In defence of trigger warnings
Many commentators are mocking the new trend of having trigger warnings on books - but those wanting them should not be dismissed as ‘snowflakes’.
Trigger warnings, particularly in books, are becoming more and more commonplace these days.
It is something I have been thinking about this week after visiting the Edinburgh Book Festival and browsing their on-site bookshop.
These are advance notices to tell readers about any themes which could be distressing. Some of the most commonly seen triggers include sexual violence, suicide and self-harm, extreme violence or death. Sometimes they are listed at the beginning of a book, other times right at the end in case readers do not want to get any spoilers.
Recently there have been numerous stories about various books having trigger warnings added and commentators snorting with derision at such a suggestion. Last year, for example, there was widespread mockery when Glasgow University added warnings to Harry Potter and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
However, trigger warnings can simply allow people to pick and choose when they read a certain book as opposed to forever consigning the book to the ‘DNF’ pile.
In writing this column I think back to two situations - one with my mum, and one with my husband.
In the days and weeks after my granny died, we were going to the shop on an almost daily basis to buy mum a new book to read.
At this point, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was on the bestsellers’ lists and was front and centre of all the book displays in town.
The blurb ends with the line: “Another thing you should know: Death will visit the book thief three times.”
Mum immediately knew she could not read The Book Thief then and there. It does not mean she was never going to read it, or that she is a “snowflake”, it just means she did not want to read a book about death when she was dealing with bereavement herself.
The other example was with my husband - his mum had just been diagnosed with cancer, and to cheer him up I suggested he watched a film.
After flicking through Netflix, I settled on About Time, not realising that (spoiler) one of the characters dies from cancer and one of the plot points is how the main character deals with this.
It really upset my husband, and had we known that was coming up we probably would have chosen a different film. It does not mean we would never watch the film because we are of too delicate a disposition to ever watch something about cancer.
There are times where I do sigh a bit when discussing trigger warnings in books as I do feel that sometimes authors are trying to get as many warnings as they possibly can in one book as a selling point.
One book I read recently had 25 trigger warnings, and the author’s website describes it as “the book with the craziest list”. In my humble opinion, trying to squeeze as many shocking things into 350 pages did not make for a good book.
But beyond that, I feel like I need to defend the new norm of trigger warnings. It does not mean we will never read these books - just maybe not right now.
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