Trigger Warnings on GA. What do yo think?

[GanymedeRex]

The chapters on GayAuthors often has content trigger warnings.   You've seen them. "This chapter contains coarse language", "sexual abuse",  "violence", etc....

Personally, I don't like Trigger Warnings.  The limited scientific research on this topic indicates that such warnings either have no practical effect or are mildly harmful.   Rather than just complain about them, I'm wondering what other people on this community think about them.

[MichaelS36]

To me I don't care. I'm not a person who is 'triggered' by anything, in the usual sense of the word. But I understand why they are there. I simply ignore them because I can. 

[Mikiesboy]

As a writer on GA, i use them when appropriate because we're supposed to. Just as we are supposed to use appropriate story tags.  I figure most people likely ignore them but there are people who need them. If putting a warning helps someone, then that's a good thing.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Mikiesboy

[BKWildenberg]

It’s no different than the rating systems used in any other form of media. I like to know what I’m getting into when I start a new story, and there is some content that I’m frankly not interested in exploring some times. 

GA as a whole is pretty good about keeping the super-gross stuff away entirely, so it’s much less of an issue here. 

[Kitt]

I have to agree with both Mike and tim.  Not much phases me in literature. I pretty much skip right over warning tags.  I do see how someone who has been subjected to sexual or domestic violence would want to avoid those scenes and rape scenes, someone who has been shot would want to avoid shootings etc, so warnings could cut down stress and visits to the doc!

[Brayon]

I'm not a fan of Trigger Warnings. I would rather not use them. However, they are required on GA as it's part of the rules here, and it's the only reason why I use them. On other sites, I don't.

[GanymedeRex]

Interesting.  The tags already let people know what's in a story.

[Brayon]

2 minutes ago, GanymedeRex said:

Interesting.  The tags already let people know what's in a story.

Tags are one part, and while it says what the overall theme might contain one of the moderated content, the warnings are need on the chapters that actually has the content. That's why you see both.

[Myr]

I am not a fan of content warnings either.  However, a significant enough population of our members desires them and they are only a minor inconvenience, if that, to the author.

If you don't like them, ignore them.  If you do like them, read them.

[Carlos Hazday]

I think the closest I've come to a warning is in my most recent story. There's a chapter called "The Suicide." I figured anyone having trouble reading about such an event could skip it.

Blame Tipper Gore for starting this crap by pushing for content warning on music albums. If I find something I dislike in a story, I stop reading. Particularly when I'm reading it for free online. I neither need nor want mommy or government censors telling me what's good or bad for me. Just like I don't need anyone telling me what to write or what type of characters to include in my work.

[Thorn Wilde]

4 hours ago, GanymedeRex said:

The limited scientific research on this topic indicates that such warnings either have no practical effect or are mildly harmful.

This is a factually inaccurate statement. The research on the topic of PTSD triggers is not especially limited, nor is there any indication that giving people heads up about potentially triggering topics is harmful. Some folks would rather have the warning and be able to sleep the following three nights. 

And even if you don't believe that, there is nothing wrong with wanting to avoid content that makes you uncomfortable for whatever reason. People read stories for lots of different reasons, and if someone wants to avoid topics that may provoke strong, negative emotional responses, they should be able to do so. Content warnings are a good thing for the people who want or need them, and at worst a mild inconvenience for those who don't. Nothing wrong with having a little empathy.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Thorn Wilde

[Wayne Gray]

It's no harm for me to put them in, and it can be helpful for some. Having a trigger warning of an assault, for example, could make a rather large difference to some readers. PTSD is real. If someone needs to skip a chapter I wrote to avoid anguish, then it's a tiny price to pay to help someone avoid that trauma.

People who don't need them won't read them. Others who do will.

It seems pretty simple.

[Caz Pedroso]

When i first started seeing the warnings on books i was reading i wondered what their purpose was as a lot of the warnings were implicit in the blurb of the book and there for anyone to see.

However, after a while i did see the purpose of them and although like others I ignore them when reading, I always put them on my work where I (or my beta/editor) think appropriate. 

[Dodger]

They can useful when you're only looking for the really explicit scenes in a book. This way you can go straight to where the action is without having to read all the other boring chapters!

Not that I would ever do anything like that, but if I ever did that would probably be a good way of doing it.

Don't judge me. It's this quarantine crap, it's making me go all weird.

[Brayon]

1 hour ago, Dodger said:

Don't judge me. It's this quarantine crap, it's making me go all weird.

"Right.... Scott...." <--- In Doctor Evil's Voice.

