Joanna Schroeder explores the overuse of the term “Trigger Warning” in the blogosphere, and wonders whether the term actually serves to undermine the security of trauma survivors.
Editor’s note: This post originally ran in 2012, but we are republishing it due to renewed interest.
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If you spend any time in the blogosphere, you’ve inevitably seen the phrase “Trigger Warning” alerting readers that there will be talk of sexual abuse or graphic descriptions of violence.
But lately trigger warnings have gotten completely out of hand. One article a friend sent me had the following trigger warnings:
Trigger Warning: ableism, anti-gay sentiment (more of both at the link)
(mod note: Trigger Warning for Dan Savage in general: anti-ace, anti-trans, ableism, possibly anti-intersex, misgendering trans people. I can’t give a specific trigger warning for the link because, well, it’s Dan Savage and I ain’t touching it.)
(mod note2: I also added an anti-left-handed tag for this one. I never thought I’d need that, but right-handed people do have some privilege… Being left-handed is a choice, what the fuck?)
Let’s cut straight to it: These trigger warnings are ridiculous. They minimize the importance of the instances when trigger warnings are necessary, which are actually quite rare.
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As an editor, I urge other editors and bloggers to consider this: Trigger warnings should only be used in cases when there is a graphic description of sexual violence, violence and/or war, child abuse or sexual abuse, and sometimes (depending upon context) graphic sexuality.
And they should only be used when the title and/or subtitle don’t make clear that the content of the article will contain the above topics. For instance, if the title of an article is “The Crimes of Jerry Sandusky”, no trigger warning should be necessary as anybody who may be triggered by discussion of sexual abuse should consider avoiding the article. Let’s bear in mind that adult survivors are adults and not infants. They don’t need to be babied, they need to be respected.
If, however, I post an article with a title like, “The Lifecycle of Tomatoes” that contains a graphic description of a sexual assault 3/4 of the way through, I have a responsibility to either post a subtitle that hints at the violence contained within, or to post a Trigger Warning. I don’t want a sexual assault survivor thinking he or she is going to read a lovely story about summertime gardening, only to discover the section too late, when he or she could have avoided that added anxiety. However, the actual term “trigger warning” should be my last-ditch option.
The use of subtitles or introductions that allow a person a peek into the content without having to deeply engage can be very helpful. For instance, a subtitle for the Tomatoes piece could be like, “Bob Smith looks back on the summer he survived a sexual assault”, which would serve as a sufficient trigger warning without implying that survivors are a group who must be babied or even feared.
The subtitle trick is really easy when it comes to sexualized content: “Barb Smith weaves an engrossing and highly sexualized tale of her college years at Mt Holyoke.” If I hadn’t have just made that one up, I would totally read that, but someone who knows that highly sexualized content is troubling for them will know to avoid it.
Again, this isn’t always necessary. On my personal blog, where we dispense sex and dating advice, we have stopped using “NC-17 Content” warnings, as we realized that our site’s mission implied sexuality. If, however, one of our articles about the clitoris or anal sex appears elsewhere, it requires a descriptive title, subtitle or if the first two are impossible, an outright warning.
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So why does the overuse of trigger warnings matter? Isn’t it always better to be overly careful than risk a problem?
I asked Licensed Social Worker Bethany Bateman her opinion on the multiple trigger warnings we see everyday in the blogosphere. To provide context, she explained the history of the term “triggers” as a reference to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which first gained traction as a diagnosis during and after the Vietnam War.
Once a mental illness is established as being ‘real’, then begins the proliferation of research into how to ‘fix’ it – which can’t be established without understanding as much as possible the mechanisms going on behind it. And so came into awareness the concept of how external ‘triggers’ cause flashbacks – more than an unpleasant or uncomfortable feeling, but for all intents and purposes to the sufferer, an absolutely real reliving of the trauma for them: indeed, the processes that occur in the brain during the flashback or reliving are remarkably similar to what happens in the brain during the trauma itself. Notably, the DSM actually uses the term ‘cues’ rather than ‘triggers.’
I also asked Bateman what could be the consequences of a possible overuse of the term “trigger”.
