I’ll be the first to admit that I thought trigger warnings were a waste of my time. After all, why should I bother to censor myself when using publicly-available media specifically because of it’s public availability? It wasn’t until I realized what a trigger was and experienced one for myself that I started to use them as often as possible. In this post, I would like to discuss what trigger warnings are, how to use them, and most importantly, why we use them and encourage others to do so.
What is a Trigger Warning?
A trigger warning (“TW”) is a text-based alert in the form of either “Trigger Warning” or “TW” that lets the reader know that the upcoming post may cause an uncomfortable psychosomatic response.
How Do You Create a Trigger Warning?
Before your post (preferably in the title, however, acceptable before a paragraph starts) insert either “TW” or the words “trigger warning,” followed by a broad overview of the content involved.
[TW: Assault] For example, if you were to write a post about how your significant other yells at you, hits you, chokes you when you disobey, beats you when you try to leave, and slaps you when you try to talk, you would begin each graphic paragraph in the same way I did with this one.
The amount of TWs you put into your post is entirely up to you. If you’re having trouble figuring out where you should put them, use the following as a general rule:
- If you are writing an entire post about some type of physical or psychological abuse, begin the Title of your post with the words “Trigger Warning” or TW.
- If you are going to include a paragraph or two about an abusive psychological or physical situation, begin the paragraphs with a trigger warning.
Remember: When in doubt, put a Trigger Warning in the title.
Why Are Trigger Warnings Important
Everyone in our community has gone through some tough times. I firmly believe that you don’t just magically become socially progressive, but rather, develop a progressive social mindset through a combination of personal experience and empathetic listening. Since the one thing that we can be sure of as we interact with one another is that someone will be personally affected by what we are writing about, it’s crucial that we assist one another in maintaining our psychological composure.
All of us encounter some pretty ignorant, bigoted people on what seems to be a day-to-day basis. We wont admit it, but constantly dealing with hatred, racism, sexism, bias, cultural appropriation, and other displays of closed mindedness takes a toll on our subconscious, psychological immune system. So when we are browsing through our dashboard, or through comments, or through blog posts, and stumble across something that triggers a psychosomatic response in us, chances are we do not have the psychological constitution to protect ourselves from it. Once triggered, we are overwhelmed with intense feelings, anything from unbearable depression to unmitigated anger, depending on what was triggered and how badly we were affected.
One of two things happen when we see a trigger warning: Either we see what the trigger warning is for and skip over the content because we don’t want to be triggered, or (and this is more often the case in my experience), we see what the trigger warning is for and by being conscious of what we are about to experience we can compartmentalize our subjective experiences with the topic and contribute intelligently.
What To Do if Something Needs a Trigger Warning
If you see something that you feel could possibly trigger someone - or, if you become triggered by something - immediately contact the original poster and ask that they include a simple “TW:” and a brief overview of what caused the trigger.
For reblogs and reposts, since you cannot go back to each person and have them add trigger warnings, it’s a good idea to go through the content and add trigger warnings (perhaps in bold, that way others see that you have added them) so that others aren’t triggered.
Who to Contact with Questions About Trigger Warnings
If you have a question about trigger warnings, please don’t hesitate to contact any of the people below, who have been placed on this list involuntarily based on their intelligent use of TWs and responses to related questions in the past:
- In-Her-Hips-Theres-Revolutions (Female) Ask about Trigger Warnings
- According to Sami (Female) Ask Sami about Trigger Warnings
- Jesse (Male) Ask Jesse about Trigger Warnings
- Kara (Female) Ask Kara about Trigger Warnings
- Megan (Female) Ask Megan about Trigger Warnings
- Augusta (Female) Ask Augusta about Trigger Warnings
