Another way to think about a trigger warning for stuff that doesn't seem personally, to you, like A Bad Thing, might be like this:
Say when you were twelve years old and at your first Middle School Dance Oh My Gosh you were secretly wanting to ask this girl to dance the entire night. And you are sort of v v subtly following her around, looking for an in. Finally, there's more space nearby her so you sidle up super-cool like and start jammin to "Stacy's Mom," which is blasting from the speakers. She's smiling a little, and you're like yes, okay, awesome, when suddenly you slip on a wet patch on the floor and fall and your pants/skirt/what have you rips in the most humiliating way possible.
Now, every time you hear "Stacy's Mom," you cringe and remember that incident with terrifying clarity. You're like fifty years old and you're still wincing and rubbing your tailbone every time you hear "Stacy's mom has got it goin' on."
Okay, so now imagine that something much worse had happened to you while the same song was playing. And, just like if you tripped and embarrassed yourself while the song was playing, you flash back to that event every time you hear the song.
To everyone else, asking for there to be a tw for a shitty 00's pop song might seem really silly. Or like trolling. But for you, every time you hear it or think about it, you remember a horrible accident or incident or abuse that you suffered. So you ask people to warn for it, so that you don't have that happen.
Some trigger warnings are for things that people find scary or triggering in general, like spiders or eating disorders! But other things can be super specific, and might seem strange to you, but definitely don't to the person who's triggered. After I was in a car accident I couldn't be in a car whilst taking a left turn without flinching for months and months. There was nothing inherently dangerous or bad or scary about these turns, they just reminded me of this thing that had happened.
So, I mean, if someone has a trigger they just have a trigger and they're trying to be proactive about protecting themselves from mental and emotional harm by letting the mods know and that's a good thing! And it's great that the mods care so much about this too!
Okay, that's my two cents, now I have to get "Stacy's Mom" out of my head.
no subject
Say when you were twelve years old and at your first Middle School Dance Oh My Gosh you were secretly wanting to ask this girl to dance the entire night. And you are sort of v v subtly following her around, looking for an in. Finally, there's more space nearby her so you sidle up super-cool like and start jammin to "Stacy's Mom," which is blasting from the speakers. She's smiling a little, and you're like yes, okay, awesome, when suddenly you slip on a wet patch on the floor and fall and your pants/skirt/what have you rips in the most humiliating way possible.
Now, every time you hear "Stacy's Mom," you cringe and remember that incident with terrifying clarity. You're like fifty years old and you're still wincing and rubbing your tailbone every time you hear "Stacy's mom has got it goin' on."
Okay, so now imagine that something much worse had happened to you while the same song was playing. And, just like if you tripped and embarrassed yourself while the song was playing, you flash back to that event every time you hear the song.
To everyone else, asking for there to be a tw for a shitty 00's pop song might seem really silly. Or like trolling. But for you, every time you hear it or think about it, you remember a horrible accident or incident or abuse that you suffered. So you ask people to warn for it, so that you don't have that happen.
Some trigger warnings are for things that people find scary or triggering in general, like spiders or eating disorders! But other things can be super specific, and might seem strange to you, but definitely don't to the person who's triggered. After I was in a car accident I couldn't be in a car whilst taking a left turn without flinching for months and months. There was nothing inherently dangerous or bad or scary about these turns, they just reminded me of this thing that had happened.
So, I mean, if someone has a trigger they just have a trigger and they're trying to be proactive about protecting themselves from mental and emotional harm by letting the mods know and that's a good thing! And it's great that the mods care so much about this too!
Okay, that's my two cents, now I have to get "Stacy's Mom" out of my head.