[Talo Segura]

I feel that trigger warnings have their place on this site, but I also think they are all mixed up with tags. An example of a trigger warning is: This story contains references to sex and drugs and other real life incidents which may be disturbing to some readers. It may not be suitable for readers with sensibilities. A warning to readers about content.

The tags on stories, especially the sex tags, are not exactly trigger warnings, except if you tag say, rape. However, I don't see a tag like anal as a trigger warning. Tags on age suitability are not trigger warnings, but a guide to parents on story content. I think it is all mixed together in tags, which include some trigger warnings, some age suitability guidance, and simply story categories.

On other sites I have seen age suitability guidance clarified, along the lines of, teenager may include mild swearing, mature stories are those with adult content ( obvious really). That classification is not a trigger warning. Trigger warnings are: this story contains scenes which may hurt readers with particular sensibilities. You may then wish to add, rape, child abuse, drugs, extreme violence, etc.

[Myr]

4 hours ago, Talo Segura said:

I feel that trigger warnings have their place on this site, but I also think they are all mixed up with tags

Tags and content warnings have nothing to do with each other at all.  Tags are a way to sort stories for particular content. 

Content warnings are notes placed by the author in the story and/or the chapter for specific items that are known to cause issue with some people.

Audience rating is pretty much the standard everywhere and how to rate the story is included in the FAQ for posting a story.

Quote

Audience Rating: Everyone = No sex; Teen= off-screen sex, or non-explicit touching/making out;  Mature = Graphic sexual content of any kind on-screen (Note: These ratings can be utilized for violent or graphic content other than sexual, but specific warnings should be included using the story/chapter note areas)

 

 

[Thorn Wilde]

3 hours ago, Myr said:

Tags and content warnings have nothing to do with each other at all.  Tags are a way to sort stories for particular content. 

If I read Talo's response correctly, I think that was his exact point, since some people in this thread have conflated the two.  

[ReaderPaul]

I have mixed feelings on trigger warnings.  Overall, I think they can be good.  But as some have already said, the content tags can give an idea of a story, while warnings may be placed on specific chapters.

One of my favorite authors (who has not yet posted on GA) has used warnings on two chapters of his work (out of nearly 1,000 chapters posted on another site) and they were very appropriate.  One was a description of a fourteen-year-old discovering that a classmate was attempting to suicide, and how he ended up saving his life.  The other was a much more graphic and violent crime scene.  His warning was something like, "A violent and gruesome crime scene is discovered three paragraphs below such-and-such point.  If this might be a triggering event or you have a weak stomach, skip down to xxxx."

Trigger warnings can be overused.  I saw once a trigger warning about a person getting chewing gun in their hair by accident.  While funny, I did not think it rose to being worthy of a warning.

[Brayon]

24 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

Trigger warnings can be overused.  I saw once a trigger warning about a person getting chewing gun in their hair by accident.  While funny, I did not think it rose to being worthy of a warning.

Yeah, they can be used to the point of absurdity. There was one story I read, that had a trigger warning about consensual heterosexual sex, in a straight romance novel. It made me wonder why it was there, until I was told that 'some' readers consider any form of heterosexual sex 'non-consensual'. It made my head hurt.

[Myr]

32 minutes ago, Brayon said:

that had a trigger warning about consensual heterosexual sex, in a straight romance novel. It made me wonder why it was there, until I was told that 'some' readers consider any form of heterosexual sex 'non-consensual'. It made my head hurt.

I have a comment, but since it would require a whole boatload of trigger warnings AND be placed in The Pit, I won't.

[Dodger]

1 hour ago, ReaderPaul said:

Trigger warnings can be overused.  I saw once a trigger warning about a person getting chewing gun in their hair by accident.  While funny, I did not think it rose to being worthy of a warning.

Non-consensual chewing gum sounds like it should have a warning.

[CassieQ]

I think some things warrant a warning.  Rape, extreme or graphic violence, etc.  I even had an admin member leave me a comment on Unrequited telling me that I should warn readers about "het sex".  I don't see a problem with it.  If I see a warning for something I think I wouldn't like, I usually make a decision based on the author and their writing, on whether I want to proceed or not.  

[Thorn Wilde]

11 hours ago, CassieQ said:

I even had an admin member leave me a comment on Unrequited telling me that I should warn readers about "het sex". 

Should I be putting 'Trigger Warning: Vagina' on my trans dude stories, maybe? 🤔

[Carlos Hazday]

11 minutes ago, Thorn Wilde said:

Should I be putting 'Trigger Warning: Vagina' on my trans dude stories, maybe? 🤔

Nobody complained when I had a character in a three way with two other guys and a couple of chapters later had him eat a girl out and then go at it with her. Well, my editor did say "Yuck" or something like that.