Radical Suffering, Callousness, and Child Abuse: Communal Responsibilities for Suffering and Advocacy within Cultures Abuse
The definition of suffering is difficult to pinpoint, particularly when addressing suffering within cases of child abuse. Dividing humanity into the categories of “perpetrators” and “victims” is too rudimentary. This dichotomy depreciates the human cost of the “perpetrator” while simultaneously fai...
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| Language: | English |
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Programmes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l'Université de Montréal
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Canadian Journal of Bioethics |
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| Online Access: | https://cjb-rcb.ca/index.php/cjb-rcb/article/view/903 |
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| author | R. Dawn Hood-Patterson |
| author_facet | R. Dawn Hood-Patterson |
| author_sort | R. Dawn Hood-Patterson |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The definition of suffering is difficult to pinpoint, particularly when addressing suffering within cases of child abuse. Dividing humanity into the categories of “perpetrators” and “victims” is too rudimentary. This dichotomy depreciates the human cost of the “perpetrator” while simultaneously failing to account for the complexity of “victimization” and the communal/collective responsibility for the suffering of those abused. This essay introduces two terms from feminist Christian theology, “radical suffering” and “callousness,” as a way of bolstering already-established definitions of suffering within the clinical context and bioethics literature. The aim is to: a) describe suffering in a way that mitigates dehumanizing tendencies and b) direct attention to a collective responsibility for cultures of abuse that enable violence and violation.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c8d6feddd34e48bc8b7dc016d09952de |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2561-4665 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Programmes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l'Université de Montréal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Canadian Journal of Bioethics |
| spelling | doaj-art-c8d6feddd34e48bc8b7dc016d09952de2025-08-20T02:47:25ZengProgrammes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l'Université de MontréalCanadian Journal of Bioethics2561-46652025-07-018310.7202/1118913arRadical Suffering, Callousness, and Child Abuse: Communal Responsibilities for Suffering and Advocacy within Cultures AbuseR. Dawn Hood-Patterson0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0772-9833The Center for Children’s Health, Cook Children’s Health Care System, Dallas, Texas, USA The definition of suffering is difficult to pinpoint, particularly when addressing suffering within cases of child abuse. Dividing humanity into the categories of “perpetrators” and “victims” is too rudimentary. This dichotomy depreciates the human cost of the “perpetrator” while simultaneously failing to account for the complexity of “victimization” and the communal/collective responsibility for the suffering of those abused. This essay introduces two terms from feminist Christian theology, “radical suffering” and “callousness,” as a way of bolstering already-established definitions of suffering within the clinical context and bioethics literature. The aim is to: a) describe suffering in a way that mitigates dehumanizing tendencies and b) direct attention to a collective responsibility for cultures of abuse that enable violence and violation. https://cjb-rcb.ca/index.php/cjb-rcb/article/view/903child abuseradical sufferingsufferingcallousnessculture of abuseadvocacy |
| spellingShingle | R. Dawn Hood-Patterson Radical Suffering, Callousness, and Child Abuse: Communal Responsibilities for Suffering and Advocacy within Cultures Abuse Canadian Journal of Bioethics child abuse radical suffering suffering callousness culture of abuse advocacy |
| title | Radical Suffering, Callousness, and Child Abuse: Communal Responsibilities for Suffering and Advocacy within Cultures Abuse |
| title_full | Radical Suffering, Callousness, and Child Abuse: Communal Responsibilities for Suffering and Advocacy within Cultures Abuse |
| title_fullStr | Radical Suffering, Callousness, and Child Abuse: Communal Responsibilities for Suffering and Advocacy within Cultures Abuse |
| title_full_unstemmed | Radical Suffering, Callousness, and Child Abuse: Communal Responsibilities for Suffering and Advocacy within Cultures Abuse |
| title_short | Radical Suffering, Callousness, and Child Abuse: Communal Responsibilities for Suffering and Advocacy within Cultures Abuse |
| title_sort | radical suffering callousness and child abuse communal responsibilities for suffering and advocacy within cultures abuse |
| topic | child abuse radical suffering suffering callousness culture of abuse advocacy |
| url | https://cjb-rcb.ca/index.php/cjb-rcb/article/view/903 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rdawnhoodpatterson radicalsufferingcallousnessandchildabusecommunalresponsibilitiesforsufferingandadvocacywithinculturesabuse |