Karen Moe

Imagine being a carefree, independent young woman enjoying life. Your bold, adventurous spirit pulls you to travel to distant locales. Then out of nowhere, you’re abducted, assaulted, and raped. That is the terror-filled experience that Karen Moe survived almost thirty years ago.

But this is not a crime story. This is not even just a survivor’s tale. Instead, this is a manifesto. In dialogue with other feminists and through case studies from around the world, Moe uses her trauma to shine a light on how not only violence against women, but all exploitation, is a natural result of patriarchal hierarchy. Yes, this is Moe’s story of triumph over violence, but it is also a call-to-action for both men and women.

During the process of writing, Moe’s father was dying. She relates with raw candor the complex relationship between a father and a daughter where, through a cycle of abuse and forgiveness, “he groomed me as a perfect victim. And as the perfect survivor, too.” 

Moe’s direct, unflinching memoir allows readers a glimpse at the adventurous but uncertain person she was prior to the assault. That narrative explodes with stunning detail as she is tricked, strangled, bound and abducted. Raped repeatedly in the horrifying span of nearly twenty-four hours, the story evolves into one of empowerment and survival as Moe tricks the serial rapist into letting her go. “As far as I was concerned, I was already dead. And, strangely enough, little did I know then, thinking I was dead was starting to give me power-I had nothing to lose.” Moe recounts the courageous lengths she went to, returning after her escape to collect evidence, putting herself in further danger. These efforts would be instrumental in putting her attacker behind bars for life.

Moe, not one to shy away from hard truths, uses her attack as a launching pad to examine the ways women are both conditioned to be victims and the excuses society makes for toxic male behavior. The ultimate goal of Victim: a feminist manifesto from a fierce survivor is to provide tools for resistance against a culture of exploitation. “In the end, what I have suffered and survived has given me a gift. Now, resistance, fighting for justice, is what I live for. My life is far bigger than myself.”

---

You can buy Victim at these Independent Bookstores:

---

Kirkus Review:

“A rape survivor presents a story of violence and recovery.

In this book, artist and author Moe tells of how, in 1994, she was abducted and raped for 24 hours by a man who’d raped many other women in the past. This work relates her harrowing experience, but it’s much more complex than a typical true-crime memoir. Moe is unflinching in her descriptions of her ordeal and weaves memories into the narrative in flashes, recalling details that have resurfaced through the years: “Why do we forget some parts of our lives and remember others so clearly?” she asks as she recalls that her abductor had “a pair of underwear from every woman he had raped.” Throughout her compelling account, Moe includes cited statistics about sex crimes (“it is estimated that between 64% and 96% of sexual assaults are not even reported”), feminist theory (“Yes, like it or not, anti-feminist backlashers, patriarchy is a rape culture”), and her own difficult family history (“no one in my family was there for me. Apparently, they couldn’t handle it”). The author’s comments on victim-shaming and traumatic feelings of guilt make for some of the most powerful passages: “This is…the core of my shame. The beginning of the violence I have worked the rest of my life to not inflict on myself. The violence of blame. The violence of self-blame.” Her honesty about the trauma she’s suffered and her willingness to tell her story are inspiring, and she relates it all with a strong combination of anger and pride: “Some people have told me that they worry about me because I feel too much,” she writes. “Isn’t the not-enough more worrisome?”

A bold and well-constructed work that takes on difficult topics in a compelling way.”

“In Victim: A Feminist Manifesto from a Fierce Survivor, Moe writes her personal experiences in the violent, misogynist world of men that women know all too well. This book embodies and forces us to look at the truth of the reality of male violence that women negotiate every day in patriarchy; and yet, it is also a story of triumph for women individually and collectively because we face that fear daily, and we are still here.” Trisha Bapti, Journalist and Founder of EVE (Exploited Voices Now Educating).

“Victim is a powerful, intensely personal and disturbing book, cutting deep into the soul about a topic that must be exposed. It is Karen Moe’s impassioned manifesto … an intensely chilling account of abduction, sexual assault and prostitution. But it is also the tragic and heart-rending story of untold millions of women and children worldwide who have been abducted, raped and forced into the brutal world of prostitution. Victim is visceral. It is a difficult book to read. It is a difficult book to put down. And it is a compelling must-read!” Victor Malarek, author of The Natashas: Inside the Global Sex Trade and The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men who Buy It.  

