College isn’t a safe space. For many, it’s the first time away from home. Some will experience their first drink (and their first hangover), while for others, it’s their first time having sex. A lot of women–as many as one in five–will be sexually assaulted before they graduate. Except for a few places–activist spaces, behavioral health and rape crisis centers (where they exist)–survivors have few places to go where they are guaranteed safety. Not even the classroom.
On its face, the fight against trigger warnings–verbal or written markers used to indicate when material might cause a panicked reaction in someone who has been assaulted–looks like a struggle against censorship, or even for intellectual freedom. The argument is that trigger warnings have professors pulling material from their classes because it might offend, but that’s a misuse of the idea entirely.
In reality, trigger warnings empower survivors to make conscious decisions about their safety. Survivors don’t need educators or administrators to protect us. To incorporate trigger warnings into the classroom, or into any space, is to create a space that, while it may not be entirely safe, gives agency to survivors.
Trigger warnings are not about the specific triggering content, or warning against it, but rather the acknowledgment that violence has probably been committed against people in the room. Furthermore, trigger warnings can help to ensure that sensitive conversations will acknowledge the experiences of those who have endured violence. Veterans, for example, will be given opportunities to discuss war trauma, while sexual assault survivors will be given prevalence in talks about rape, and and the voices of people of color will be amplified when discussion topics touch on racial prejudice and violence.
If you don’t think trigger warnings matter, then trigger warnings aren’t meant for you. Language is full of indicators of systemic oppression, and that reality can be uncomfortable for those reluctant to believe they are oppressive in their actions, or that the language of oppressors is ingrained in them. It’s also difficult to change the way you speak (or think), or to value the perspectives and experiences of those you disagree with.
That said, the backlash against trigger warnings is sadly indicative of an all too common trend in our society: The unwillingness of people with privilege to make space for those who have experienced violence or oppression. It can be hard to realize how much space you really take up, and to make yourself smaller. Still, that discomfort pales in significance to what it feels like to be triggered, or to have to unexpectedly face your attacker.
No amount of trigger warnings can keep someone from getting triggered. I get triggered by a certain deodorant, but I’m not writing letters to Unilever to get them to take it off the market. Nevertheless, trigger warnings tell me I am free to speak about my experiences. They tell me my perspectives on something I have personally experienced will be valued and not dismissed. Bottom line: Trigger warnings in a college classroom will amplify the voices of survivors and the victims of violence and prejudice. I can think of few things that could be more educational.
