dazed and confused Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 It seems these days that there is an overabundance of trigger warnings. Personally I think putting a trigger warning on just about everything is an insult to those who really do need them such as rape and child abuse victims. It makes a mockery of what victims experience. Newsflash people! You do not need a trigger warning for something simply because it might offend you.http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/14/columbia-students-claim-greek-mythology-needs-a-trigger-warning/?tid=trending_strip_3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Discomfort Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 While lots of things can be triggering to people, this is ridiculous, you can't wrap the world in bubble wrap. It's sweet that people want to be caring about those who have deep scars associated with illnesses like PTSD but you need to be realistic about things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryp Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 It's hard for me to find trigger warnings very useful because everyone is triggered by different things.That and a lot of times it really seems to misinterpret the meaning of "trigger". For me personally, a trigger isn't anything that upsets me. Or even anything that reminds me of my trauma in an uncomfortable way. It's something that sets off a huge nervous system response where I can't think about anything else and often start having flashbacks. It's a whole other world away from things that make me uncomfortable. It's a nervous system hijack.What they are referencing in that article seems more about the question of how can we dismantle the sexist/racist/misogynistic/heterosexist etc. assumptions that are woven throughout higher education, and how can we stop making women/POC/queer people/survivors invisible in classroom environments.Which is a whole different discussion from PTSD, IMO. It's also an important discussion, but it shouldn't be conflated. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly23 Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 IMO Part of recovering from trauma/addiction/abuse/etc etc is taking responsibility for your own triggers. The transition from victim to survivor is a difficult personal struggle, you can not expect the world around you to protect you or even aid you as you move through the steps to acceptance and recovery. The evils of man are little changed. As callus as this my sound, whatever the issue it has been around for along time and is not unique in the way humans deal with it or even deal in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psycho mantis Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 (edited) obviously you can't expect everything to have a trigger warning on it, but there's certain things that should be thought of beforehand. during college one of my classes required us to watch a documentary where there were multiple graphic accounts of rape in the military. that's something that should have some warning before being shown to the whole class, not just "hey we're watching a movie! oh by the way have a nice panic attack." but if we were going to watch the particular show i was assaulted while watching (i don't know why a teacher would be showing superjail to a college class but that's their business), that's not something they're gonna know about beforehand. there's not a 1 in 4 chance someone in the room has had a traumatic experience involving superjail. then it'd be my business to remove myself. that said i do think that people should keep things in mind if someone they know has specified "hey, this thing is something i've had traumatic experiences with, can you please respect me by not talking about it in front of me?" but again that's a matter of survivors taking up the responsibility and autonomy to inform the people around us that we're uncomfortable, not automatically expecting everyone to know. if we're online, we can let the people around us know and if they aren't willing to respect something that simple then we don't need them around. Edited September 15, 2015 by psycho mantis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 I don't think trigger warnings are overused. I'd rather have them there for a person to make the decision to keep on (reading something or doing something or whatever). obviously you can't expect everything to have a trigger warning on it, but there's certain things that should be thought of beforehand. during college one of my classes required us to watch a documentary where there were multiple graphic accounts of rape in the military. that's something that should have some warning before being shown to the whole class, not just "hey we're watching a movie! oh by the way have a nice panic attack." but if we were going to watch the particular show i was assaulted while watching (i don't know why a teacher would be showing superjail to a college class but that's their business), that's not something they're gonna know about beforehand. there's not a 1 in 4 chance someone in the room has had a traumatic experience involving superjail. then it'd be my business to remove myself. that said i do think that people should keep things in mind if someone they know has specified "hey, this thing is something i've had traumatic experiences with, can you please respect me by not talking about it in front of me?" but again that's a matter of survivors taking up the responsibility and autonomy to inform the people around us that we're uncomfortable, not automatically expecting everyone to know. if we're online, we can let the people around us know and if they aren't willing to respect something that simple then we don't need them around.^^I agree with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 A trigger, by definition, is something that provokes PTSD flashbacks. Using the term in any other sense is akin to saying you're OCD because you have a well-organized sock drawer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
confused Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Yes, I do think they are overused. i did have an instructor allow students to leave if scenes of a movie in class that had war scenes upset them. It was a class for students with mi and some have ptsd. That made sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
water Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 A trigger, by definition, is something that provokes PTSD flashbacks. Using the term in any other sense is akin to saying you're OCD because you have a well-organized sock drawer. or you have depression because it's raining out and you feel a bit off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterRosie Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I find them meaningless, as triggers are individual. That said, while I don't expect the world to pander to me and my triggers I do expect it to not go out of its way to trigger me. And so I love content warnings! These gems are definitely underused and they should be everywhere, instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 What I really appreciate are spoiler warnings. In the age where people sometimes wait years to watch a whole series on Netflix, you can't assume that everyone saw it when it first aired. Don't fucking ruin it for those of us who are just now getting caught up.</random off topic rant> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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