When writers take ‘trigger warnings’ so far as to warn about things that may be, well, merely disturbing to some, like reading about ‘left-handed sentiment’ or attachment issues, it concerns me that it’s making a mockery of the concept and undermining what someone with PTSD might actually go through when experiencing a flashback.
Ultimately, we know that wanting to warn readers about potentially troubling content comes from a good place. We want survivors of trauma to feel safe reading content on our blogs and in our magazines, but we need to bear in mind that the excessive use of the word “trigger”, to the point where it loses its meaning or efficacy, only creates a less safe environment for readers.
Bateman has one more thought:
I recognize the possibility that trying to frame the argument in this way might lead to accusations of trying to create a ‘hierarchy of pain,’ when obviously, pain in any form is very real to its sufferer. But distinguishing one kind of pain or experience from another doesn’t have to mean that one is more or less valid — just that different experiences of pain warrant different considerations and, practically speaking, can also be more or less disabling to the sufferer.
Good point. Shaming, bigotry or any of the contenders in what some call the “Oppression Olympics” are equally valid concerns, but not all of them constitute the severity of reactions associated with PTSD, which is most commonly caused by sexual violence, war traumas, and childhood abuse and neglect. Let’s try to keep these things in mind as we write and publish, and also make an effort to curb the overuse of the term “trigger warning”.
What do you think of the term “Trigger Warning”? Is it necessary?
Do you feel these warnings are being overused?
If you are a survivor of a past trauma, do you find trigger warnings helpful or problematic? Have you ever been blindsided by content that triggered you, and wished you’d been warned? If so, where does the responsibility for that lie?
Image of tomato courtesy of Shutterstock
so your argument is that I should know who Jerry Sandusky is instinctively, and that anyone who needs to prepare themselves for reading certain kinds of thing that are not “graphical” in the opinion of the author should instead adopt a massively over-cautious approach where they retreat into themselves for fear of stumbling across a trigger?
Okay, I guess.
I tend to believe that trigger-warnings started as a passive-aggressive rhetorical tool on feminist spaces, not actually for the benefit for the potentially triggered, but on the contrary for all the others. They seem to say to me, “See? You men fucked up us women so badly, some of us cannot even bear to read certain things. But as much as you mistreat us *sniff*, witness how we women have compassion for each other by trying to spare us the pain by giving warning. You don’t. You should be ashamed!” After that people just assumed that trigger warnings are a… Read more »
I think they get way overused. It might be handy in some cases but there are so many triggers that it’s impossible to cover all aspects. Maybe just stick to TW-Graphic depictions of violence/rape/whatever at the top of an article and be done with it. I saw a passing comment once where the actual words “trigger warning” would trigger people? Any truth to this? Another thing is survivors really should try to get their life back and adapt to the world we have, and not a bubble-wrapped world. A good counselor/whatever should help re-harden a person up to the horrors… Read more »
I agree that trigger warnings are overused. Mostly the part that makes me scoff is when they’re used on Tumblr, since tags come at the end of a post, so nobody would know the warning was there until after they read it, unless they searched specifically for that tag (which is the opposite of avoiding it). HOWEVER, I will say that it’s not useless. Sure, there is an long list of things that can be triggers, and so blogs can end up being over-broad in their application. But let’s be serious, these aren’t appearing on major news sites, they’re on… Read more »
Holy cow, I typed this after my above response to an earlier comment, and did the world’s worst proof-reading. is a*, then*, and probably more errors, sorry, that was so not my style.
how did you find this article, as it is two years old.
