This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
Abuse is the treatment of things, alive or inanimate, outside of their respective normal use cases that is likely to result in significant damage to that object or individual. General wear and tear does not pass the “significant” qualifier and usually occurs normally even inside of the person's or object's normal use case. Abuse does not necessitate intent nor does it require any damage to actually occur, but if an intent to harm is present this can be the basis for a legal case against the abuser.1) From an ethics standpoint, abuse should always be avoided where there are better alternatives.
Abuse comes in many flavors, but the most prominent are emotional, physical (which is an extension of the first one) and then types I will dub “secondary abuse types” because they generally are things that cause harm either emotionally or physically and only differ in their expression, such as sexual and neglect.