When I see men who look like him or his friends. When I smell beer on a man’s breath. When I smell Polo cologne. When I hear a harsh laugh. When I walk by a group of men, clustered together, and there’s no one else around. When I see a woman being attacked in a movie or on television. When I am in the woods or driving through a heavily wooded area. When I read about experiences that are all too familiar. When I go through security at the airport and am pulled aside for extra screening, which seems to happen every single time I travel. When I’m having sex and my wrists are unexpectedly pinned over my head. When I see a young girl of a certain age.
When it happens, I feel this sharp pang that runs right through the center of my body. Or I get nauseous. Or I have to vomit. Or I break into a cold sweat. Or I feel myself shutting down, and I go into a quiet place. Or I close my fingers into tight fists until my knuckles ache. My reaction is visceral and I have to take a deep breath or two or three or more. I have to remind myself of the time and distance between then and now. I have to remind myself that I am not the girl in the woods anymore. I have to try to convince myself I never will be again. It has gotten better over the years.
It gets better until it doesn’t.
*
The first congressional hearing on television violence was held in 1954 and in the ensuing years, the debate about television and violence has been ongoing. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 dictated that televisions needed to include a chip to monitor program ratings. The current television parental guidelines went into effect on January 1, 1997. These guidelines were designed to help parents monitor what their children were watching and get some sense of the appropriateness of a given television program.
The guidelines rated television content by age-appropriateness from G (all audiences) to MA (mature audiences only). There were also a second set of guidelines designed to protect children from violence, coarse language, and sexual themes. These guidelines, of course, only work if someone is monitoring what children are watching and is able to enforce a set of standards about what children can watch. Cable boxes and most televisions now allow parents to lock certain channels or shows with ratings they consider inappropriate for their children but there is still only so much a parent can control.
How effective, then, are these ratings and guidelines? In “Ratings and Advisories: Implications for the New Ratings System for Television,” Joanne Cantor et. al. note how research shows that, “parental discretion warnings and the more restrictive MPAA ratings stimulate some children’s interest in viewing programs,” and “the increased interest in restricted programs is more strongly linked to children’s desire to reject control over their viewing than to their seeking out violent content.” Even children want a taste of forbidden fruit. At the very least, children don’t want to be told they cannot taste that fruit.
Television ratings are like airport security—an act of theater, an illusion designed to reassure us, to make us feel like we control the influences we allow into our lives.
We want our children to be safe. We want to be safe. We want or need to pretend this is possible.
When I see the phrase, “trigger warning,” I am far more inclined to read whatever follows. I enjoy the taste of forbidden fruit, myself.
I also know trigger warnings cannot save me from myself.
*
When a man enters my office, I am alone, and he closes the door behind him.
*
Trigger warnings are, essentially, ratings or protective guidelines for the largely unmoderated Internet. Trigger warnings provide order to the chaos; they are a signal that the content following the warning may be upsetting, may trigger bad memories or reminders of traumatic or sensitive experiences. Trigger warnings allow readers to have a choice—steel yourself and continue reading or protect yourself and look away.
Many feminist communities use trigger warnings, particularly when discussing rape, sexual abuse, and violence. By using these warnings, these communities are saying, “This is a safe space. We will protect you from unexpected reminders of your history.” Members of these communities are given the illusion they can be protected.
There are a great many potential trigger warnings. Over the years, I have seen trigger warnings for eating disorders, poverty, self-injury, bullying, heteronormativity, suicide, sizeism, genocide, slavery, mental illness, explicit fiction, explicit discussions of sexuality, homosexuality, homophobia, addiction, alcoholism, racism, the Holocaust, ableism, and Dan Savage.
Life, apparently, requires a trigger warning.
This is the uncomfortable truth—everything is a trigger for someone. There are things you cannot tell just by looking at her or him.
*
When someone comes up behind me unexpectedly.
*
We all have history. You can think you’re over your history. You can think the past is the past. And then something happens, often innocuous, that shows you how far you are from over it. The past is always with you.
It’s understandable that some people want to be protected from this truth.
