I”m poking around and doing some research for the conversation I”m having with some friends about ‘abuse” and how it is used.

First observations:

• Searching both google and a research library, its pretty clear that there isn”t any real, easy to find resource that discusses ‘abuse” as a general concept.

• For curious ppl, here is the search query I was using to try and find a general resource:

  abuse AND (understanding OR introduction OR defining) -substance -sexual -child -elder -domestic¹

• You know what I found? Despite running enough queries that google asked me to prove I wasn”t a bot? Nothing.
• The point that is really highlighted is that if there are resources that discuss ‘abuse” as a general concept, they aren”t easy to find.

• As far as I can tell, the only generic definition of abuse comes from the dictionary:

  treat (a person or an animal) with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly.

• Maybe wikipedia:

  Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of an entity, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. (but if you follow the citation, this is from the dictionary too).

• google abuse and these are the first two hits.

Second observations:

• Most (if not all) resources on abuse split themselves up in one of two ways: either by the group of victims (children, women, etc) or by the type of abuse (emotional, physical, etc.).
• We could attempt to inductively arrive at a ‘general theory of abuse” by analyzing the various types/groups and looking for commonalities. (I”m surprised no one has actually done this, tbh)
• This might be worthwhile to do before getting any further into this (so that instead of speculating, we”re working with the closest thing we can find to a general understanding of abuse.

Um… I think I might actually have to do this myself. Probably using wikipedia as my general resource, since lots of people use it as a starting point for research (myself included). It”s also freely and widely available (and generally easy to find).