Fuck Yeah, Trigger Warnings

Anonymous said: just a note on ocd: make sure you specify WHAT about it could cause intrusive thoughts. for example: discussion of contamination. then it'll be good for anyone who is bothered by that shit, no matter if they have ocd or not.

This is fantastic advice, thanks Anon!

Anonymous said: I'm an amateur horror fiction writer on another site. I always place my stories under a cut and do my best to warn for potential triggers. Recently someone told me they were severely triggered by one of my works. It turned out they had ignored the warning because I didn't specifically call it a trigger warning. It was a very specific and visible warning, and I used and phrased it exactly like a trigger warning, just without the word, 'trigger.' Does that one word make so much difference?

Meh, I don’t think it should matter all that much whether or not you say the word “trigger.” Of course, it’s terrible that one of your followers was triggered, but if you aren’t comfortable switching from “warning” to “trigger warning,” that’s totally your prerogative. 

Anonymous said: Hello, anybody there?

Yes, but with limited spoons and a very large archive. Submit and ask functions are still working, too.

[Evalilth submitted this post, and it is excellent amazing wonderful and true]

I’m sure this has been said somewhere on the internet before, but I don’t see it here, and I find it to be a really helpful analogy.

Being triggered is like having an allergic reaction.

A good description of an allergic reaction (speaking as someone who has a food sensitivity) is an involuntary reaction to a substance which can vary from severe discomfort to serious debilitation and endangerment. Change ‘a substance’ to ‘content’ and that’s pretty much a description of being triggered. The reaction is psychological rather than physical (although it can, of course, have physical symptoms), but it is just as serious and just as involuntary.

This is why trigger warnings are needed. Do you tell someone with a food allergy to ‘just deal’ with an exposure to the allergen? Do you say they’re overreacting when they want food to be labeled so they can avoid what they’re allergic to? Do you say that they should just avoid all public food if they’re going to complain about being allergic to some of it?

No. You label food and put on warnings so they can see that there is an ingredient in it that they are allergic to. It is still their responsibility to avoid that content, but they need to know it’s there in order to do that, and they need to know it before they react to it.

And for the people who say you just need to face up to your problem via exposure? Yes, it’s true that gradual exposure in a safe environment is one way to treat phobias and some times of PTSD. However, that is something that should be addressed with a qualified professional.

Some allergies can be treated with gradual exposure too, by a series of shots that let the person’s body know that the allergen isn’t actually a threat. Animal allergies are a type that can sometimes be treated this way. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to drop a cat in the lap of someone who is allergic to them and say ‘exposure will cure you!’” Especially when you don’t know if they’ve even started that series of shots, much less finished it.

tl;dr- Yes, it is an individual’s responsibility to avoid triggering content. However, just as an allergic person needs a label so that they can effectively avoid their allergens, PTSD/phobia/anxiety sufferers need a warning so that they can avoid their triggers. End of story.

thefremen:

eateroftrees replied to your post: If you think I’m using trigger warnings to silence people or using them incorrectly, please let me know.

Er, the one point I’d make is don’t put trigger warnings for things like “asshatry” or the like, because then you’re getting into “i’m insulting you with my trigger warning” and it’s not really very clear so it doesn’t help much as a warning.

True. And sometimes that’s just me not knowing exactly what it was that made me anxious/triggered but I feel it and I want to put a warning to it but I can’t really think of words. Othertimes I’m just an asshole.

Yeah So I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks Emily. :) 

Actually that’s a good idea. Next time I can’t really figure it out, I’ll say that “I found this triggering, not sure why”. 

This is a really good suggestion; I wish I’d thought of it when I wrote about detaching trigger warnings from shame way back when.

(Source: scooterpiebanana)

Anonymous said: Hi, sorry if this is a stupid question but does Tumblr Saviour work off the dashboard? As in, on individual blogs? Thanks

Not a stupid question! Unfortunately, tumblr savior doesn’t work when you’re viewing individual blogs.

Don’t put the TW in the title. Usually this is a fine thing to do, but when your primary goal is to get the attention of everyone (or nearly everyone) who might be able to help, having a title that only says “trigger warning: [fill in the blank]” is counter productive.

Instead, I typically just put “ATTENTION: PEOPLE IN [AREA]” or “call for help in [place]” as a title, then put a trigger warning on the first line of text. This way, your followers get warned properly, and people can use the location you’re specifying to determine whether or not it would even be helpful for them to read otherwise triggering material.

And obviously, it’s pretty shitty to ask people who’re panicking and in some dire situation to take the time and format an attention-getting, well-TW’d post. But if you want to reblog something like that and are in the presence of mind to do so, moving the original title into the text, adding a TW just above it, and putting in a title that targets the people who will be able to help is a pretty legit way to go about making your reblog more effective.

1. Open up a new text post. It won’t work otherwise.
2. Copy the code to embed the video you want to upload. (For youtube videos, you click “share” and then “embed” to get it.
3. On the open tumblr’s text processor, click the “HTML” button.
4. Write “<p>” and then paste the embed code, and then write “</p>” right after.
5. Click “update.”
6. Click on the space right above where the video appears, and then hit the “cut” button.
7. "Preview" to make sure that it’s working.
8. Tada!!

H/t to Alwayssunnyinmyhead, who asked how to do this.

Stop putting trigger warnings for “douchebaggery.”

It’s not cute, it’s hijacking an accessibility feature. Like writing “[Image: a piece of shit]” when actually the photo is of President Bush, it’s funny only to the people who don’t need the feature in the first place.

That isn’t to say that the thing you were TWing for isn’t triggering, it probably is. But pleasepleaseplease try to be more specific.

Like, here are some examples of helpful phrases that are informative, but not gratuitous.

• Accessibility threats

I didn’t know what to call this one until the last post, but basically it should be used when someone says something with a strong flavor of “I don’t think that we should allow PWD [especially people with triggers/PTSD] on the internet.” Even if they are explicitly combating that notion, or if the implication was completely by accident. This is triggering because it’s a threat, and an especially potent one if the internet/tumblr/etc. is the reader’s safe-space. 

• Violent threats
• Eugenics (probs specify if racial or disability-related)
• Rape Culture

Some of these are rarely called out specifically, but doing so

A. actually helps people with triggers

B. gets rid of the very-nasty “I hate you so I’m putting a TW on your words” vibe. Because that shit is not okay.

If you have a phobia/trigger that you’re looking to avoid, you should really-really get tumblr savior. It lets you decide which tags you want to “block,” and then any posts with those tags get displayed like notifications that tell you what the tag is and who posted it. (ETA: it also allows you to expand the “notification” to see the post if you so choose).

Of course, this will only work out if the people you follow will actually tag their posts with the phobias they might be invoking. So with that in mind, I’ve started a very incomplete list of potential phobias/triggers, and how you can tag for them. This list is especially helpful if you’re posting an image, or if there is little context that would otherwise be helpful in letting a reader decide if ze wants to skip the post.

List under a cut, just in case.

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