Content Warning: This article discusses triggering in detail and mentions common topics of triggering (sexual assault, anxiety, health anxiety, depression, death, non-specific fears and phobias).
Content warnings seem like such a straight forward thing – they simply give a heads up about upcoming content. Though they are easy to include, just a couple words at the beginning of a piece of content, they are met with great controversy and push back. This is probably due to the stigmas and ableism that surround mental illness, as well as invisible disabilities. I have seen articles recently about how content warnings are ruining mental health and conflate them with censorship, but they are quite the opposite. For people living with triggers, being triggered can negatively affect your mental health and limit your access, to things such as education in your daily life. So I am going to try and shed some light on the topic by explaining what they are, why they are necessary, and address some misconceptions about them.
Being triggered occurs when a certain something (could use stimuli instead of something) (trigger) causes a negative emotional response. Responses can include fear, panic, sadness, flashbacks, and pain. Furthermore, they can cause physical responses like shaking, loss of appetite, fainting, fatigue, etc. Being triggered can vary in severity. Most often the most harmful triggering experiences are those that happen without warning. Often, triggers are caused by a traumatic event, and a person can be triggered by a reminder of that event. Sometimes though it does not have to be linked to any specific event. Common triggers include sexual assault, anxiety, health anxiety, depression, death, suicide, non- specific fears or phobias.
Content warnings allow people who can be triggered the opportunity to opt out or mentally brace themselves before viewing content that will potentially upset them. Being triggered can be harmful to someone’s mental health and can set back recovery from a traumatic event. It is extremely ableist to deny them to someone who needs the warning. You would not deny someone with a wheel chair an aid ramp, thus, the same idea applies for mental health. Just because it is an invisible disability does not mean it isn’t necessary. Being triggered can affect access to education, ability to work, and puts up barriers in people’s daily lives.
There are so many misconceptions about content warnings, I am going to try and break them down:
1. “You’re too sensitive!”
This is a line I hear far too often, and it is extremely dismissive. Being sensitive is not the problem though, oppression is. Marginalized groups have to navigate oppression daily in order to be safe. These are not isolated incidents for us, they are the layers of oppression that we live with. We are told to “get over it” so privileged individuals can go about their days comfortably and continue to actively benefit from others oppression. Oppression is perpetuated by silence. Sensitivity is not a weakness, it is actually quite powerful and allows for change to occur.
2. “You have to live in the real world.”
I have a feeling that marginalized groups have a very good understanding of the “real world” because we are forced to constantly be hyper-aware of it in order to navigate our daily lives safely. One of the articles I read discussed how content warnings let people live in a “La La land” where ultimately, people will inevitably be set up for professional and social failure because we are “too sensitive”. The best leaders and communicators that I know are able to listen, effectively express their feelings, and validate the feelings of others. Conflict happens professionally and socially, and having these skills helps us navigate it to the best of our abilities.
3 . “Content warnings infringe on freedom of speech and halt discussion!”
Well I am not sure how you got this understanding of free speech, but Freedom of Speech does not give you the right to say what ever the hell you want, and make people feel unsafe. Freedom of Speech means that the government can not prosecute you for your beliefs and ideas. Moreover, labelling content can actually allow people to more fully participate in discussion. Giving someone a heads up about the content can allow them to mentally brace themselves before the conversation starts. You know what does not help people engage with difficult topics? Having flash backs, feeling anxious, and feeling numb to the outside world (that’s just my experience).
4. “But exposure therapy!”
Exposure therapy may work for some people, but therapy, like other medicine, is not a blanket strategy that works for everyone. That is why you should simply leave it up to the individual and their counsellor to determine what path to recovery is best for them. Exposure therapy should be facilitated in the safety of a counsellor and in private. If someone chooses this method, it still does not mean that that individual does not need content warnings in their daily life. Survivors can be at different places in their recovery, and they might not possess all the tools to ground themselves after being triggered. Furthermore, exposure should be consensual and purposeful, not haphazard.
Silken Handford-Perronnet is a student at the University of British Colombia perusing a degree in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. In her spare time she has the joy of being an Equity Ambassador for UBC, the secretary for the Feminist Club here on campus, a member of Alpha Gamma Delta, and a tour guide at the Museum of Anthropology. For fun she enjoys spending all of her money on food, tea, and coffee (she is a self proclaimed foodie), visiting museums and galleries, and keeping up to date with all her favourite social justice Youtubers.