ive often wondered how people come across old threads
“Trigger warnings should only be used in cases when there is a graphic description of sexual violence, violence and/or war, child abuse or sexual abuse, and sometimes (depending upon context) graphic sexuality.” First off, I would just include abuse in general in that list, rather than limiting it to child abuse or sexual abuse. But the main problem I have with this definition of trigger warnings is that, while it is very accurate in the context of trigger warnings’ origins with PTSD, it fails to include other disorders that also include severe reactions from triggers. Yes, trigger warnings started out… Read more »
Thank you Joanne for writing this piece…. and this response no doubt has to carry a warning that the content may stimulate emotional responses and reactions in some. I will not say that a Trigger Warning is appropriate, because I fundamentally disagree with their usage on multiple grounds. I don’t do saccharine! Trigger Warning is a modern day “Shibboleth” to show you are trendy, hipster, with it and part of the “In Crowd”… and a caring Netizen. Has anyone read up on the incidence of PTSD and racial abuse? If they had, there would be “Trigger Warnings” all over! Funny… Read more »
You sound awfully paranoid… are you sure Trigger Warnings aren’t a liberal ploy to control minds and dose us all with chemtrails?! Seriously, the “only” time you’ve ever seen a valid trigger warning was religious sensitivity about communicating with dead people? THE ONLY TIME?!
I’d be interested in hearing from trauma survivors about whether “trigger warnings” are actually helpful or not in avoiding things that will upset them. I honestly don’t know. It seems like if someone is surfing the internet, reading news sites and blogs about social, political, gender and sexual issues, there is going to be a lot of triggering material. Are “trigger warnings” useful? I am not a sexual abuse survivor but I did survive a nearly fatal car accident many years ago, which left me with a bit of a phobia about cars and traffic. Sometimes if I see a… Read more »
I would have wanted one, too. What a sickening image.
I think I’m doing fine, and then I read something and don’t even know how it’s stuck in the wheel well of my mind, just as grotesquely, until it is in my mind for days. Trigger warnings usually don’t help, at least not the way they’re employed; I recently read a really horrible story that included misogynistic, deadly violence, and an ironic trigger warning about modern art. It was a perfect example of what not to publish.
UGH I could’ve used a trigger warning on the magazine image description.
But see, while that was awful, it still isn’t technically a “trigger” or even “cue” it’s just really disturbing and horrific. if you had PTSD from a related trauma, that would be a trigger. That’s how this word is getting abused. Beyond that, you DID give fair warning that something horrible was coming up. You said there was something awful you wish you’d seen and this was it…. So I should’ve stopped reading! That’s fair enough, in my opinion, and sort of my point in the article. And I’m fine despite having read that. But if I’d seen it I… Read more »
Sorry if I upset anyone with the description of the photo! But, the thing is, we all encounter things we find upsetting. I don’t avoid R rated movies as a rule, even though I have been to R rated movies that were a bit too graphic for me in retrospect (Reservoir Dogs comes to mind – the ear – ugh). Still, that doesn’t mean I need a specific set of trigger warnings for every movie. If it’s a Tarantino movie I know it will make me squeamish. I do appreciate it when a reviewer gives a detailed warning of something… Read more »
I suspect that one of the problems here is that practically every warning of ‘disturbing images’ is far more effective at attracting rubberneckers than it is at discouraging persons who may be triggered from looking. Most people are pretty sure that they couldn’t be disturbed or deeply troubled by an image and so are driven to look by morbid curiosity. When they actually look, it is too late. The more that warnings of disturbing imagery or triggering language are thrown around lightly, the less effective they are in those few cases when they are most needed.
No, you didn’t upset me! I saw the French film – Irreversible – and I’m so impressed someone brought it up. I believe you’re the first person I’ve ever talked to online or in real life who referenced it that wasn’t told about it by me. I love/hate that film, and it was made for that express purpose. To make you see the rape as this horrifically devastating, unsexualized thing that ruins people’s lives. Too often in films there’s this weird sexualization of rape. This film actually made a rape scene that, unless you truly sexualize ACTUAL rape (not BDSM… Read more »
Um, hello, ever heard of a *SPOILER ALERT* Joanna? Here I am on a site about gender reading a post about trigger warnings and sexual violence and PTSD and out of nowhere comes a comment completely giving away the narrative device and plot for a film I have yet to see. might as well remove that movie from my Netflix queue… Okay, I’m just teasing you, I’ve already seen that movie. If you like that narrative structure, 5 x 2 explores a similar theme without all the violence. If you prefer something a little more disturbing, you can’t go wrong… Read more »
“There was a time when they were able to administer beta-blockers to people who’d experienced a trauma, and it would help their brain not do some specific thing that causes the vulnerability to the flashbacks. (I need to research this again, so I could be wrong). I wish that they could find something that would work like this, and effectively distribute it so that people who survive rapes or other traumas could be treated preventatively instead of retroactively.” Oh that there were magic bullets – one to prevent and one to cure. They would be each be worth Billions –… Read more »
http://health.universityofcalifornia.edu/2011/08/11/genetic-differences-in-ptsd/
http://www.northwestmilitary.com/news/articles/2009/11/Could-PTSD-be-genetic/
Proof of genetic predisposition, and I have a feeling that it says women more than men simply for the numbers of women next to the numbers of men who actually even come forward or get help.