“A tour de force true story of surviving and surmounting the unthinkable. Victim is literary nonfiction at its best.” that plunges the reader into the during, the before, and the after of a horrific abduction and rapes. Moe’s nonlinear narrative interweaves the realistic spiral-like journey of healing with the covert and the overt ways society grooms many of us to be victims and others to be victimizers. Moe demonstrates how survivors can transform their pain and internalized victim-blaming shame into an unstoppable passion to ensure these crimes are never forgotten and that justice be served. This raw triumph over tragedy proves that a victim can also be a victor.” Sally Clark, author of The Way of The Warrior Mama: The Guide To Raising and Protecting Strong Daughters. 

“A beautifully written, forensically researched story of resistance and  revolution. This powerful book is an important tool in the feminist fight against male violence.” Julie Bindel, author of The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth and Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation.

“Karen Moe has penned a powerful manifesto. This book touched my soul deeply. Some areas were difficult to read, but from one strong survivor to another – WELL DONE. Victim no more. Through her trauma she found her calling, one far bigger than herself. Fighting alongside others for justice. She digresses from her story several times to ask and seek answers about how to make the world safer, especially for women and children. This book is a call to action for all of us—women and men. You will want to put it down, but you can’t, because it’s so compelling.” Marie McKenzie, #1 Amazon bestselling author of Things That Keep Me Up At Night.

“Victim is an act of re-feminization (versus repatriation) of a trammeled word in a lexicon of blame and shame. In this epic of survival and triumph the term victim assumes the same resonance as victor, a position to which Moe ascends not only with her overcoming of horror but of her utter and fierce honesty.” Catherine Owen, author of Riven and Locations of Grief: An Emotional Geography.

“Victim is a brutally honest account of a brutal crime. But the most brutal thing Karen Moe asks us to face is the way in which her story is not unusual. Not every woman will be abducted and raped like she was, but the way men’s violence constrains women is an everyday brutal reality for women. Moe’s courage doesn’t stop with telling a story of sexual assault. Her book confronts other kinds of pain—both the pain she has endured and the pain swirling all around us in a broken world. And all the time, Moe moves in and out of her story to the larger question: How do we make this broken world safe for women and children? How do we create a world worth living in? Without false optimism, she writes of how we can find authentic hope. Victim charts the complexity of her life, and our lives, and reminds us of a simple truth: To embrace life we must resist patriarchy.” Robert Jensen author of The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men.

“A heartfelt chronicle of personal growth through mortal danger; Karen Moe has in Victim A Feminist Manifesto from a Fierce Survivor woven the elements of her life into a cautionary tale that unfolds like fiction but, as Truman Capote said, non-fiction makes the best fiction. This is a rigorously researched history of violence against women, and a treatise on how societal behaviour can be improved. Read this book and be informed.” Dennis E. Bolen, author of Stupid Crimes and Anticipated Results.

“Victim is rape memoir as social-awakening.” Rena del Pieve Gobbi, filmmaker and PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia.

“Victim: A Feminist Manifesto from a Fierce Survivor by Karen Moe is a powerful, immersive memoir about patriarchal hierarchy and how it allows a climate for abuse to occur and go under-addressed. This book is several things at once: It’s a compelling survival story of a vibrant young woman being stripped of her easy-going nature by capture and rape. It’s also a story of the violation of trust between the author and her father, and the dynamics of communication and healing that came while he was dying. But far more than an account of abuse, it’s elevated to a cry and demand for social justice for women and other victims in a world where male-oriented machinations rule.

Moe writes with painful honesty that needs to be heard by men and women alike. She took what would break most people and turned it into a clarion call. This memoir serves as a powerful tool for awareness and advocacy–a voice for the voiceless. Her personal account is raw with details, and you can’t help but respect what she had to do to survive and bring her attacker to justice. I like the many points she makes, like how women have almost accepted victimization as a given or rite of passage, something to be expected; and the way that society accepts, minimizes, and covers up the corrupt attitudes and practices when it comes to crimes and exploitation of women. Another powerful part is about the toxicity of suppressed pain. Where a lot of women would accept their fate, Moe has turned it into a saving grace and weapon of choice. As she says in her book, a victim can also be a hero.

As a former social worker, I’d like to say that using one’s abuse as a way to help others takes dignity, insight, and grace. No doubt this book will go a long way in fixing our broken system, or at least bring attention to it. She doesn’t come off as naively expecting overnight changes, however. Most real change happens in increments over time. But time is really a commodity that victims can’t afford or endure much longer. If you like books that could change the world, you will love Victim: A Feminist Manifesto from a Fierce Survivor by Karen Moe.”

—Tammy Ruggles for Readers’ Favorite. Five Stars.

 

Cover Design: Bobbi Sue Smith.

---