Publisher's Synopsis
Leveling is Disheveling and Disordering. This novel presents multi-ethnic fiction as part of a series of novels and plays presenting anthropology and psychology through fiction and drama. Are you being 'leveled' by a friend, partner, educator, workplace employees, employer, bully, neighbor, name-caller, bigot, or other? Beware of 'leveling' when it comes to relationships with any type. Beware of being with one or more people intent on leveling the other person. Leveling is when one partner or friend who feels so bad about himself/herself has the need to criticize, pull down, abuse, conflict with, defame, accuse unjustly without proof, uses name-calling, or otherwise discredits the other partner or friend in order to 'level' (raise or push down) the feeling of self-worth. It's a habit of pulling you down in anger to build himself or herself up. Or pulling you up with praise to make you feel calmer, happier, or better in another person's company. An example of leveling in a relationship might be about calling someone a 'loser', weak, coward, miser, (uses ethnic epithets or generalizations) or uses various words of devaluation, designed to reduce your resilience and self-confidence, and engages in various uses of incendiary names for losing a job, retiring too early, or failing in school in order for the other person to feel more important or more secure. The accuser tries to 'level' the relationship built on the 'level' of self-esteem of the moment. This novel focuses on why so many highly intelligent women often land in relationships where they are battered psychologically, emotionally, financially, physically, or in other ways depending upon their age and whether or not they have other options to go to when they leave. Regardless of income or intelligence, there's a problem in society which this novel gives one example of of highly intelligent women and any other women (or to a lesser degree, men) being abused in some relationships. Decades ago, a survey taken of battered wives by psychologist Carole Victor showed that a number of the battered wives studied were high IQ professional women, non-working, married to a man with professional job status. Battering husbands were likely to be physicians, military men, chemists, computer experts, lawyers, and engineers. In that survey, battered women were likely to be social workers, teachers, nurses, secretaries, technologists, and in other so-named 'nurturing, ' traditionally female, lower-paying jobs/careers, over-educated, often unemployed. Some had masters degrees, and had small children. Some were agoraphobic. Some were described as sensitive and highly intelligent. Some wrote poetry, and some had small children. And some had traditional careers in the humanities or wanted careers in those fields.
