Silver Adept (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silveradept) wrote2012-09-20 06:52 pm
silveradept) wrote2012-09-20 06:52 pm
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Thinky-Thoughts: The Necessity of Trigger Warnings (and how Good Intentions aren't enough)
[Thinky-Thoughts, especially on sensitive subjects, are in a perpetual beta, because I can't think of everything. Comments are always welcome, because they expand perspective and provide necessary context.]
A lot of very profound people have talked about an article mentioning that trigger warnings are not effective at their intended task, may cause self-censorship, and prop up an illusion that a safe space is possible anywhere in the world, digital or otherwise. A strong reaction to the idea (and that is public) comes fromeumelia that each person individually needs or doesn't need warnings - making universals out of your own experience is not good - and that the reprieve granted through the use of the triggers is a way of showing compassion to those who do suffer. I can see both sides - wanting people to be able to confront that reality does not provide them with accomodation, but also the revulsion I usually have to a Randroid saying that individualism is the only true virtue and that cooperation only breeds dependence and disappointment.
Then comes the stories. And more stories. And television writers start making stories that do things to women for the purpose of making the men better, without understanding what those things would do to the women, even though some of those women come through it stronger. And Oh, gods, the stories, even of the ones that don't end in assault. And have some more stories about Rape Culture and assaults. Did we also mention how it creeps into popular literature and widely-popular literature, and that it's really fucking hard not to victim-blame, especially in situations where the Fridge Logic of victim-blaming becomes Insane Troll Logic because victim-blaming requires ignoring reality and context at the same time?
At that point, the weight of the evidence tips the scales - reality already takes care of reminding people, repeatedly and viciously, that it does not care about their triggers, or about their experiences, and that most people will not understand nor make space for them to have a breather. And this is tough because when you're me, you've been steeped in the privilege blindness that says "Well, so long as you're a good person and don't do any of those things, then you don't really have to care about the wider picture." And that if your intentions are reasonably virtuous, then surely you can't be held responsible for the things that you do that creep the absolute fuck out of others, right? Certainly it's not your personal fault that people are withdrawing from blogging because the trolling is incessant?
A Guide For Men With Good Intentions, so that you can see where good intentions can have disastrous results, and the person pointing this out to you believes that you can change your behavior so as not to continue making bad results out of good intentions. Also, good things come from being able to appreciate your partner(s) for what they want to be known for, and then wanting to be more like them because they're better at good things than you are.
It can be disconcerting to find that the shadows on the wall that you thought were reality were, in fact, shadows that dissipate in the bright light of day. We get that. It's easier to go back inside the cave and go back to the familiar. There's also the realization that enlightenment sucks for the self-esteem (at least in the short term) when you notice that the Thing in your past that you thought was just a case of bad timing was, in fact, more than just bad timing - it was bad timing and being a creep. And then, you can look back in on what you didn't think about before and see a lot of things there that are quite evil and ugly. It's like (and here we make a Piers Anthony reference, which is a bit fun to do in this context (and also helps you figure out which book is beign referenced)) having the seeing glasses that let you show that the souls in Hell are gorging themselves on garbage, that the roulette wheel is rigged to always win, and that all the splendors of the tour are not anything like the reality.
What to do from there? Go back into the cave and bring people out. Utilize your "skillful means" to get people out of the burning house. (No mistakes there, it is a burning house and it will collapse at some point.) Trigger warnings are one way of going about this. Not being That Guy, The Nice Guy, or The Creep, which involves mindfulness about what you are doing and thinking in new ways and perspectives. It'll be hard to start with. You'll screw up. (I already have. Repeatedly.) But the end product will be better, because it allows you to examine yourself and say, "Y'know, I shouldn't be mad at Isabella Swan for Mike Newton's behavior. I shouldn't blithely assume that the person walking from their workplace to the parking lot where their car is will get there safely, even if it is a well-lit area and there are lots of people around."
It shouldn't take a crushing amount of evidence and weight to trigger the spark of self-inquiry and enlightenment. But when the illusion is as good as out modern life is...well, sometimes you have to have raw data to make it all work out. And then the compassion and humanity to decide that you do want to help and are willing to accept that the terms of how you can help aren't going to be dictated by you, but (more often than not) to you. There's no shame in letting someone with more experience take the lead and give direction, so long as you're ready to learn and grow from it.