I used to think I didn’t have triggers because I told myself I was tough. I was steel. I was broken beneath the surface but my skin was forged, impenetrable. Then I realized I had all kinds of triggers. I simply buried them deep until there was no more room inside me. When the dam burst, I had to learn how to stare those triggers down. I had a lot of help, years and years of help.
I have writing.
*
When I hear the word slut in a certain tone.
*
Every so often debates about trigger warnings flare hotly and both sides are resolute. Trigger warnings are either ineffective and impractical or vital for creating safe online spaces.
It has been suggested, more than once, that if you don’t believe in trigger warnings, you aren’t respecting the experiences of rape and abuse survivors. It has been suggested, more than once, that trigger warnings are unnecessary coddling.
It is an impossible debate. There is too much history lurking beneath the skin of too many people. Few are willing to consider the possibility that trigger warnings might be ineffective, impractical and necessary for creating safe spaces all at once.
The illusion of safety is as frustrating as it is powerful.
*
When I visit the gynecologist.
*
There are things that rip my skin open and reveal what lies beneath but I don’t believe in trigger warnings. I don’t believe people can be protected from their histories. I don’t believe it is at all possible to anticipate the histories of others in ways that would be satisfying for anyone.
There is no standard for trigger warnings, no universal guidelines. Once you start, where do you stop? Does the mention of the word rape require a trigger warning or is the threshold an account of a rape? How graphic does an account of abuse need to be before meriting a warning? Are trigger warnings required anytime matters of difference are broached? What is graphic? Who makes these determinations?
It all seems so futile, so impotent and, at times, belittling. When I see trigger warnings, I think, “How dare you presume what I need to be protected from?”
Trigger warnings also, when used in excess, start to feel like censorship. They suggest that there are experiences or perspectives too inappropriate, too explicit, too bare to be voiced publicly. As a writer, I bristle when people say, “This should have had a trigger warning.” I think, “For what?”
I do not understand the unspoken rules of trigger warnings. I cannot write the way I want to write and consider using trigger warnings. After a while, I would second guess myself, temper the intensity of what I have to say. I don’t want to do that. I don’t intend to ever do that.
Writers cannot protect their readers for themselves nor should they be expected to.
There is also this: maybe trigger warnings allow people to avoid learning how to deal with triggers, getting help. I say this with the understanding that having access to professional resources for getting help is a privilege. I say this with the understanding that sometimes there is not enough help in the world. That said, there is value in learning, where possible, how to deal with and respond to the triggers that cut you open, the triggers that put you back in terrible places, that remind you of painful history.
It is untenable to go through life as an exposed wound. No matter how well intended, trigger warnings will not staunch the bleeding; trigger warnings will not harden into scabs over your wounds.
*
When. When. When.
*
I don’t believe in safety. I wish I did. I am not brave. I simply know what to be scared of; I know to be scared of everything. There is freedom in that. That freedom makes it easier to appear fearless—to say and do what I want. I have been broken, so I am prepared should that happen again. I have, at times, put myself in dangerous situations. I have thought, you have no idea what I can take. This idea of unknown depths of endurance is a refrain in most of my writing. Human endurance fascinates me, probably too much.
Intellectually, I understand why trigger warnings are necessary for some people. I understand that painful experiences are all too often threatening to break the skin. Seeing or feeling yourself come apart is terrifying.
This is the truth of my trouble with trigger warnings: there is nothing words on the screen can do that has not already been done. A visceral reaction to a trigger is nothing compared to the actual experience that created the trigger.
I don’t know how to see beyond this belief to truly get why trigger warnings are necessary. When I see trigger warnings, I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel protected. Instead, I am surprised there are still people who believe in safety and protection despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
This is my failing.
But.
I do recognize that in some spaces, we have to err on the side of safety or the illusion thereof. Trigger warnings aren’t meant for those of us who don’t believe in them just like the Bible wasn’t written for atheists. Trigger warnings are designed for the people who need them, who need that safety.
Those of us who do not believe should have little say in the matter. We can neither presume nor judge what others might feel the need to be protected from.
