Trigger Warnings On College Campuses Are Out Of Control

Alex Buscemi10 years ago

Trigger Warning: This article makes fun of trigger warnings.

Trigger warnings, messages displayed at the top of an article or the beginning of a video cautioning viewers about the potentially offensive content that follows, started out reasonably enough. The origins can be traced back to a “Viewer discretion is advised” note preceding an episode of “Family Guy” or “Warning: Death” preceding a gruesome snuff video on Reddit, or an “NSFW” tag on a link to a photo of a woman lying in a bathtub with her legs over her head, spewing a fountain of diarrhea onto her own face (anyone else remember “Tub Girl?”)

When the courtesy notes made their way onto blogs, they outlined specific content within the piece that may trigger a post-traumatic stress reaction. For example, a descriptive article about war would have the trigger warning “TW: This post contains a graphic description of combat.” This provided a well-needed heads up for veterans still shaken from their time in the service. Or an article about rape would have the trigger warning “TW: This post contains a graphic description of sexual assault,” which is obviously a courteous blurb for rape victims.

But as the trigger warning made its way onto feminist blogs, the pages of college newspapers, and even classroom syllabi, the term lost all meaning.

Now, trigger warnings have devolved into nothing more than a way for feminists and far-left whack jobs to show off their political correctness — and the obnoxious trend is fucking up the mediasphere tremendously. Let’s take a look.

The student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles, published an article titled “Free tampons would slow the flow of gender inequality.” But that’s not even the biggest fail here. The real hilarity ensues when you read the disclaimer written by the paper’s editor at the top of the article.

“This blog post refers to individuals who menstruate as women because the author wanted to highlight gender inequality in health care,” the trigger warning reads. “We acknowledge that not all individuals who menstruate identify as women and that not all individuals who identify as women menstruate, but feel this generalization is appropriate considering the gendered nature of most health care policies.”

Are there really any men who menstruate at UCLA?

You just know the editor typed up that note, sat back in her swivel chair, and let out a deep, self-satisfied sigh. “I am SUCH a good person.”

University staff are out of control, too. Oberlin College recently mandated that professors warn their students before reading the book “Things Fall Apart” because it may trigger readers who have experienced racism, colonialism, religious persecution, violence, suicide, and more.”

That’s not a trigger warning. That’s a spoiler. Even more unhinged, a blog called Kyriarchy & Privilege 101 published this insane list of all material warranting a trigger warnings:

Swearing

Rape

Abuse (physical, mental, emotional, verbal, sexual)

Child abuse/pedophilia

Self-injurious behavior (self-harm, eating disorders, etc.)

Talk of drug use (legal, illegal or psychiatric)

Suicide

Descriptions/pictures of medical procedures (even if they don’t contain blood or gore)

Descriptions/pictures of violence or warfare (including instruments of violence, such as knives or guns)

Corpses, skulls or skeletons

Needles

Discussions of -isms, shaming, or hatred of any kind (racism, classism, hatred of cultures/ethnicities that differ from your own, sexism, hatred of sexualities or genders that differ from your own, anti-multiple, non-vanilla shaming, sex positive shaming, fat shaming/body image shaming, neuroatypical shaming)

Any time slurs are used (this includes words like “stupid” or “dumb”, which are still widely considered to be socially acceptable)

Trans* degendering, or anti-trans* views of bodies

Dismissal of lived oppressions, marginalization, illness or differences

Kidnapping (forceful deprivation of/disregard for personal autonomy)

Discussions of sex (even consensual)

Death or dying

Spiders

Insects

Snakes

Vomit

Pregnancy/childbirth

Blood

Serious injury

Trypophobia (Link is safe.)

Scarification

Nazi paraphernalia

Slimy things

Anything that might inspire intrusive thoughts in people with OCD

In case you didn’t know, Trypophobia is the fear of small holes.

These people aren’t a minority, either. The trend is sweeping colleges across the nation, from the University of California to NYU.

If the trend continues, it’s only a matter of time before every article has a trigger warning slapped on it.

Busch Wins Daytona 500

(Editor’s Note: We do not condone the excessive burning of fossil fuels).

Scientists Say Pluto Is A ‘Dwarf Planet’

(Editor’s Note: While we recognize the insensitivity of NASA using the term “dwarf planet,” rather than “little planet,” we cannot go against the grain of modern scientific terminology).

This shit isn’t just annoying — it’s insulting to people who actually need trigger warnings: the veterans and the rape victims of the world..

[via sweeping colleges, Privilege 101, Oberlin]

Image via Shutterstock