Uncultured
Tamara’s story is heartbreaking and extreme, but also a deeply revealing tale of the truth of child marriage and religious labor trafficking that is the fate of way too many children, in the US and throughout the world. As a child of trafficking myself, I appreciate the boldness with which Tamara tells her story, and the delicateness with which she cares for the reader. I hope this book is widely read, to help people be able to better spot the signs of religious trafficking and abuse when they encounter it.
Uncultured
Tamara’s story intersects with major issues at an urgent time, and she powerfully offers reminders of hope from the gravity of experience. Her unique voice brings highly relevant and personal context to confusing world issues we struggle to comprehend as a concerned society. But as a fellow survivor of patriarchal violence I know firsthand—what survivors hunger for most is to know a better life is within reach, and that happiness again is possible. In a time when exploited women and children need all the advocacy they can get, I look for authors like Tamara to help me understand what is beyond yet all-too familiar in fundamentalist and high-control religious regimes.
Author of a A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy.
Author of a A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy.
Tamara’s story intersects with major issues at an urgent time, and she powerfully offers reminders of hope from the gravity of experience. Her unique voice brings highly relevant and personal context to confusing world issues we struggle to comprehend as a concerned society. But as a fellow survivor of patriarchal violence I know firsthand—what survivors hunger for most is to know a better life is within reach, and that happiness again is possible. In a time when exploited women and children need all the advocacy they can get, I look for authors like Tamara to help me understand what is beyond yet all-too familiar in fundamentalist and high-control religious regimes.
United States-based activist against forced marriage, child marriage, and teenage marriage.
Tamara is a leading voice in the survivor-led movement to end forced and child marriage in the United States. She is fearless in standing with me and other survivors — at a chain-in protest in California, in a bridal gown and chains, and now in her powerful book — to tell her heartbreaking story and push for legal reform, so she can spare other girls the trauma she endured. I remain in awe of Tamara’s resiliency and eloquence, which are helping to drive the movement.
United States-based activist against forced marriage, child marriage, and teenage marriage.
Given everything Tamara has gone through she still manages to be one of my most joyful, optimistic, and purpose-centered guests. She has learned to command her nervous system, is in her purpose, and so consequently there’s a beautiful sparkle about her. She does things her way—I love that!
Tracy Otsuka, host of the #1 podcast ADHD for Smart Ass Women and the author of the book of the same name.
Tracy Otsuka, host of the #1 podcast ADHD for Smart Ass Women and the author of the book of the same name.
Given everything Tamara has gone through she still manages to be one of my most joyful, optimistic, and purpose-centered guests. She has learned to command her nervous system, is in her purpose, and so consequently there’s a beautiful sparkle about her. She does things her way—I love that!
Author of The Loneliness Files and The Incredible Shrinking Woman
With both clarity and finely honed language, Tamara MC takes care in revealing the lived experiences of both herself and those she profiles. There is no shortage of fierce honesty in her work, but all that she reveals is handled with care, sensitivity, and a sense of light. Covering a wide range of topics critical to the exploration of the self and society at large, Tamara’s work speaks keenly to the intersections and parallel lives of each of us.
Author of The Loneliness Files and The Incredible Shrinking Woman
I have been honored to interview Dr. Tamara on the Divorcing Religion Podcast, and to have her moderate The Childhood Marriage Panel at the Conference on Religious Trauma (CORT) in 2023. Dr. Tamara’s experience, education, and empathy made her an exceptional moderator for this painful yet important topic. I appreciate her skills as a writer, storyteller, listener, and leader.
Founder, Conference on Religious Trauma
Founder, Conference on Religious Trauma
I have been honored to interview Dr. Tamara on the Divorcing Religion Podcast, and to have her moderate The Childhood Marriage Panel at the Conference on Religious Trauma (CORT) in 2023. Dr. Tamara’s experience, education, and empathy made her an exceptional moderator for this painful yet important topic. I appreciate her skills as a writer, storyteller, listener, and leader.
Author of Swing
Author of Swing
“Tamara drops us into a strange, addictive world of spiritual power and the ways that power is warped and twisted around believers. CHILD BRIDE is a look inside Sufism and cults, true belief and rank opportunism, from a compelling and fragile narrator who grows into her own strength.”
Author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book and Brevity’s Social Media Editor
Author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book and Brevity’s Social Media Editor
“Tamara drops us into a strange, addictive world of spiritual power and the ways that power is warped and twisted around believers. CHILD BRIDE is a look inside Sufism and cults, true belief and rank opportunism, from a compelling and fragile narrator who grows into her own strength.”
Child Bride Survivor & Activist, Featured on Knots: A Forced Marriage Story and A&E’s I Was a Child Bride: The Untold Story
I have had the privilege to work alongside Tamara in many spaces sharing our child bride stories to create change and awareness. What strikes me the most about Tamara is how much she has been able to achieve despite being exposed to some of the harshest situations a child could ever face. She has already achieved so much to help create change and to shed light on the abuses she has suffered in the dark. Tamara is here to make a positive impact on the world and her advocacy is essential to the movement. Tamara is a brilliant advocate, a talented and prolific writer, and I am grateful and honored to know her.