*
And yet.
There will always be a finger on the trigger. No matter how hard we try, there’s no way to step out of the line of fire.
37 responses
This is something I’ve struggled with, and about which I have shared many of the same feelings (though less informed by lived experiences of trauma). When I was at Sarah Lawrence, a similar conflict came up when some folks protested the college feminist groups’ placement of the Clothesline Project in a public eating area because it was unavoidable and thus triggering. It’s a tough one, some kind of balance needs to be struck between the kind of frank talk that I think is necessary to destigmatize trauma and make violence a public issue and concern rather than private shame, and giving folks the space they need to feel safer and come to the conversation as they feel ready to do so. I think it’s something that requires constant negotiation and there is no blanket policy that can really address all the complexities.
RG, I usually love yr essays but I don’t feel this one is right-on in most ways. It’s one thing if certain people don’t need or want trigger warnings. But I, and many others, believe in trigger warnings for a very simple and practical reason: because I’ve spent years working with people who have PTSD, who have flashbacks, panic attacks, dissociative episodes in which physical harm can take place, and the like when *unexpectedly* confronted with certain representations of violence. Plus people who have acute traumas that just happened yesterday or last week or last year. Unexpected triggers ruin such a persons’ day, week, or month and set back the healing and empowerment they’re fighting for. Healing can’t happen without choice being restored; I don’t understand what the problem is with giving someone the information to make a choice about whether they experience/witness something. That’s basic empowerment 101. Trigger warnings are just respectful and useful, like letting a person who has seizures know if there are strobe lights ahead. It’s just…. basic respect. And a basic understanding of the varied layers of how folks react to trauma, and what healing might mean for them. This might not apply to some people, but it does to others, so maybe we should look beyond our own noses a little. I give trigger warnings sometimes as a writer because I consider it one of my writerly roles to facilitate healing. All writers have the power to create a world with minimal harm. That’s not the same as saying a perfectly safe space can or should exist.
You make excellent points, Roxane. It is tricky to judge when a trigger warning is necessary, and when it becomes like political correctness. I guess I’m of the opinion that if I think I might need a trigger warning, I might as well use one. It’s the reader’s choice whether or not to continue from there; I just think it’s good to give the reader that choice, rather than not.
But you know what? I just hate that there are people who make us have to be scared of life. I hate that I feel nervous about every car that passes by me when I’m out walking, because I heard a horrible story on the news recently. I hate that no matter how strong I think I am, and no matter how indignant I feel when people suggest I carry pepper spray or similar protections, in the back of my mind I still think of myself as a potential victim every time I step outside, just because I’m a woman (though I know women aren’t the only ones to be attacked). I really, really hate people who do things like what that man did to you, Roxane, and who make you have to spend your life steeling yourself against reminders.
Thanks for your comment, Jane. I appreciate your perspective. It was not my intention to diminish the very real issues surrounding PTSD and triggers. You also hit on what I am trying to say when you use the phrase, “unexpected triggers.†We can’t rightly know what will trigger many people. Everything would require a trigger warning and that doesn’t feel feasible. At the end though, for many of the reasons you discuss, I do look beyond my nose.
Roxane,
I agree with you about trigger warnings for writing, but I really appreciate warnings for film. I saw a movie that had an unexpected, sudden and graphic rape scene that left me nauseous and shaking, even after I left the room immediately. If I had known that scene was in the movie, I wouldn’t have watched it, or I would have left the room when it happened.
With writing, it is very easy to stop reading or skip a paragraph or something, but with film it seems different. At the same time, all of the things you say in the article probably apply to film as well. I know my particular triggers (images, video, and descriptions of blows to the face and teeth being knocked out) might not be on the list for most people, whereas graphic depictions of rape are probably universally unsettling (or should be).
Also, some trigger warnings are really horrible and offensive. I saw a trigger warning once for an essay because it mentioned menstruation. The implication was that women are triggering to some people?
