In Defense of Trigger Warnings and Safe Spaces
Hi everybody, Mary here.
Today, I am going to talk about my defense of trigger warnings and safe spaces.
My stance on it is very clear :
If you don't care or hate trigger warnings, it just means you never needed trigger warnings. If you don't care or hate safe spaces, it means you never needed safe spaces. I am pretty happy to see that you are never thrown into a panic attack because of something that reminds you of a traumatic experience or your abuser or anything harmful to you. I am pretty happy to see that you have never been under the fire for expressing your hate against the discrimination and oppression you face because of who you are and what you cannot change.
I could literally stop this post right here, but since y'all need clearer, simpler explanations apparently, here is me trying to explain that in the simplest ways possible :
Trigger warnings are like disclaimers about things that are going to be shown. It is meant to protect people who have traumatic experiences with a specific thing or have things that remind them of their abuser and are thrown into a pit of anxiety, or even panic attacks. I, myself, have been thrown into a panic attack because of a simple YouTube video... and trust me, it is not nice to see me under a panic attack. I paced around my flat for around an hour, screaming and stomping my feet into the ground, and people living around me in this building probably thought I should be hospitalised over this. If the video had trigger warnings, I would have avoided a complete meltdown, oh, and also, another panic attack when I remembered the video two days later. But apparently it is "okay" to send people through panic attacks because you aren't "triggered" by what triggers me.
Trigger warnings do not mean censorship or "you shouldn't talk about this because I don't want you to and you should be censored !!1!!1!" (except hate, I hate people who spread violent, deliberate hate and these people need to stop tbh). It just means "here is a list of things that trigger me, remind me of my past trauma, or can cause debilitating anxiety, and I would like you to put a tag on them so I can stay safe online because this is my wish"... and it's not that complicated to understand.
I have seen a lot of people who are against trigger warnings advocating for "exposure therapy", where people are just shown their triggers "until they aren't "triggers" anymore". Not only this is pretty ableist but it also shows the ignorance of these people who probably never dealt with anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD or anything that can "trigger them" because of their trauma or past/current abuse. Most of these people are neuro-typical, never showed a single mental illness, personality disorder or any kind of trauma/abuse and they're here to tell me, a mentally ill person with depression, anxiety, BPD and OCD, and who's an abuse survivor dealing with trauma, how to deal with my own problems.
Listen very carefully because I will not say it once : I want to be safe online. I know that "the real world" doesn't cater to me and my neurodivergent needs, I know that most NT people are ableist as hell and I know that accomodations are hard to get !!!!! But the Internet is the place where I created my little haven where I can be myself and protect myself from harm and have a little bit of fun !!!!! What's wrong with wanting to be safe, even if it means you try to avoid your triggers as much as possible ????? It's definitely better than to have panic attacks over a couple seconds in a video clip and you're very ableist if you disagree with that !!!!!
Now let's talk about safe spaces. Safe spaces do not mean "people who never want their ideas to be challenged, criticised, or people who don't want to have any discussion with people who disagree with them and who try to make them see through a different perspective". It just means "We, mostly marginalised people, would love to talk about our oppression and marginalisation and discrimination and societal hate, and we'd like to make fun of ridiculous situations we are put through everyday, or we'd like to have conversations about how being [insert marginalised identity here] is making our life harder, and we would like to have spaces that are free from hate". It's not very complicated to understand, am I right ?
Safe spaces are spaces where you can freely talk about "sensitive topics" such as gender, sexuality, ableism, classism, being a POC, feminism, intersectionality, and such. Most of us talking about these topics recieve unnecessary hate, harassment, slandering, hate videos, plagiarising of content, and such. This deserves a post within itself but basically, when I see my favourite content creators who talk so eloquently about these topics that need to be adressed, I can't help but wanting to report all of them (I just don't have any energy to do it).
Basically, a safe space doesn't mean we're not open to criticism, or challenging our ideas, or having a conversation with people who hold different viewpoints. But I'm pretty damn sure that death threats, threats of violence or abuse or rape are not what you claim to be "criticism" or "a discussion". It is hate and it needs to stop.
