I listened to a podcast about college campus safe spaces and trigger warnings today. While the podcast was funny and cheeky, it really didn't fully address these two. It more attacked them because of people abusing the system instead of explaining why they are there. I'm sure everyone hates those who abuse systems in place, well except the abusers.
Let's delve into trigger warnings first. These are actually a very good thing. I can almost guarantee everyone wants to be warned before they see or hear something that they feel uncomfortable with. Some might just avoid it, others, like myself, will still proceed despite the warning. Things that make myself uncomfortable doesn't necessarily make my husband, mother, friends etc uncomfortable and vice versa. Just because they are not triggered by said thing, doesn't make it right for them to force me to go through that experience. No one really knows the feelings or emotional stress of others, even if they experience the same event. People handle different events and stressors differently and discrediting someone's emotional pain, because you were not affected the same way, is a douche move. Am I a bitch sometimes? Absolutely! There are times where I just cannot comprehend another person's reasoning or feelings and I will reflect internally, or verbally with my husband, pulling from my own experience. It happens, but there is a difference between not understanding and flat out saying that the person is attention seeking or lazy. Triggers are very real and can cause a lot of harm to certain individuals. A trigger isn't just an uncomfortable feeling. It is something that causes a lot of stress, anxiety and can even cause the person to physically harm themselves. It is really nothing to make light of, especially when an affected person is around. Are some abuse cases obvious, yes, one example is taking out a book like Pride and Prejudice out of required reading curriculum because someone finds it sexist. While sexism is still alive and relevant today, it is a fucking 200+ year old book. I certainly am not that old, but I do know that things were way different back then, and the romance of the book reflected the times. Sexism is a part of history, and it will awlays be a part of it. Hell, that would be a good paper topic after reading the book, an over used topic, but a good one none the less. Now, I cannot remember the book that much, so I cannot create a good trigger warning from that book, but there was a book called Brothers, that I do remember. It is a very good book written by Yu Hua. It isn't without it's disturbing parts though, especially those towards women. This book does require a trigger warning because a rape victim could be very easily triggered by some of the contents. This is exactly what trigger warnings are good for and why they should be kept around. My teacher in college was understanding and did warn the class. I can't think of anyone who didn't read it, but if someone had trouble reading the book, he had an alternative for them. I have seen so many people saying trigger warnings are censorship, or a way of getting out of class work. No, it is there to avoid a flash-back, regressing back to the state when the trauma happened, etc. Teachers who are prepared have alternatives for those who cannot read or listen to what is being taught at the time. Brothers, while a fantastic book, wasn't necessary when it came to Chinese literature about the 20th century. There are more books, this was just the teacher's preference.
Safe spaces also have their places on college campuses. A reoccurring thought process I see is to grow up. Let me compare this to smoking. I know there are still assholes that will say, oh just move away from me, but smoking use to be a real issue on college campuses. Where I went had designated smokings areas, which is great, because it allows for non-smokers to go around them. So how does smoking compare? Well, people have different senses of humor, some very inappropriate. I find things that are inappropriate funny, does that mean I should push that on someone else, no. Safe spaces are for people of any race, sexuality, gender identity, etc, to go in order to remove themselves from things they feel uncomfortable with. While not all uncomfortable things should be avoided, like talking about sex with your kids, avoiding racist jokes should be made available to those who are uncomfortable by them. It is a place where they won't hear the word faggot, retarded, or jokes about their sexuality, race etc. Some people don't want to hear that crap and having a place to go to get away from that is a good thing, because sometimes walking away doesn't work. Especially when it is something that is widely accepted and they can't go anywhere without hearing it.
Now what about my blog? It could be offensive to some, yes, that is very true. I addressed my language use and such in my first blog....I can see if I can post a warning elsewhere. I haven't really fiddled with this thing much. The fun thing about the internet though is that you can get away from the crap you find offensive, for the most part. If you find my blog offensive, you can easily not click on the link. It isn't being read to you, you have to click it to read it. It takes action on your part, an action that can be avoided. If blogger offends you, hell you can easily block websites. There are ways to do that. Your safe space would be other parts of the internet and well, reread my first post for the warning. As far as emotional triggers go, I would like to think my blog is not a trigger, but I might in the future touch on sensitive topics and those for sure will have a warning in the title itself. This is why I like trigger warnings/safe spaces and will continue to support them.
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