I think that the effectiveness of trigger warnings depends not only on the experiences of the individual and the context of the trauma, but on the milieu in which they are used. As someone who is being rehabilitated for severe bulimia, I would like to address the subject of triggering from a recovering addict’s point of view. Because we live in a society that ACTIVELY facilitates eating-disordered thinking, I find most, if not all the media I consume to be acutely triggering, and because the vast majority of the aforementioned media does not not come with a trigger warning attached, I have learned to implement strategies that enable me to respond to them in a way that does not perpetuate the disorder. (Learning to identify your own triggers and stay away from them — far from being an escapist tactic — can sometimes translate to an incredible act of self-awareness and self-care.) But in places that mark themselves as “safe spaces” — survivor’s/recovery/feminist blogs, etc. — trigger warnings are essential. The intent of these spaces is to provide us with the tools necessary to cope with this assault on our senses on a daily basis, and if it is in these spaces that we permit ourselves to be vulnerable, then we can be twice as sensitive as we usually are to relapse. There is a time and a place for sensitivity, particularly in those critical early stages of recovery.
True accounts of great endurance:
> “The Long Walk” by Slavomir Rawicz
> “Touching The Void” by Joe Simpson
> “South – The Endurance Expedition” by Ernest Shackleton
> “Ultramarathon Man – Confessions of an All-Night Runner” by Dean Karnazes
One of the best pages in any book ever written: Page 1 of “The Road Less Travelled” by M.Scott Peck.
No, we cannot protect everyone from everything. There are a very few things that trigger me — I won’t mention them here — and they are horrible, but I can’t reasonably expect anyone else to warn for them.
That said, there are places online where I know that there are people who have experienced sexual assault. There are certain topics (racism, harm to animals, incest, etc) that are triggering for some people, or maybe somebody just really doesn’t need to deal with a picture of Black Pete today. It does me no harm to warn, and can spare someone else some very real pain.
Haven’t the words “trigger warning” already become triggering themselves?
@Jane: You’re saying that trigger warnings prevent the unexpected confrontation with triggering content. So TWs would certainly make sense in mainstream newspapers or websites with more general content, but I mainly see them on blogs that deal with sexual and racial violence A LOT, so hasn’t this content unfortunately become “expected” already?
I am lucky enough to be one of those people that trigger warnings are not meant for, having never directly experienced a traumatic event. However, it is for this reason that I appreciate trigger warnings when they are present, because they force me to think of the experiences of those who have and the visceral reactions that serious discussion of touchy issues might inspire. I don’t see these as reasons to avoid discussions or to censor ourselves, but even if we can’t protect people from reliving their painful experiences, trigger warnings make clear that we recognize these issues have human faces, and we are trying our best to navigate discussions in an inclusive and sensitive manner.
@Don trigger warnings for menstruation are usually there for trans* and genderqueer folks who experience body dysphoria.
I think trigger warnings are both inadequate and useful for facilitating safer spaces. I do it as a courtesy. I know I can’t protect people from the world, but if I have the opportunity to let them know to brace themselves for what’s coming, I do it.
I appreciate trigger warnings because they can help me decide if it’s a good time to read a particular piece. If I’m taking a quick to break to read the internet, I’ll skip the piece with the trigger warning and come back to it when I have more time/headspace.
Laura,
Would not one also then put a trigger warning for any description/mention of breasts, vaginas, penises, and so on? Or mention of limbs, for those with body dysphoria re: Body Integrity Identity Disorder?
The trigger warning phenomena about menstruation and bodies has been absent in any trans/queer space I’ve ever been in, digital or real. Is it a new thing? I find the idea that women have to warn others before mentioning menstruation bizarre and misogynist.
I’m a survivor of extreme childhood abuse. Did the therapy circuit for 10 years. Have worked my ass off and pushed myself. Made immense progress. I still appreciate trigger warnings. Because guess what? Triggers don’t just disappear after you “get help”. They’re a part of life when you’re a survivor. Forcing yourself to endure pain unnecessarily isn’t noble, and taking care of yourself isn’t running from the truth.