As someone with severe PTSD, I think trigger warnings are a great idea that’s been stupidly and offensively overused. I’ve been derided for my “oblivious cis privilege” for not putting a trigger warning on a transphobic article after saying I wanted to discuss the transphobia. But those same people didn’t stop to think I might not appreciate pictures of screaming little girls being held down in pools of their own blood popping up on Facebook when FGM was the cause du jour. It was a good idea ruined by oblivious, self-centered fools. A bigot being a bigot is something minorities… Read more »
I live with Complex PTSD from many different causes but mostly abuse caused by narcissists. My honest opinion is not going to be favorable to most but I believe it’s very real in the PTSD community. 1. If you are on the web or outside your home, you are not trying to avoid triggers of any kind. 2. Everyone has different possible triggers, it can be from anything of any of the senses a word, and literally ANYTHING AT ALL. 3. Many of us know some of our triggers but not all of them, I keep a journal of mine… Read more »
Angel — In response to your comment ‘everyone has their own triggers’ — here is what I would offer you — something Joanna and I also discussed with regards to this article. The concept of a ‘trigger,’ as it’s evolved to mean in the context of ‘trigger warnings’ in the current blogosphere, lends itself to describing experiences of people with other anxiety disorders as well — like OCD, phobias, or social anxiety disorder. In other words, it’d be perfectly reasonable for someone with SAD to say ‘being in that crowd triggered me to feel incredibly panicked.’ No one could really… Read more »
I have little patience for most trigger warnings. Most seem designed to prime people to take excruciatingly politically correct offence, or to protect oneself against such people. They are commonly employed in contexts where another person’s thoughts and actions are being dealt with. The message being conveyed is that the thoughts or actions of the person in question are offensive and that the reader should be outraged. As such they are a power game, designed to leverage the power of offence to discredit, silence, or dismiss people that one doesn’t like and/or to identify the issuer of the trigger warning… Read more »
“Trigger warnings should only be used in cases when there is a graphic description of sexual violence, violence and/or war, child abuse or sexual abuse, and sometimes (depending upon context) graphic sexuality.”
Who are you to say when it is or isn’t appropriate? Everyone has their own “triggers.”
And why is there so much hysteria about sexual abuse on this site? I swear, you guys should pay Jerry Sandusky royalties or something given how much this site has written about him.
You know, I would delete this comment because it’s pretty nasty, but I think we should talk about this. This site is about men’s lives, and the things men struggle with are a HUGE part of men’s lives. It’s important to know that 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused by the time they’re 18. 1 in 6. And yet I can bet most people don’t know many (if any) men who have admitted to being abused. Why? Because there is SUCH a massive taboo against men talking about abuse. Therefore, when you have a men’s magazine site that… Read more »
Yeah. You handled that better than I did because I followed your recent over here with the moderation queue open in another tab, ready to lay it down. (Spine like serpent, then like steel. STRIKE!!!).
Trigger warning for left-handed chainsawing
I don’t want to throw gasoline on the fire, but I just wanted to mention that as a sexual assault survivor and foot soldier in the great Stihl vs. Husqvarna holy war, my chainsaw is orange.
This is the best comment, Joanna. I’m glad we’re doing this work, too.
