As an English major, I get assigned a lot of reading and some of the stuff I have to read makes me extremely uncomfortable. “The Knife” by Richard Selzer is one of those pieces. Written by a surgeon, it describes the operating table, the human body, and the tools of surgery as if surgery were an art form. Even with the poetic language, it is still fairly graphic.
Even though it was difficult at first, I was able to get through it. Another student said, “I couldn’t do it. It was too gross and I put it down.” However, both our class discussion that day and one of our upcoming assignments were based on “The Knife.” What was our professor supposed to do? Force the student to read the essay so they could get a good grade? Was it the professor’s responsibility to take the student’s comfort level into account? Considering its graphic content, should the essay come with trigger warnings?
College is about taking steps outside of your comfort zone. It is about learning, about opening your mind to the possibilities of a world where you suddenly have the power to make a difference. College is not about holding every student’s hand. But discomfort is the not the same as trauma. Feeling squeamish is not the same as having PTSD. “The Knife” made me wince, but I was able to focus on the poetic aspect and read without being affected. Someone who has been physically tortured might not feel the same way and shouldn’t be forced to read it, class assignment or not.
Trigger warnings are not a security blanket. They are not politically correct. They are not meant to keep people from getting “offended.” Trigger warnings ensure that those who have experienced psychological trauma will not have to go through it again.
Not everything needs trigger warnings, though. Offensive material is often the most persuasive material. For example, The Onion is a satirical news site famous for its sarcastic headlines. John Stewart, the former host of The Daily Show, makes his living delivering scathing commentary on current events and deliberately offending politicians and popular news outlets. It’s nearly impossible to say something that is completely unoffensive to everyone, so their response is to offend anybody and everybody.
Satire is necessary in a world where nothing gets done unless people are offended enough to get off the couch. Discomfort makes you think, "Why do I feel this way? What does this say about me?" If at one point or another during college you feel uncomfortable, congratulations! You’re learning something.
Trigger warnings don’t belong on every little thing. The world is not censored, and academics need to reflect that. But causing someone psychological pain can be and should be avoided. Does the mere mention of rape make you uncomfortable? Good. You should feel that way because rape is terrible and wrong. Discussing rape in an academic setting is one thing, but describing it in detail so a rape victim would be forced to relive his or her own horrible experiences is completely unnecessary. If an act of violence is being discussed in a way to make readers or listeners feel as if they are experiencing the violence themselves, trigger warnings should be used. There is no way to tell just by looking if a person has experienced trauma or has PTSD, but we can take precautionary actions against hurting them further by looking at the content we are sharing or reading, and asking ourselves how immersive the content is.
We have a duty to learn everything we can about the world and a duty to teach others what we have learned. But we are also responsible for the pain we cause others. If a trigger warning keeps even a single victim of domestic abuse from having a flashback, then it is worth it across the board. Education is not worth the cost of psychological damage.