Anyways, I will stop this post here, and the next one will probably be about "hate online". So stay tuned for it ! :)
And as usual, our last word ; KIDNEYS !
My stance on it is very clear :
If you don't care or hate trigger warnings, it just means you never needed trigger warnings. If you don't care or hate safe spaces, it means you never needed safe spaces. I am pretty happy to see that you are never thrown into a panic attack because of something that reminds you of a traumatic experience or your abuser or anything harmful to you. I am pretty happy to see that you have never been under the fire for expressing your hate against the discrimination and oppression you face because of who you are and what you cannot change.
I could literally stop this post right here, but since y'all need clearer, simpler explanations apparently, here is me trying to explain that in the simplest ways possible :
Trigger warnings are like disclaimers about things that are going to be shown. It is meant to protect people who have traumatic experiences with a specific thing or have things that remind them of their abuser and are thrown into a pit of anxiety, or even panic attacks. I, myself, have been thrown into a panic attack because of a simple YouTube video... and trust me, it is not nice to see me under a panic attack. I paced around my flat for around an hour, screaming and stomping my feet into the ground, and people living around me in this building probably thought I should be hospitalised over this. If the video had trigger warnings, I would have avoided a complete meltdown, oh, and also, another panic attack when I remembered the video two days later. But apparently it is "okay" to send people through panic attacks because you aren't "triggered" by what triggers me.
Trigger warnings do not mean censorship or "you shouldn't talk about this because I don't want you to and you should be censored !!1!!1!" (except hate, I hate people who spread violent, deliberate hate and these people need to stop tbh). It just means "here is a list of things that trigger me, remind me of my past trauma, or can cause debilitating anxiety, and I would like you to put a tag on them so I can stay safe online because this is my wish"... and it's not that complicated to understand.
I have seen a lot of people who are against trigger warnings advocating for "exposure therapy", where people are just shown their triggers "until they aren't "triggers" anymore". Not only this is pretty ableist but it also shows the ignorance of these people who probably never dealt with anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD or anything that can "trigger them" because of their trauma or past/current abuse. Most of these people are neuro-typical, never showed a single mental illness, personality disorder or any kind of trauma/abuse and they're here to tell me, a mentally ill person with depression, anxiety, BPD and OCD, and who's an abuse survivor dealing with trauma, how to deal with my own problems.
Listen very carefully because I will not say it once : I want to be safe online. I know that "the real world" doesn't cater to me and my neurodivergent needs, I know that most NT people are ableist as hell and I know that accomodations are hard to get !!!!! But the Internet is the place where I created my little haven where I can be myself and protect myself from harm and have a little bit of fun !!!!! What's wrong with wanting to be safe, even if it means you try to avoid your triggers as much as possible ????? It's definitely better than to have panic attacks over a couple seconds in a video clip and you're very ableist if you disagree with that !!!!!
Now let's talk about safe spaces. Safe spaces do not mean "people who never want their ideas to be challenged, criticised, or people who don't want to have any discussion with people who disagree with them and who try to make them see through a different perspective". It just means "We, mostly marginalised people, would love to talk about our oppression and marginalisation and discrimination and societal hate, and we'd like to make fun of ridiculous situations we are put through everyday, or we'd like to have conversations about how being [insert marginalised identity here] is making our life harder, and we would like to have spaces that are free from hate". It's not very complicated to understand, am I right ?
Safe spaces are spaces where you can freely talk about "sensitive topics" such as gender, sexuality, ableism, classism, being a POC, feminism, intersectionality, and such. Most of us talking about these topics recieve unnecessary hate, harassment, slandering, hate videos, plagiarising of content, and such. This deserves a post within itself but basically, when I see my favourite content creators who talk so eloquently about these topics that need to be adressed, I can't help but wanting to report all of them (I just don't have any energy to do it).
Basically, a safe space doesn't mean we're not open to criticism, or challenging our ideas, or having a conversation with people who hold different viewpoints. But I'm pretty damn sure that death threats, threats of violence or abuse or rape are not what you claim to be "criticism" or "a discussion". It is hate and it needs to stop.
Anyways, I will stop this post here, and the next one will probably be about "hate online". So stay tuned for it ! :)
And as usual, our last word ; KIDNEYS !
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