Speaking for myself, I can say that if I were teaching those works, I don’t believe I’d give trigger warnings per se for the content as you’ve described it here unless I had reason to believe a particular student or students needed them. Trigger warnings are less about “make sure no one ever feels disturbed or…

I think that’s an acceptable solution for unusual or hard-to-predict triggers. I don’t, however, see any compelling reason for professors not to provide content warnings for common and obvious triggers by default. At worst, you’ve wasted a whole two or three seconds warning students that the movie you’re going to show…

Hi, I’m a real person with real PTSD, and I absolutely do phrase my advocacy for trigger warnings in terms of providing legally-mandated reasonable accommodation for a disability.

What.

Anthony Ervin’s not bad (although I think you picked a relatively unflattering photo of him), but of the notable American Olympic swimmers, I think Nathan Adrian probably wins the hotness contest:

I am sorry you feel your life was ruined, but I’m absolutely baffled as to how some other woman having an abortion could ruin your life, prevent you from marrying or having kids, cost you your career, or change what school you go to.

Why, if your friends recounted an event two ways, are you so sure that the first version was the truth and the second version a lie?

While I totally agree with your essential point that the way to encourage liberalization is to let people live their lives how they choose, I want to push back a little on the idea that dressing in a manner that’s traditional in one’s culture/family/nation of origin/religion entails “promulgating a culture that isn’t…

Well, that just filled my fuck-it-let’s-nuke-the-Earth-from-orbit meter for the day.

Is the stereotype that Jezebel posters are not judgmental idiots, are not oblivious to the rather obvious fact that there are homes and jobs located outside of cities, and do not think people who are less than wealthy are somehow morally obligated to look gift horses in the mouth? Because that seems to be the gist of…

There are plenty of lovely American-style cheeses.

Ha! Speaking as someone who is so pale that I am basically translucent, I would be very amused to buy foundation in “mayonnaise.” Turnabout is fair play, and hey, that’s pretty much the color I am!

Indeed. I used to know someone who was basically a real-life Hyacinth Bucket, complete with both the pretension and the insistence that people pronounce her last name in a ridiculous “French” way despite it not being a French name in any way and having an established English pronunciation. Did I think she was…

Um, yes?

This is absolute bullshit.

Yeah, those are awful. I don’t have nearly as much of a problem with pics that are designed to be “look at this cool person being awesome in some way,” because while that’s still kinda creepy and privacy-invading, it’s at least meant kindly. (A guy who finds himself on one of those “hot guys reading” lists may be…

Holy shit, this guy is a scumbag. I hope he not only gets fired from his job but also gets fired into the goddamn sun.

You know, I wasn’t convinced putting Gabby on the team was the right choice, but (a) obviously it worked out just fine, and (b) even if it hadn’t, it’s not like Gabby somehow forced Martha Karolyi to pick her, so it makes no sense for anyone to be mad at her for being on the team.

Yeah, that was insanely patronizing and obnoxious. I wished Nastia had felt like she could say, “No, seriously, she’s calculating her starting value because she’s a goddamn 24-year-old elite athlete and not a small child, you sexist dipshit” the second time around, because I suspect that’s pretty much what she was…

Yeah, I would have loved to see Aly nab the gold, but honestly, I’m happiest when it ends up being a competition between a bunch of people who go out there and do a great job; it’s always heartbreaking when someone who is totally capable of greatness falls apart when it matters most (like the Swiss gymnast today). I’d…