Part of respecting other people and allowing them to heal is trusting their ability to decide where and when they are ready for facing their truth. Nobody can set an individual’s schedule for facing traumatic subjects but the survivor themselves. You are not the expert on what other people need to feel safe or to be healthy. Trigger warnings allow people to set their own timetable for recovery.
There is no perfect way to do trigger warnings, and it is impossible to please everybody with them. That doesn’t mean they’re pointless or a way to avoid getting better.
When I started using trigger warnings, it was to make sure my own blog was accessible to *me*. Depending on my state, sometimes I can get triggered and other times I’m fine, with the same article. Sometimes I don’t even call it a “trigger warning”, I just give a general “content notice” to mention what subjects an article covers. There aren’t hard-and-fast rules here, besides “do your best to be respectful and thoughtful.”
Nobody can do TW’s perfectly. People will get angry at you for posting triggering things you had no idea were triggering. That isn’t reason to abandon them altogether or rationalize them as being unhealthy. Trigger warnings especially are not censorship; they do not remove content from a post. They are a piece of metadata. If TWs are censorship, then tagging a post is censorship.
“A visceral reaction to a trigger is nothing compared to the actual experience that created the trigger.”
Try having flashbacks that make you hallucinate, lose hours of time, and cause dangerous heart palpitations, and then get back to me on that.
Re: The trigger warning for menstruation. It isn’t a trans thing. It’s a blood thing. It’s a medical issues thing. There are cis women who appreciate the menstruation TWs, and cis women who get upset by talk of periods because their own have required emergency medical intervention.
Thank you Thank you Thank you. I actually get letters by post about this. I mean there are people that took the time to sit down and hand write a letter telling me that they really could have done without receiving my letter. Some people have tweeted about it and there’s been this mini debate… Should have I included a trigger warning in my letter? I certainly don’t expect the world to share my threshold. I just want to tell a story the best damn way I know how and I personally feel that trigger warnings break the fictive dream.
You are quite right, Warning a reader that they may encounter a description of rape in a story will not end rape.
But it might make that reader’s day a little bit easier, and I am in favor of offering ease when I can.
You say; “When I see the phrase, “trigger warning,†I am far more inclined to read whatever follows. I enjoy the taste of forbidden fruit, myself.”
But the warning doesn’t forbid you the fruit. Not in the least. Proof being, you went ahead and read it, as was your right. YOU get to decide what you want to read, and so do other people. If someone else doesn’t want to read they don’t have to. If someone wants to read and is glad that they had a bit of warning for what was coming– another good outcome.
Also, everything that Amy Dentata said, particularly; Forcing yourself to endure pain unnecessarily isn’t noble, and taking care of yourself isn’t running from the truth.
Howdy. I wrote a blogpost in response to this:
“Trigger warnings are vitally useful in the age of the internet where there is no actual physical space to catalogue information. The inverse of “everything is a trigger for someone” is that no one is able/available to engage in (potentially triggering) information on disparate topics at all times. Context matters. Especially physical context (which the internet can’t account for). I’d like to know if an article might make me cry or rage before I read it in the bathroom at a family reunion. (true story)
On the internet pics of kittens can be tabbed right next to a post about rape/rape culture. Sometimes even in reverse as an effort offer relief. The transition between these two hunks of information is sometimes helped immensely by a few words (a trigger warning). In other words a trigger warning is courteous to your audience because it considers their possible context/history. It acknowledges that, based on cultural trends, certain topics will probably be more triggering to certain populations others. This is not coddling, this is using assumptions based on cultural trends to allow others to make space for how they are likely to receive certain info. It’s internet polite, if you will.
The information on the internet is very different from the information in a book/magazine/pamphlet. A book has a jacket/cover, a blurb, some imagery, a table of contents, and sometimes even a introduction or preface; protestor or a promoter probably handed you a pamphlet at a specific location/event; magazines have tons of images and thoughtful layout. A trigger warning attempts to provide some of the same context-centering information. Maybe one day we won’t need them, but while we’re still transitioning from a print culture to a digital information one, they serve to make the transition smoother.
