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4 responses to “Can someone please explain to me where this new “trigger warning” meme has come from?”

1. 2012/10/26

   Katz

   It’s not a meme as much as it is a sensitivity to those who may suffer flashbacks and/or PTSD due to the graphic nature of the story. Its use has grown over the years.

   I’ve seen this a lot over the years with in-depth blog posts where people describe their abuse (physical, sexual, etc.) I’ve also seen it used on posts where people describe eating disorders, too (ie., don’t read this because it may make you want to stick your finger down your throat again.)

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2. 2012/10/26

   Rob

   My knowledge of it comes from feminist blogs, used as a way of warning people who are victims of certain forms of abuse that this form of abuse may be discussed in the ensuing post, and that this may be upsetting to the person reading it (it may “trigger” a negative emotional response (see also post-traumatic stress disorder, I guess)).

   I think it’s fair enough to warn people, although ironically it does come across as “warning, may not be suitable for women” – I doubt that BoingBoing would have used it if the intended victims of the would-be Hannibal Lecter had been male. I guess it’s a case of knowing your audience – if they expect trigger warnings and complain when they’re absent, you should probably post them. Most people’s tact filters are facing outwards, after all.

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3. 2012/10/26

   Dave Walker

   I suspect the original trigger warning was for epilepsy sufferers – “the following footage contains bright flashing lights”…

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4. 2012/10/26

   alecm

   Ironically an explanation – conflicting with the fact of the other article – after one commenter complained on *another* article, about the murder of children by nanny in New York:

   http://boingboing.net/2012/10/26/children-of-tech-executive-sla.html#more-190087

   —-

   John Fleming

   Please update the headline for this entry with “TRIGGER WARNING”, preferably in six-inch high flashing letters. Sweet Jesus Christ…

   —-

   Xeni Jardin, Editor, Boing Boing. Tech culture journalist. Intergalactic space princess. Breast cancer. Tweets: @xeni.

   It is not our custom here at Boing Boing to try and guess what content will be a trigger for people who have PTSD, and label anything that doesn’t involve a happy topic “trigger warning.”
   Descriptive but not overly-gory headlines that let readers know what to expect in a given story are what we tend to do. If this headline failed to do that for you, I’m not sure what headline would have been better.

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