Child Bride Survivor & Activist, Featured on Knots: A Forced Marriage Story and A&E’s I Was a Child Bride: The Untold Story
Tamara MC’s writing prowess in “CHILD BRIDE” is nothing short of extraordinary. Through her vivid prose and compelling narrative, she effortlessly transports readers into the heart of a chilling reality, where child marriage and religious extremism intersect. Her ability to intricately weave together complex themes while maintaining a gripping storyline is a testament to her skill as a writer. But perhaps even more importantly, MC’s work serves as a clarion call to action, urging us all to confront and combat the insidious forces of extremism that threaten the innocence and well-being of young girls worldwide. With each page turn, she challenges us to confront uncomfortable truths and inspires us to advocate for change, making “CHILD BRIDE” not just a remarkable literary achievement, but a powerful catalyst for social justice and human rights activism.
Southern Arizona Against Slavery (SAAS)
Southern Arizona Against Slavery (SAAS)
Tamara MC’s writing prowess in “CHILD BRIDE” is nothing short of extraordinary. Through her vivid prose and compelling narrative, she effortlessly transports readers into the heart of a chilling reality, where child marriage and religious extremism intersect. Her ability to intricately weave together complex themes while maintaining a gripping storyline is a testament to her skill as a writer. But perhaps even more importantly, MC’s work serves as a clarion call to action, urging us all to confront and combat the insidious forces of extremism that threaten the innocence and well-being of young girls worldwide. With each page turn, she challenges us to confront uncomfortable truths and inspires us to advocate for change, making “CHILD BRIDE” not just a remarkable literary achievement, but a powerful catalyst for social justice and human rights activism.
CEO Misfit Amish
With the combination of emotional depth and scholarly insight, Dr. Tamara MC intricately weaves the complexities of language, identity, and advocacy into a narrative that is deeply personal. Her ability to articulate her experiences, alongside the exploration of linguistic barriers and bridges in the context of social justice, sets this memoir apart as a vital contribution to both literature and the ongoing fight against child marriage.
This memoir provides hope, not just for those directly affected by child marriage but for anyone who believes in the power of education and the importance of advocating for the rights of all individuals, regardless of age, gender, or background, to make autonomous decisions about their lives and futures.
CEO Misfit Amish
As a 30 year anti trafficking researcher and advocate I’m impressed with Tamara’s ability to move from victim to survivor to thrive to not only share her story but her resilience and commitment to help others. I remain in awe of her.
Distinguished Professor of Social Work and Executive Director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo
Distinguished Professor of Social Work and Executive Director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo
As a 30 year anti trafficking researcher and advocate I’m impressed with Tamara’s ability to move from victim to survivor to thrive to not only share her story but her resilience and commitment to help others. I remain in awe of her.
Author of Hidden in Plain Sight: One Family’s Story and the Untold History of the Holocaust in Serbia
You haven’t heard a survival story like this before! Tamara MC delivers a beauthifully told, heartbreaking and inspiring tale of navigating through her Jewish and Islamic childhood homes, her cult experiences, and her child marriage. Tamara’s strength and clarity shows how we don’t need to be victims of our pasts. It’s not only possible to thrive after adversity, but to reach back and help others emerge as well.
Author of Hidden in Plain Sight: One Family’s Story and the Untold History of the Holocaust in Serbia
Child Bride is a breathtaking memoir of the consequences of extremism, and the strength it takes to break free. I’m grateful for Tamara MC’s courage and her fierce, tender, necessary voice.
Author of Drawing Breath: Essays on Writing, the Body, and Loss
Author of Drawing Breath: Essays on Writing, the Body, and Loss
Child Bride is a breathtaking memoir of the consequences of extremism, and the strength it takes to break free. I’m grateful for Tamara MC’s courage and her fierce, tender, necessary voice.
Adoptee Rights Advocate, The Adoption Files( Blog and Podcast)
Many of us are familiar with child marriage from exposés of polygamy within the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. What we may not know is that child marriage and sexual abuse are occurring within other religious contexts. Dr Tamara MC movingly shares her lived experience as a survivor of child marriage and sexual abuse within an American Sufi cult. In doing so, she encourages us to confront the systems of control that exist all around us. Everyone should read this book.
Adoptee Rights Advocate, The Adoption Files( Blog and Podcast)
I have had the opportunity to interview Tamara and learn about the life she describes in her memoir. Her story is beautiful, because her inner thoughts and considerations are at the heart of it. It is also a story of hope and inspiration as she navigates two worlds that require her silence about the other. Memoirs that explore topics of the child bride experience from within a religious perspective are so important as this helps educate the public about the ways in which coercive control takes hold and undue influence erodes our connection with ourselves.