A lot of very profound people have talked about an article mentioning that trigger warnings are not effective at their intended task, may cause self-censorship, and prop up an illusion that a safe space is possible anywhere in the world, digital or otherwise. A strong reaction to the idea (and that is public) comes from
eumelia that each person individually needs or doesn't need warnings - making universals out of your own experience is not good - and that the reprieve granted through the use of the triggers is a way of showing compassion to those who do suffer. I can see both sides - wanting people to be able to confront that reality does not provide them with accomodation, but also the revulsion I usually have to a Randroid saying that individualism is the only true virtue and that cooperation only breeds dependence and disappointment. Then comes the stories. And more stories. And television writers start making stories that do things to women for the purpose of making the men better, without understanding what those things would do to the women, even though some of those women come through it stronger. And Oh, gods, the stories, even of the ones that don't end in assault. And have some more stories about Rape Culture and assaults. Did we also mention how it creeps into popular literature and widely-popular literature, and that it's really fucking hard not to victim-blame, especially in situations where the Fridge Logic of victim-blaming becomes Insane Troll Logic because victim-blaming requires ignoring reality and context at the same time?
At that point, the weight of the evidence tips the scales - reality already takes care of reminding people, repeatedly and viciously, that it does not care about their triggers, or about their experiences, and that most people will not understand nor make space for them to have a breather. And this is tough because when you're me, you've been steeped in the privilege blindness that says "Well, so long as you're a good person and don't do any of those things, then you don't really have to care about the wider picture." And that if your intentions are reasonably virtuous, then surely you can't be held responsible for the things that you do that creep the absolute fuck out of others, right? Certainly it's not your personal fault that people are withdrawing from blogging because the trolling is incessant?
A Guide For Men With Good Intentions, so that you can see where good intentions can have disastrous results, and the person pointing this out to you believes that you can change your behavior so as not to continue making bad results out of good intentions. Also, good things come from being able to appreciate your partner(s) for what they want to be known for, and then wanting to be more like them because they're better at good things than you are.
It can be disconcerting to find that the shadows on the wall that you thought were reality were, in fact, shadows that dissipate in the bright light of day. We get that. It's easier to go back inside the cave and go back to the familiar. There's also the realization that enlightenment sucks for the self-esteem (at least in the short term) when you notice that the Thing in your past that you thought was just a case of bad timing was, in fact, more than just bad timing - it was bad timing and being a creep. And then, you can look back in on what you didn't think about before and see a lot of things there that are quite evil and ugly. It's like (and here we make a Piers Anthony reference, which is a bit fun to do in this context (and also helps you figure out which book is beign referenced)) having the seeing glasses that let you show that the souls in Hell are gorging themselves on garbage, that the roulette wheel is rigged to always win, and that all the splendors of the tour are not anything like the reality.
What to do from there? Go back into the cave and bring people out. Utilize your "skillful means" to get people out of the burning house. (No mistakes there, it is a burning house and it will collapse at some point.) Trigger warnings are one way of going about this. Not being That Guy, The Nice Guy, or The Creep, which involves mindfulness about what you are doing and thinking in new ways and perspectives. It'll be hard to start with. You'll screw up. (I already have. Repeatedly.) But the end product will be better, because it allows you to examine yourself and say, "Y'know, I shouldn't be mad at Isabella Swan for Mike Newton's behavior. I shouldn't blithely assume that the person walking from their workplace to the parking lot where their car is will get there safely, even if it is a well-lit area and there are lots of people around."
It shouldn't take a crushing amount of evidence and weight to trigger the spark of self-inquiry and enlightenment. But when the illusion is as good as out modern life is...well, sometimes you have to have raw data to make it all work out. And then the compassion and humanity to decide that you do want to help and are willing to accept that the terms of how you can help aren't going to be dictated by you, but (more often than not) to you. There's no shame in letting someone with more experience take the lead and give direction, so long as you're ready to learn and grow from it.