Hello and welcome back to this Sunday’s bookish discussion, which is going to be about content warnings or trigger warnings. These two terms, commonly used interchangeably, refer to a paragraph or section at the beginning of a book or a website that readers can refer to in order to be made aware of anything in the story that might be upsetting, distressing, or triggering to readers (source here). A content warning can range from harm to children or animals, suicide attempts, depictions of violence, domestic violence, rape, trauma, or anything else that can be triggering to a person.
I can’t recall hearing the term content or trigger warning when I was younger. We just kind of read things and only found out if there was harmful content by discovering it the hard way, and for people who were sensitive to this information, getting harmed all over again by it. When I got back into reading, content warnings were a big topic of discussion and it felt as though everyone was including content warnings with their reviews. While I’m not generally sensitive to material that’s in books, I can understand how other people might be, and respect the need to have content warnings available to people before they start reading a book.
Since I already track “gasps” for my gasp factor, it wasn’t a hardship to also track triggering things that arise over the course of a story as well. This is even easier when I’m reading a digital book, since I can just highlight a word or phrase and be able to refer back to it when writing my review. It’s a bit harder when I’m reading an audiobook, since I’m often driving or doing some kind of busy work, like cooking. When I started, I sort of developed a list of things that could be triggering based on a combination of my own work in the mental health field and things I had seen in other reviews or content warnings that authors provided.
My discussion questions for today are: Do you offer content warnings in your reviews? Do you feel as though you benefit from content warnings? Why or why not? What do you think of trigger warnings?
Categories: Sunday Bookish Discussion
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This is a topic that has interested me for a while!
Do you offer content warnings in your reviews? – I guess it really depends on whether said content warning doubles as a spoiler, or if I think the content isn’t severe enough to warrant a CW. I don’t write my reviews for other people as such, I write them for me, but if I plan on recommending the book to friends/other people, I usually flag any topics I know are sensitive to them and let them know I’m happy to offer more details if they need it before deciding to read the book.
Do you feel as though you benefit from content warnings? Why or why not? – Personally, no, I don’t and I never have. For fanfiction, I like it, because when I read fanfiction I go in wanting something very specific so it’s a useful way for me to cull things I’m simply not interested in, but when I’m reading a book, I like the sensation of discovery. I don’t have any triggers myself, so that’s already a huge difference between me and someone else who does, but I’ve always been fine with simply being able to stop reading if I’m uncomfortable or not enjoying it. More often than not I’ll push through the discomfort because fiction has always been a great way for me to face confronting topics without actually being in any danger. The one time I DID think I’d have benefited from a content warning was when I read “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara – if someone had warned me how much misery and torture porn was in that book, I’d’ve happily saved myself a full week of reading a book that just kept getting worse and worse and worse.
What do you think of trigger warnings? – Helpful for people who need them, but can be overused to the detriment of the work. Because if you warn for one thing, why not start warning for another thing, and another thing, and another thing? Where does one draw the line? How far do you have to go in explaining the trigger warning?
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Thank you for this thoughtful response, especially since you come from the perspective of both an author and a reader. I also don’t necessarily personally benefit from content warnings since I don’t have triggers, but like you, certain topics make me uncomfortable. I can push through those and find that I can often grow from working through the discomfort, but that’s such a different experience from being triggered to prior trauma, and I look at it like if I can help someone else avoid encountering something like that, then I’m going to take the little bit of extra time to do that.
I guess I just work off of the things that are likely to be associated with trauma – chlid abuse or neglect, sexual assault, domestic violence, violence, gore, and for YA books, cursing or sexual content that is excessive.
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I also don’t remember trigger warnings in my childhood either or growing up
My reviews- oops, don’t put them in those
Well, despite seeing the warnings, still read the review and sometimes don’t spot those elements in the book itself. So may not be useful for me
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I’m curious when they started appearing – I just got back into reading and they were a thing, so I never really thought about it!
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Honestly, don’t really know
I probably ignore the trigger warnings because I didn’t grow up with them; they simply didn’t exist
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I get that.
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It depends on the book. In many of the recent reviews I’ve written for Children’s and Teen books, I mention “content warnings” because there are some readers (mostly adults) who believe either that the content is “inappropriate” for kids, or that the topic/issue “doesn’t happen to kids” (both are untrue). That being said, I have in a few previous reviews mentioned the content warnings as mentioned by the author (i.e. “Lost in the Moment and Found” by Seanan McGuire).
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Agreed – I think that people who are supportive of book bannings tend to completely misunderstand the purpose of content warnings (as well as what kids and teens go through in real life). I’m always especially impressed when an author includes content warnings at the start of their book.
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As a librarian, I’ve come across parents who use content warnings as reasons why their children aren’t allowed to read the books. “I don’t want my child ‘exposed’ to the content in those books.”
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That’s so upsetting, to hear something that is supposed to make kids safer twisted around to justify keeping books away from kids.
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There is a parent who comes in and requests books “without conflict” for her child. Not only is that not a “simple request,” but also we know it’s going to hinder the child from dealing with “known” conflicts in the real world.
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I’ll never understand a parent who overprotects like that and thinks they’re actually helping. Children learn healthy conflict resolution by watching others act it out and by reading about it, and if they don’t have healthy role models, books become even more important! After a certain age group, all books contain some kind of conflict, right? What happens when the kid reads MG or YA? Imagine an adult asking for a book without conflict? 🤣
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I’m hearing more bizarre requests for kids as a librarian than I did as a teacher! Conflict is taught in schools, and parents believe it can be avoided in all books outside of school! 😫
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I have serious concerns about future generations.
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I’m concerned about the current ones as well.
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Super interesting discussion! I don’t put offer content or trigger warnings in my reviews. If I thought something was more stand out or graphic than usual, I’ll do a little disclaimer at the end. For me personally, I find content warnings super useful, and I use that feature on The StoryGraph very often.
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Thank you! I haven’t been putting content warnings when I listen to an audiobook, because it’s hard to write them down when I’m driving or have my hands busy, while it’s really to highlight it or make a note when I’m on my kindle. I love that StoryGraph features content warnings! There’s also a Trigger Warning account that’s on GoodReads that lists them and it’s really helpful.
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Yes, I include content warnings in my reviews.
I have had some very unpleasant experiences in the past with books that included a couple of things I really, really don’t want to read about…especially if I have zero advanced warning that they will be part of the plot and have not mentally prepared for it.
So out of courtesy for people who may feel the same way, I try to warn folks ahead of time of major things in the books I read that may be triggering for others.
I think it’s a good idea to do what you can to give folks advanced warning for topics that are super common triggers like abuse, pregnancy loss, really gory descriptions, etc.
It’s impossible to include every single thing that might trigger someone, of course. Trigger warnings and content warnings are not foolproof, and nor should they be. I would never fault a reviewer for accidentally leaving something out. Nobody is perfect.
But I think making note of the big stuff is smart for reviewers who read books that include things that are well known to be very difficult for some folks to read. Just like I’d never invite someone to go watch a horror movie with me if I knew they were totally freaked out by blood (or zombies, or ghosts, or what have you).
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I agree with this – while I typically don’t include trigger warnings when I read audiobooks simply because I listen to them when I don’t have hands free to make note of every one the way I do when I’m reading a physical book, I’ll still mention if there’s some major ones that people should know about. Like you, I don’t want to recommend a book to a reader and have them be shocked halfway through the book by something that is triggering to them. It’s just a matter of respect.
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