A movement is arising on college campuses across the nation — a student-led crusade to eradicate words, literary materials and ideas they deem “discomforting.”
The topic of trigger warnings dominated the Internet, stirring controversy over the line between hypersensitivity and actual trauma. A trigger warning is a statement alerting the reader or viewer to the fact that the material contains potentially distressing topics.
The concept is convoluted and abused by college students simply because they don’t want to read a book for class. Unless the student has post-traumatic stress disorder, the arguments advocating for trigger warnings are illogical. There are no trigger warnings in the real world – no one is going to warn you when something offensive or emotional occurs, you just have to cope and move on.
Beginning in the blogosphere, trigger warnings were meant to prepare people with PTSD for the content they were about to encounter, especially if it could elicit a significant emotional reaction, including flashbacks or anxiety.
Triggers can range anywhere from an essay or film to a smell or object. The phrase developed from psychiatry to Tumblr and somehow landed on college syllabuses.
There is a fundamental difference between a trigger warning for offensive material seen online and a trigger warning on a college syllabus. College students who hope to usher in a new era of political correctness, going so far as opting out of certain classes or ignoring assignments without suffering any academic consequences.
The Atlantic recently published “The Coddling of the American Mind,” emphasizing the way students abuse trigger warnings to avoid coming in contact with certain material. Students have claimed F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” “portrays misogyny and physical abuse,” therefore allowing students who have previously been victims of domestic abuse to avoid the novel for fear it may “trigger” a past trauma.
The spread of trigger warnings from the blogging world to college campuses began with concerns over how to handle sexual assault, as some have asserted because one in four women have been sexually abused, trigger warnings are necessary to protect the victims from being traumatized. However, avoiding triggers isn’t a healthy coping mechanism. In fact, avoiding reminders of trauma is actually a symptom of PTSD.
Faculty at American University in Washington, D.C. passed a resolution condemning the trigger warning phenomenon, arguing they are not conducive to the academic environment a university is supposed to foster.
“For hundreds of years, the pursuit of knowledge has been at the center of university life,” the resolution reads. “Unfettered discourse, no matter how controversial, inconvenient, or uncomfortable, is a condition necessary to that pursuit.”
Panic attacks are not to be taken lightly. They are instinctive reactions incapacitating the individual. However, distinction must be made between actual panic-inducing reactions and students unwilling to read or discuss material. Proponents claim that it is better to err on the side of caution, but what good are trigger warnings actually doing?
The most basic tenets of psychology teach that avoidance is not the way to cope with things one fears. According to Deb Stone of STIR Journal, because the memories of trauma survivors are so specific, increasing trigger warnings are largely ineffective.
The Socratic method of teaching, named after Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry designed to foster discussion between individuals and stimulate critical thinking in a self-assessing manner. This form of learning allows students to question assumptions and delve into their own minds to reach the heart of the subject matter. Such questioning may lead to discomfort or anger, but this is how we begin to understand. This is an example of how students should confront information — by using it to think critically about their beliefs, not shy away from information that does not conform perfectly to their existing values or ideals.
A college education cannot be equated with a party you leave because you aren’t having fun or a movie you don’t like that you can walk out of. It is about fostering an intellectual environment in which students are exposed to artistic and educational material they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. The real world doesn’t come with a content advisory, so students shouldn’t expect one in the classroom.
Mariah Manuel is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Lake Charles, Louisiana. You can reach her on Twitter @mariah_manuel.