I’m not very sympathetic to tumblr-style TW requests, either. I wouldn’t have a problem asking a student who came to me requesting a TW for ants (relevant, since I’m a biologist) for their documentation from disability services before I accommodated that.

What was inflammatory was referring to PTSD as “fee-fees”. I invoked rape victims because a sizeable majority of women are sexually assaulted, and they’re one of the largest classes of people with PTSD.

I don’t see how telling a class “There’s a graphic description of sexual assault in this piece”, but still requires…

Hey, I’m glad to hear that.

Whether or not you agree with it, that poster started out with an inflammatory, and ignorant, statement, and got the response she deserved. If you want to have a serious discussion, use the language of a serious discussion.

I’m sorry that I missed out on the rational discussion that surely would have ensued with a woman who uses the word “fee-fees” in discussion.

It’s not just rape victims.

I wouldn’t go that far. But I think that explains a lot of people. There’s a cottage industry devoted to misinformation about TW, and I find that exceptionally strange. I think part of it is that it’s a way to punch at various minorities without having to appear to be doing so.

Yeah, I replied in anger. I’ve been in academia a long time, and lately there’s been a fucking bizarro tear of thinkpieces from people about how uppity students are ruining the biz.

My point is that trigger warnings allow students to know if material might be triggering so they can make appropriate arrangments (like making an appoint with their therapist, or giving themselves some extra time Tuesday night to do the assignment), and I don’t see what’s wrong with this.

I don’t see how telling students that there is material that may be triggering, but still requiring them to do the work, allows students to “avoid” triggering material.

You’re trying to equate trigger warnings with “avoiding,” which they are not. As I said, I have never seen a situation in which “trigger warning” meant “You don’t have to do the work,” or “We will avoid this topic.” Trigger warnings let people know that a tough topic will be discussed. It’s possible that situations…

Sure, they can. And trigger warnings can help them integrate back into their daily lives while seeking treatment for PTSD, if they have it. In 12 years in academia, I’ve never encountered a trigger warning that allowed students to not show up to class or not do the work. So I really don’t see how being against trigger…

I’ve been in academia 12 years, taught 20 semester, including a lot of controversial topics. The anti-trigger warning thing is just mystifying to me. Like, what is so awful about saying ‘Hey, there’s a graphic description of rape coming up. If that is something you find disturbing, maybe make some time to process…

Cool. I don’t think it is.

College is a place to be tested and to be challenged and that may include lots of things you are uncomfortable with, and it should be that way.

I agree. And I’ve had to ask people to leave their laptops behind for meetings, when I logged into Facebook later and realized they were facebooking during the meeting. I don’t like to have meetings often, and if I’m holding a meeting, it’s important.

Yeah, I mean, do what’s right for you, whether that’s knowing early and decorating a nursery immediately, or waiting until the kid is out to tell people. But I really do worry about ever-earlier start date of parenthood - both in terms of what it means for the pressures on individual women and what it means for the…

It seems like a very unhealthy obsession, and probably leads to more heartache than relief.

I agree, and there’s this new trend of ‘tweaking’ pregnancy tests by looking at them with photoshop filters to try and see a line earlier than the test is meant to work. People should certainly grieve as they feel appropriate, but in some circles, these new technologies just seem to push women to identify strongly…

A good follow-up to this article would be one discussing how to hold events/mixers that communicate that not drinking is also an acceptable choice. This article starts down that path, but doesn’t get to the full social aspect of it: