abuse

• Offers solutions to the abuse and exploitation going on in so many of our lives

• Suggests practices and modalities to put you on your own healing journey

• Recognize you are not alone trying to survive the epidemic of abuse around us

• Understand why we endure, tolerate or inflict abuse and exploitation

• Find resources to help with the ravages of abuse and exploitation

• Recognize abuse and exploitation you probably didn’t see happening in academia, armed forces, religion, corporations, workplaces everywhere, government, society and culture, among family members and friends, the media and law enforcement

• Transform your life with the tools suggested in Normalizing Abuse

Karen Tate, thought leader, seven-times published author, podcaster, social justice activist and now, an admitted abuse survivor, reveals in her newest book, Normalizing Abuse: A Commentary on the Culture of Pervasive Abuse…

“I considered myself savvy, educated and an advocate for fairness and equality. I thought abuse was something that happened to others, not me."

In Normalizing Abuse, Karen Tate takes the reader on a serious and heartfelt journey of discovery, not just of oneself, but also aspects of society and culture--academia, government, corporations, religion, the military, the workplace and media, family and friends--to peel back the veneer hiding insidious abuse and exploitation.

This groundbreaking book examines some of the countless ways blatant and pervasive abuse is being acculturated, endured, and immensely impacting our lives - and the lives of all with whom we interact today.

With dozens of prestigious endorsements and a powerful foreword written by pioneering spiritual educator Matthew Fox, well-known activist for gender and eco-justice, Normalizing Abuse is being hailed as a bullhorn for truth-telling desperately needed. It speaks to how society is rife with trauma we do not recognize and abuses we do not reject. It helps readers recognize trauma and abuse, identify the cause and have the tools to transform how they react to the situations. Today we are being called to awaken, stand up and speak truth to those wielding toxic power over us, not just for ourselves but for the future.

Reviews by Leaders in the Community

"This is a very valuable book because it thoroughly examines the reasons for dysfunction in individuals and societies because of trauma that transpires from cradle to grave unless some conscious intervention interrupts this malignant state of being. "This is an important study, especially in this age and in this country, where we are finally trying to come to grips with the effects of slavery and the genocide which is affecting every individual in our society on a personal level and in different ways." Cristina Biaggi - Author of "The Rule of Mars: Readings on the Origin, History and Impact of Patriarchy." "Ask almost anyone, having examined their authentic humanness, if they deserve to be abused, traumatized or exploited and the definitive answer is no. Yet nearly every human system promoted by sacred or secular constituents normalizes violence especially toward women and BIPOC people. The domination structures planted by patriarchy seem cemented in all our practices for all time. Although the ancients taught different ways, especially following Goddess traditions that created equitable and peaceful societies. Can we return to, or create anew, that kind of social structure that honors both earth and every creature (humans included)? Karen Tate's compassionate and extensive work gives us hope by first identifying the reasons and systems that normalize abuse and exploitation and then presents tools for deconstructing the systemic gender and race based perpetration of trauma and evil. But she doesn't leave us in our woundedness. She offers paths to healing, restoration and systemic change. Reading her book is like being awakened and hugged by an ancient Goddess who is both a fierce warrior and tender lover. In Normalizing Abuse we find tangible hope for healing the body, mind and soul of humanity!" Rev. Stacy Boorn - herchurch San Francisco "Normalizing Abuse by Rev. Dr. Karen Tate is a tour de force. Everyone who has experienced mistreatment and cruelty will recognize the suffering it yields regardless of our stations in life. But why read an entire book about abuse, enormous hardship, and exploitation? The purpose is to open our eyes, to unveil the reality of what is taking place in order to see and understand the dynamics of exploitation and cruelty within ourselves and others. To look the other way and to be silent in the face of anyone's mistreatment perpetuates the damage for everyone concerned. After breaking her own silence, Karen Tate has become a powerful truth-teller who calls all of us to stand up and join her in having the courage to speak the truth in the face of injustice in order to have any hope of transforming the suffering that is rampant in this world." Joan Marler - Executive Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology "Karen Tate has given us an important book that speaks from the heart, and recognizes that personal abusive behavior is not an isolated event-- it is embedded in a culture that we must change from domination to partnership. A moving and inspiring book." Riane Eisler - Author, The Chalice and The Blade; Nurturing Our Humanity, and other books "The title of this book conjures the all too familiar scenarios of domestic abuse, misuse at the hands of persons most to be trusted, but the palette has many colors and the canvas is the entire expanse of our society, the flawed supposition of male superiority, the entrenched constructs of historicity, the dogmas of political correctness, the academy whose members are more impressed with power than truth. Anyone who is found not in conformance is fair game. Interspersed with the author's commentary that attempts to organize, categorize and make sense of it all, are the many short personal accounts of abuse, testimonies confided by victims shielded from the shame of their sufferings by pseudonymous anonymity. These are not a compendium of Jerimiahs, Cassandras, a voice crying in the wilderness, but a clarion call for reform - to discover who we are, before it is too late, and uncover a braver new world with many marvelous creatures in it." Carl A. P. Ruck - Professor of Classics, Boston University, Prolific Author "Karen Tate's passionate advocacy of subjects ranging from Goddess Spirituality to social justice is in full view in Normalizing Abuse, an examination of exploitation and abuse in the modern world. While the many individual accounts Ms. Tate shares are heart rending, she places these within the context of the wider culture, making a compelling case that human society has long reinforced these dehumanizing behaviors. Karen calls for nothing less than a widespread transformation of culture - no easy task. At the same time, she provides a roadmap for addressing these entrenched patterns on the macro level, while providing guidance and resources for individuals suffering from exploitation and abuse in their daily lives. A major epiphany for me is the recognition of how I have been unwittingly complicit in perpetuating this paradigm; fortunately, our author provides guidance on how to stop feeding that cycle. Ms. Tate's identification and explanation of the problem, and the solutions she suggests, are well worth the read." Stephen Gerringer - Community Coordinator, Joseph Campbell Foundation