Trigger warnings provide a form of notation. They let folks know what sort of information they’re about to access. If I think of the internet like a huge library of information I know there are sections of information/books I don’t want to access at certain times (I would not go to the horror section in the middle of the night, or to the erotica section after being assaulted, or the sexual assault memoirs section at while trying to work on other projects).
I am a fan of trigger warnings as both a reader and a writer. They give me & my readers information that helps us decide when and where to read a text. As a writer I am always considering how an audience will receive a message. Trigger warnings help in this regard.
I don’t think that trigger warnings make the internet (or any other space) “safer” but I do think they provide more information we can use to navigate tough information (like a map or table of contents).”
The comments also include some interesting discussion:
http://marginaldialogue.blogspot.com/2012/08/this-is-response-to-roxanne-gays.html
Interesting and respectful debate in the comments here; such a rarity online.
I had somehow never encountered the expression “trigger warning” until now.
As others have pointed out, it is impossible to anticipate every trigger that exists in life. What matters most is that we identify our own. Examples of places one would never find trigger warnings:
-parenting magazines (for people who have suffered the loss of a child or a miscarriage)
-pregnancy and childbirth forums (similarly, for women who have suffered miscarriage or infertility
-“natural childbirth” books, forums, videos, and websites (for women whose hoped-for home birth turned into an emergency c-section)
-“VBAC” forums, videos, and websites (for women whose hoped-for VBAC turned into another c section)
-breastfeeding resources, groups, websites and forums. (for women who tried everything in their power to nurse their babies and eventually had to give up and go to formula)
In the past three years, I have been all of these women, but there were no known safe places for me online or in media. No groups to join. The TTC and miscarriage groups were, themselves, triggering to me, though I realize that they are a source of support for many. So I was triggered a few times in the process of grieving each of those losses. Most recently by a dear friend’s text message describing her difficult and long home birth, at the end of which she credited me for my role in helping her find holistic fertility and birthing resources that made the existence of her new baby a reality. I will cherish that message forever, even though it brought a flood of tears the first several times I read it. As painful as it was, I tried to use each experience as an opportunity for deep self-compassion and thus, healing.
Triggers are everywhere. I avoid most film these days, and most Internet forums. But perhaps because I don’t identify my experiences as connecting me to a special community (other than parents in general),I just don’t move about the Internet expecting warning signs. However, if they are helpful to others, I really don’t see much harm.
What have I not been reading?? This is the first time I’ve heard the phrase “trigger warning.” I must be farther out of the loop than I thought…so, thanks for the enlightenment?
Thank you for this. After the suicide of a friend about a year ago, I found unexpected depictions of suicide – and deaths in general – very upsetting and I found myself thinking ‘There are often trigger warnings/ general warnings for rape and extreme violence why not for suicide?’ And I felt quite vulnerable. I wanted there to be trigger warnings. Several of these incidents were film/TV but some were just things like reading a book of short stories, where one had a suicide theme. And this, as I see it, is the problem with trigger warnings – as several have commented, what material do you put them on, where and how, and where do you draw the line in terms of subjects? And is it a good thing to condition people to want to be protected in such a way? I am glad, a few months on, that there aren’t warnings for everything I might find troubling. I am not equating rape or other immediate violent experiences with the experience of another’s suicide or death more generally – possibly that makes the difference here.
