Loading…
9
That librarian's note about trigger warnings actually got me thinking
I used to add a trigger warning to every single book I reviewed online, no matter what. A librarian in Austin commented on my post about The Handmaid's Tale saying I was doing more harm than good by making readers afraid of the content before they even opened it. She said I was turning a reading experience into a warning label. So I stopped doing it for a month, and my discussion threads got way more honest and open. Has anyone else gotten pushback like that and actually changed how they approach banned book discussions?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
the_paul1mo ago
Huh, that's a wild take from that librarian, but I get it. The thing nobody talks about is how trigger warnings can actually spoil the gut punch of a book. Like, when I read Lolita for the first time, I went in blind and that discomfort was the whole point, it made me sit with the ick. If someone had slapped a warning on it, I probably would've read it with my guard up instead of letting the story mess with my head. So yeah, I dropped the warnings for anything that isn't super graphic or real-life traumatic, and my reviews feel less like a doctor's note now. It's a fine line though, cause I don't wanna shame people who need that heads up for their own mental health.
1