MSc Psychology Coercive Control, Project Hope Podcast
MSc Psychology Coercive Control, Project Hope Podcast
I have had the opportunity to interview Tamara and learn about the life she describes in her memoir. Her story is beautiful, because her inner thoughts and considerations are at the heart of it. It is also a story of hope and inspiration as she navigates two worlds that require her silence about the other. Memoirs that explore topics of the child bride experience from within a religious perspective are so important as this helps educate the public about the ways in which coercive control takes hold and undue influence erodes our connection with ourselves.
Author of Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult
Tamara MC has a story we all need to hear. CHILD BRIDE is a story about the price of fundamentalism and dogmatism, and who pays it most dearly. Tamara is courageous, vulnerable and wise in her telling, and I am eager to see her share her wisdom with the wider world.
Author of Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult
Tamara’s story is heart-wrenching but ultimately, incredibly hopeful. She reaches through her experience to let other cult and sexual survivors know that wherever they are in their healing journey, that is more than OK. Just keep going, at whatever pace you can manage, and you will amaze yourself and the world with all you are capable of. A true ray of sunshine and knowledge in a world that can always use more of both.
Writes about women across mediums + genres.
Writes about women across mediums + genres.
Tamara’s story is heart-wrenching but ultimately, incredibly hopeful. She reaches through her experience to let other cult and sexual survivors know that wherever they are in their healing journey, that is more than OK. Just keep going, at whatever pace you can manage, and you will amaze yourself and the world with all you are capable of. A true ray of sunshine and knowledge in a world that can always use more of both.
I Am “Why Do I Need Venmo?” Years Old
As soon as I read Tamara’s writing, I was hooked – and you will be, too. Tamara has an amazing story to share, and an indomitable spirit that shines through in all she does. Tamara tackles tough subjects with grace and wit. I have no doubt that her memoir will be incredibly compelling and beautifully told.
I Am “Why Do I Need Venmo?” Years Old
Tamara MC brings courage, curiosity, and insight to her work as an advocate, educator, and writer. Hers is a story of losing a childhood at the hands of dubious spiritual leaders and checked-out parents, of finding herself trapped as a child bride in a cult; of having safety and freedom ripped away. It’s also the story of her tenacity and grit, of how Tamara drew from her own strength to escape and create a new vibrant chapter in her own life and became a beacon for others escaping spiritual abuse and coercive control.
Author of When She Comes Back: a memoir, and host of the podcast Let’s Talk Memoir
Author of When She Comes Back: a memoir, and host of the podcast Let’s Talk Memoir
Tamara MC brings courage, curiosity, and insight to her work as an advocate, educator, and writer. Hers is a story of losing a childhood at the hands of dubious spiritual leaders and checked-out parents, of finding herself trapped as a child bride in a cult; of having safety and freedom ripped away. It’s also the story of her tenacity and grit, of how Tamara drew from her own strength to escape and create a new vibrant chapter in her own life and became a beacon for others escaping spiritual abuse and coercive control.
Author of Ain’t that a Mother
I met Tamara at a women’s leadership event and she was immediately engaging and personable. I didn’t know at the time that she was also a writer, or the biggest surprise – that she had this whole other life as a young person, coming up in a cult! Listening to her tell her story on the “Was I In A Cult?” podcast blew me away. She was as engaging as she was when we first met but the way she told her story had me hooked from minute one.
Author of Ain’t that a Mother
Tamara is an absolutely amazing person: a role model for others and an advocate for women who obviously need, more than anything, advocates and willing friends with arms open to help and understand them.
Tamara’s story is gut wrenching but beautifully told.
Board member, WOSAC, which supports UA Gender and Women’s’ Studies.
Board member, WOSAC, which supports UA Gender and Women’s’ Studies.
Tamara is an absolutely amazing person: a role model for others and an advocate for women who obviously need, more than anything, advocates and willing friends with arms open to help and understand them.
Tamara’s story is gut wrenching but beautifully told.
My name is pronounced:
“Tamara” like the sun will come out tomorrow.
“MC” like emcee, not McDonalds.
My students often call me Doc MC, and you can too.
Someone who believes in the magical strength of all girls, women, and female-identifying humans to live free in matriarchal magnificence.
And yes, I did make up this title.
Pink is power. Unicorns represents our eternal search for magic.
Joy is transgressive. Being joyful is activism.
“Joy and pain
Like sunshine and rain”
(From the lyrics of Rob Base.)
Absolutely!
This is an inclusive space, and anyone who supports our mission is welcome.
I’ve loved Barbie since I was a little girl. She was able to do all the things I dreamed of before I was physically able.
Barbie was my girl way before the movie premiered.
Absolutely nothing. That’s exactly why unicorns are the symbol of my brand and my website. Unicorns stand for freedom.