love this so much we have reblogged it, with acknowledgements. Hope that is ok
Thank you, Roxane–this is powerfully moving, open and true. It reminds me to stay aware of my own history, aware of my own mistakes (I just don’t have the muscle to carry the mistakes of those who did damage to me), and aware of the pain and scars of those women I’ve been privileged to write about in articles or book collaborations. They trusted me; in turn, I want to trust others. But that’s not the same as wilfully naive. I won’t ever again walk into an empty room knowing someone’s behind me. I will not ever again say to a seemingly-nice man I don’t know, “Oh, thanks for finding that, can you just swing by the apartment and drop it off?” I won’t on purpose watch a film I know contains sadism, abuse or anything calculated to make me scream (obviously, artistic and historic achievements such as “12 Years a Slave” is an exception to that rule, which has does have exceptions, but not many). I close my curtains. I double-lock my doors. I’ve walked out of movies, closed books halfway through, shut off the television 20 minutes in to an episode of something I thought I wanted to watch, and turned my back on some museum exhibits. I pay attention to when my dog growls or when the hair on my neck stands up. But I also trust the men in my life I love who have always treated me with kindness. I make eye contact with women on the subway who are riding alone. “I’m here, just in case,” is what I want them to see. But we can square our shoulders, stand on two feet, treat ourselves with kindness, call bullshit when we see it, and try to be truthful about what is Out There and what is sometimes In Here. It’s complicated to stay open to life while wearing the scars it’s dealt us. We can’t protect ourselves or others from everything, and the past doesn’t get less real just because it recedes. But we have a right to walk through the world, and to try to make it a place where our children can walk as well.
“Trigger”, I believe, came from addiction culture. In sobriety, one is cautious of things, people, places that trigger intense craving to use again, going towards. The word was borrowed by PTSD, trauma, and rape culture. Now trigger has the opposite meaning: that which stimulates a tormenting memory, going away from. Working with people from both populations, it appears easier to follow through on a goal to move away from, for the memory to lose its grip, than it is for those triggered to come in, come back. The first, trauma, never had a “good feeling” component. The second, substance overuse, was good when it was good. It’s harder when triggered, is often compared to being heartbroken. Triggered to recall being raped is all bad and often leads to revenge and homicidal wishes. Triggered by a bar on every corner and pretty bottles of poison sold legally leads to sorrow and nostalgia. Both awful, horrible. And P.S., Roxane Gay can’t write a thing that isn’t thoughtful and brilliant.
Because some trigger warnings are bullshit or feel silly in no way diminishes the important point that Jane made in the 2nd comment. The recent NYT stories about trigger warnings on campus completely glossed over the key issue — which is that rape on campuses is common, and there are at any given time a significant number of people trying to work through that trauma without leaving school.
This reminds me very much of the discussion around PC language. Because sometimes we see silly examples of people attempting for perfect political correctness doesn’t negate the basic respect for other humans implied by standing up and saying that racial and other slurs are a shitty thing to write or say.
Reading this, from the prospective of one who went through this gave me some new knowledge and thoughts. As I previously thought she explains how there is not an answer to every trigger. We are unaware of every trigger. And most importantly what I took from this, is that even the victim themselves are unaware from everything that will trigger them and take them back into that traumatic time.
For myself, this article was one that brought together many different viewpoints and ideas. It was intriguing to hear both sides of the argument coming from a person who’s background would make her a quality candidate for trigger warnings. Yet she says, “Few are willing to consider the possibility that trigger warnings might be ineffective, impractical and necessary for creating safe spaces all at once.†What I was able to grasp from this, is that trigger warnings revolve around the issue of choice. Roxane Gay, even having been through a traumatic experience herself, says that trigger warnings cannot “save youâ€, yet for some people in her position they are very useful. This article showed me that everyone is different and there is never going to be a concrete, or “right†answer on this subject.
This article really was interesting for me to read. Previously, I had been against the whole trigger warning ideal and actually a bit disturbed by the tension it had been creating. However, your article has really made me a bit more flexible with trigger warnings. As a friend of mine had just pointed out to me, it is not so much the “thing” that does the wrong but the people who do wrong with it.
This article was really refreshing to me when it comes to the debate on trigger warnings. Hearing somebody that has gone through a traumatic experience talk about how they do not really believe in trigger warnings really finalized my opinion on them. I understand where trigger warnings would help people, but like Gay states, people should not expect protection every where they go. Likewise, writers and professors should not feel the need to protect everybody. I think Gay does a really good job of explaining that it is possible to survive a trauma without a constant need for trigger warnings on everything.
I found this article to be the most moving by far. Gay has an extremely unique perspective on the trigger warnings debate. I think she provides an insightful argument that could challenge both sides to see reasoning behind their counterparts. The strongest point Gay makes in my opinion, is that there is no set of social rules as far as trigger warnings, which means that there is no true correct or incorrect solution for the issue.