About triggers. Like someone said above this seems to be something that has popped up from almost nowhere in the last year or two (I’ve been blogging for about four years and I can see the sudden rise of the trigger warning). And why is there so much hysteria about sexual abuse on this site? I swear, you guys should pay Jerry Sandusky royalties or something given how much this site has written about him. We bring it up so much because it’s a major issue with men. You see men have to work hard to speak up about such… Read more »
Can I also point out that “hysteria” derives from the root for “uterus,” and is an outdated term that probably refers to a belief that the uterus floats willy-nilly through the body, causing mayhem? A feminist accusing men of hysteria is … ideologically and morphologically confusing.
Oh I thought you understood that the rules of engagement change when it’s feminists saying it. That’s also why referring to cowards as pussies as a big no no but referring to jerks as dicks is perfectly acceptable in feminist spaces.
It’s also an extremely funny movie. Life musta been scary before we knew better.
When a piece of journalism has “trigger warning” attached to it, it actually alchemically changes how the piece is read, moving it a notch down from actual journalism and into the realm of the polemic. It never hurts to ask if Esquire or TIME would put “trigger warning” in a lede. As for the first part of this article, I couldn’t possibly shout a loud enough “hurrah.” “Trigger warning” is one of those overused, overexcused, hyper-melodramatized terms that—mark my words—will be as dated in ten years as platform shoes and Culture Club. Great piece, Joanna.
This has been on a “want to write about this” back burner of my brain for a while now, but you beat me to it and covered it better than I would have. Even brought in a fancy expert. 😉 I can’t recall ever seeing “trigger warning” in my surfing of the internet for roughly 20+ years now until this last year or so when I found myself reading gender-based blogs or sites, including but not limited to GMP. For the most part, they bug the crap out of me, because they hardly ever serve the kind of purpose which… Read more »
Yeah, you and I have talked about this!
I’ve used them before, before I realized how abused they were, and I think you’ve made it even more obvious to me why they’re useless – at best.
And I agree about the “Warning: these wild scenes…” That’s why I mentioned the thing about the Mt. Holyoke sexual history… It’s like a teaser!
And I agree, a trigger warning is literally almost never necessary.
I have little patience for most trigger warnings. What most trigger warnings are designed to do is to prime people to take excruciatingly politically correct offence, or to protect oneself against such people. They are most typically employed in contexts where another person’s thoughts and actions are being dealt with. The message being conveyed is that the thoughts or actions of the person in question are offensive and that the reader should be outraged. As such they are a power game, designed to leverage the power of offence to discredit, silence, or dismiss people that one doesn’t like and/or to… Read more »
I don’t use trigger warnings as notice that someone is saying something politically incorrect. I use them to find out if something is going to set off reminders of my assault, which will, at best, give me nightmares for weeks, or, at worst, interfere with my relationships for some undetermined period of time.
It’s not about the subject matter being offensive to me, and it’s certainly not about me being thin-skinned. It’s about keeping people with serious traumas from having to re-live the aftermath like it happened yesterday.
The “trigger” in trigger warning is not about triggering hurt feelings.
Alastair – I want to share this and credit you! Absolutely brilliant break down of trigger warnings.
And tomato plants remind me of the death of Don Corleone. How could you be so cruel?
OH shit! I warned you too late!
I hate trigger warnings. I have PTSD, and I have got buckets of “cues” or triggers, as I call them. Some of them I can avoid, and some of them I can’t. It’s the nature of the illness, that sometimes random elements attach themselves to the panic button. Of course cologne can’t hurt me, but if my rapist wore it, I might never be able to smell it again without feeling my throat close in fear. That’s what a flashback can be like. I could not possibly make the world responsible for removing every word, image, scent, and song that… Read more »
In my original copy I went into an analogy about fresh cut grass. If you had a major trauma happen when the neighbor was mowing his grass, the sound of the mower or the smell of the grass might trigger or cue a flashback or an anxiety attack. For so many of us, it’s hard to even name what written content is going to set us off. One graphic description of assault can be fine, but another (for even unidentifiable reasons) can send us into sweats and tears. I think the “well, Dan Savage” line was the worst and most… Read more »
Rock on, Justin, we are creators of our post trauma life thank you for letting me know I’m not the only one who is working hard toward a better life that will eventually heal.