Trigger Warnings: What Are They, Why Do They Exist, and Should You Be Using Them?

Trigger warning: many triggering topics are touched on in this post, but most significantly death, suicide, self-harm, and abuse.

There's been a lot of debate lately, both in writing groups I'm active in, and in the world in general, about trigger warnings. This is a topic I hold very strong opinions about, so I thought I could explain myself better in a longer discussion than the off-hand comments on the subject I've made previously.

What is a Trigger Warning?

Put simply, a trigger warning (or content warning), prepares the reader for potentially traumatic subject material ahead, so that those with trauma, PTSD, anxiety, OCD, or just a particular aversion to a topic, can be informed. This commonly includes:

- Assault (discussions and descriptions)
- Abuse
- Extreme violence
- Sexual violence
- Homophobia
- Transphobia
- Racism

- Self-harm

- Suicidal thoughts/actions

But may also include:

- Death/serious harm of a child
- Death/serious harm of an animal
- Discussions of eating disorders/fatphobia
- Violence
- Swearing
- Pregnancy, pregnancy loss, and graphic depictions of childbirth

- Vomiting

- Specific types of violence likely to squick people out, such as injuries to the eyes, head, fingers, genitals, etc.

- Graphic sexual content

- A whole other list of things

A trigger warning is NOT:

- Censorship

- A substitute for a "rating"

- Mandatory

Why Do People Need Trigger Warnings?

People need trigger warnings for a wide variety of reasons. Some people get re-traumatized by reading detailed descriptions of a trauma they've been through. Some people are just sick of casual racism or homophobia and would like to not engage with that content. Some people may get intrusive thoughts that are spurred by certain content. For some people, they may even have intense physical reactions, as with emetophobia. Sometimes people use trigger warnings all the time, because they would like to always avoid a certain topic. Sometimes people like to read the trigger warnings on some days, and skip them on others. 

The reasons people look for trigger warnings are immensely varied.

Why Do People Object to Trigger Warnings?

Full disclosure, I don't understand this side of the equation as fully. The two chief arguments I've seen are "I don't want to spoil the book," and "Life doesn't come with trigger warnings, suck it up Buttercup." Some people believe that trigger warnings are a symptom of "snowflake culture". Some believe they're the first step on the path to censorship. Others just really don't want to keep track of everything that might possibly trigger somebody.

Why Do I Believe in Trigger Warnings?

For a variety of reasons, some of which fall under things like "politeness" and "basic decency to other people." If I was recommending a book to a friend who had just lost their dog, and a dog dies in the book, I would give my friend a heads-up when I recommended that book. I just would. I wouldn't tell my grieving friend to suck it up.

I also know first-hand how un-memeable getting truly, genuinely, triggered, can be. My two main triggers, if I can get personal here, are 1. babies dying and 2. glamorous depictions of eating disorders. The second one is easier to deal with, I just have to talk myself back out of the disordered patterns my brain has for food. It's frustrating and a little painful, but not, ultimately, so bad. But the first is more complicated.

When I read or watch something where a baby dies violently, graphically, or suddenly, it sets off a chain reaction of sadness inside me. This is probably why the first pages of Mr. Mercedes is my least-favorite read of all time, and also as far as I got in that book. Ultimate DNF.

As those of you who know me already know, when I was 8 years old my baby sister drowned in a family member's hot tub, right under the noses of all of us. It was so silent, and it happened so quickly, but that event has rippled through my life in ways that are sometimes hard to explain. I have been fundamentally sad for most of my life. Sad, and scared, because I know that the people we love the most can be gone in a split second, and it changes things forever. My mind is incapable of grasping why so many fictional works choose to use that as a plot device, or for shock value; I often catch myself wondering if any of those writers have ever lost a baby. Do they really know how it feels? Do they know how dull, slow, and soul-deadeningly mundane that kind of grief is? It's not exciting. It doesn't raise the stakes. It makes you feel like there are no stakes, because the worst thing that could happen has already happened and there's nothing you can do about it and nothing to learn from it and the only thing you can do is just live with it, like a bruise on an apple. Just a little bit browner and a little bit worse.

And now I have four children, and fear is seriously my sword of Damocles every stupid day. Because someday, my children will die. All children do. We can only hope and pray that we die first.

So maybe that is an interesting topic to explore, or just something that fits the plot, and that's fine for the people who want to write and read that. For me, it's not fine. For me, it might look like a week of heightened anxiety-- uncontrollable heartbeat, sweaty palms, obsessively checking on my kids at night, to the point where I cannot sleep. It might look like a night or two of nightmares. It might look like a full-blown depressive episode, where I lay in bed for days and fight the overwhelming, suffocating, desire to end my own life before anyone else I love can leave me. It also might look like me, absolutely fine, watching season after season of Call the Midwife with no problem and no idea why I can handle that. The point is, that has to be up to me, whether I can handle that. I need to be able to use my own discretion to decide when I want to engage with those subjects. Sometimes, just knowing it's coming is enough to make it ok. 

Ultimately, it's completely up to you if you use trigger warnings in your work. No format that I'm aware of requires them. To me, it's just another way that we can be aware of the diversity in our audiences, and hold empathy for people who may be struggling with things we can't even imagine. But the decision is yours.

What do you think? Do you use trigger warnings in your work? Are there any triggers you look out for and avoid? Comment and let me know!