180 N Taylor and H Fraser Uncovering how this normativity is expressed and embedded is crucial to understanding and countering institutionalised animal abuse This chapter explores condoned animal abuse in and beyond the slaughterhouse We begin with the argument that cultural beliefs towards meat are tied to attitudes towards animals After all, one cannot have meat without first killing an animal From there we seek to assess the ways in which the killing of nonhuman animals for meat becomes normalised through various institutional and cultural practices which, in large part through the operation of the Animal Industrial Complex (AIC), work to maintain the cultural invisibility of animal killing for food We focus on the most common form of research done within slaughterhouses—ethnographic research We argue that one finding common to much of this research is the constant and consistent separation of humans and animals into discrete categories This ‘purification’ of categories occurs at a symbolic level by ensuring animals are considered as objects instead of subjects Through an analysis of the mechanisms whereby animal slaughter and death are normalised, this chapter addresses the ways in which the cultural hegemony of meat and the normalisation of institutional animal abuse are interconnected and can meaningfully be challenged We this by considering the prevalence and nature of violence done in slaughterhouses, followed by a discussion of explanations for the acceptance and normalisation of such violence We conclude with a consideration of how we might respond to such violence Prevalence Condoned violence is violence that is commonly accepted, overlooked, ignored, dismissed, trivialised and/or minimised Systemic violence is violence that is organised, institutionalised and/or embedded in social systems In slaughterhouses animals are butchered for food, providing a good example of both systemic and condoned violence Increasing Slaughterhouse Violence The number of animals killed for slaughter is staggering It is so large that it is virtually incomprehensible According to the Animal Kill Counter (AKC), more than 150 billion animals are slaughtered each year across the world The AKC counts from a composite of industry and popular media sites Original data used came from the Food and Agriculture