What I find most refreshing about this article is that it has been published by someone who has experienced trauma and could be benefited by trigger warnings, but still presents arguments from both sides of the table. I especially appreciate how she recognizes the benefits of having trigger warnings while also understanding how difficult they would be to institute, as everyone has a different opinion as to what is offensive and “triggering”.
It was refreshing to find an author which such an interesting point of view (the contrast of being a survivor and an author), with such moving arguments and connections. Gay’s decision to uphold her rights as an author over the needs as a survivor was especially noteworthy. In this way, it is interesting to see her challenge the assumptions made of survivors and their needs, and encourage others to overcome their pasts through anything other than hiding behind trigger warnings.
Hearing Roxane Gay’s perspective on the topic of trigger warnings is so important and needs to be referenced more in the discussion/debate regarding them. I have read various articles on the debate, but almost none of their arguments have come from the perspectives of actual trauma victims. It is interesting to see that as a victim she is against trigger warnings when many people who are for them suggest that the implementation of TW’s are in the victim’s best interest. Although (in my opinion) the piece at times errs on the side of pessimism, Gay brings forth a thought provoking (and somewhat true) point that absolute “protection” is only an illusion.
The first-hand experience aspect this article provides is very compelling. Even better, I thought, was the infusion of her thoughts as a writer on trigger warnings. The fact that both of those sides of Gay are against the institution of trigger warnings should speak volumes to the people that believe victims need strangers to sensor what they read and try to protect them from their demons. Bottom line, no one knows what works best for victims, therefore, we as a society should not assume it’s our role to stick trigger warnings on everything.
I love how the comments are back and forth here. This article is a point of view article. It’s literally her stance on the topic of trigger warnings. I think Jane (comment 2) doesn’t quite understand what is being said. Roxanne is saying how traumatic does trauma have to be to be censored. No matter the level of trauma, it has the possibility to set someone off. Gay pushes for people to learn to cope with their trauma instead of putting it in the back of the closet to never be seen or hear again. Personally, i agree with Gay. Without learning how to cope you’ll always be traumatized. An infection won’t go away if you do nothing about it. If you clean it, it will heal. Now there will be a scar to remind. But remember, scars fade with time.
Roxanne brings a unique perspective to the debate of trigger warnings. Her undeniable creditability as a survivor forces the reader to deeply consider her stance on the issue. I admire her ability to look at the argument both analytically and emotionally, while including personal battles and fears absent from other articles about trigger warnings. Roxanne lets the reader inside her head, as she wrestles with ambiguity and personal choice. This article taught me that Trigger Warnings are an issue that cannot just be solved because there is no solution that will help everyone’s personal needs.
Gay brings a very fresh perspective on trigger warnings and on safety as an entirety. Gay is speaking first hand as a survivor. Throughout the piece we learn of her trauma and how she has or hasn’t dealt with it and how she came to the verdict that safety is merely an illusion. The personal story she tells, made this article more compelling than the many others written on trigger warnings and it makes one question can trigger warnings keep us safe or is it all an illusion?
I, too, live with (complex) trauma and do not benefit from trigger warnings. After all, how could someone trigger warn for that specific tone of voice or that one little flick of the wrist. People can tell me: “This contains rape” or “this contains child abuse” but most things that do are perfectly fine for me. On the other hand things trigger me that–to anyone but me–don’t seem to be connected to trauma at all.
However, I worry when I read commentary that says “Oh! If survivors say that trigger warnings are useless (for them), this finalises my opinion on trigger warnings: I will not use them, even if a survivor asks me to.” For I am well aware that many people, some of them my good friends, DO benefit from trigger warnings for rape, for domestic violence, for things that we commonly trigger warn for and that trigger warnings in education or reading is crucial to them and grants them access. Just because an accommodation isn’t useful to me or to some of us with a certain problem, doesn’t mean we should take this accommodation away from everybody else with that same problem. I’m glad about trigger warnings. I just want to say “They don’t help me, personally” without it meaning anything more than that.
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