Trigger warnings for coursework on campuses spur debate over emotional well-being/free speech

[The Straight Story]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It seemed like a modest proposal, or so thought Bailey Loverin, a literature major at the University of California, Santa Barbara: What if professors were prodded to give students a written or oral heads-up before covering graphic material that could cause flashbacks in those who had been sexually assaulted, survived war or suffered other traumas?

The idea proved popular with Loverin's classmates. Student government leaders at UCSB endorsed it. Faculty at other schools, editorial writers and online pundits had a different reaction, calling it "silly," ''antithetical to college life" and reflective of "a wider cultural hypersensitivity to harm."

"What I have heard from a lot of people who don't fully understand the issue is, 'Life is life. You are going to get your feelings hurt and you should just suck it up and meet it head-on,'" Loverin, 19, said. "But a girl just raped a month ago and sitting in a classroom for the first time again isn't ready to face that head-on."

The uproar over her "Resolution to Mandate Warnings for Triggering Content in Academic Settings" has called public attention to the use on college campuses of "trigger warnings," a grassroots phenomenon that had spread quietly from the Internet to the Ivory Tower.


http://bigstory.ap.org/article/trauma-warnings-move-internet-ivory-tower

[Gravitycollapse]

1. I've taken courses on human sexuality, hate speech and psychology of gender...

And, despite the intensity of the topics being discussed, I've never seen any student suffer for lack of trigger warnings. Many of these classes specifically cater to students who are going into certain academic fields because of previous life trauma. So there is not an absence of students with possible issues regarding explicit content.

This kind of problem should be addressed on the first day or first week of class. The professor should clearly explain the content which will be discussed and the syllabus should show exactly what will be discussed on each day of class. Support resources should also be given out.

But I do not necessarily agree with the idea of prefacing every subject with a list of trigger warnings. It seems to me that it might actually promote a repressive environment which could make flashbacks worse.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. As someone who has been on both sides of PTSD (survivor and therapist),

I certainly understand the point of this; however, potential triggers are so widespread and varied that I see no practical way to anticipate or identify them all. Sometimes the triggers aren't even consciously known to a trauma survivor, which is one of the great challenges of therapy.

The fact is that triggers occur a lot in daily life, and are pretty unavoidable. For me one is the sound of helicopters. Another is the sound of a string of firecrackers. The smell of decaying flesh. Images of children mangled by explosives. Certain songs….How could I ever screen all of these out of my life?

[The Straight Story]

3. Yeah, I can relate

Right after my mom died I couldn't really watch a show where someone died. Try doing that today. Even some comedies just had a death out of the blue for no real reason.

I didn't get to watch my kids grow up, and some scenes/shows that touch on that bring up some latent issues.

Such is life. I don't really think you can warn about every single thing that may bother people or bring up past issues they have - it is simply not possible or practical.

[alp227]

4. I wonder how those who decry this as "political correctness run amok durrrrp"

can explain, what's wrong with honesty thru trigger warnings and informing students of what kinda content there is?

The student quoted here says, "What I have heard from a lot of people who don't fully understand the issue is, 'Life is life. You are going to get your feelings hurt and you should just suck it up and meet it head-on.'" Anti-empathy has become hip in America, I guess.