[ SECRET POST #1998 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1998 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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09.
[Peter Gabriel]


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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]












10. [SPOILERS for the Hunger Games]



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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]













11. [WARNING for abuse]



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12. [WARNING for rape]

[Hetalia]


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13. [WARNING for abuse]



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14. [WARNING for gore, animal abuse]
http://i.imgur.com/SjfD3.jpg
[images of actual dead animals and stuff.]



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15. [WARNING for rape]

[Video Games Awesome Live]


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16. [WARNING for abuse]

[Avatar: the Last Airbender]


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17. [WARNING for rape]

[American Horror Story]


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18. [WARNING for dub-con, grooming, brainwashing]



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19. [WARNING FOR general discussion of triggery topics (there's bound to be triggering material in the comments)]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #285.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 1 (warning for rape) - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 2 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

19. [WARNING FOR general discussion of triggery topics (there's bound to be triggering material in the comments)]
http://i.imgur.com/Xd6er.png

[(Anonymous)]

cancer triggers
lolwat

[(Anonymous)]

People expect this? What do they do in RL when they run into people with illnesses or disabilities?

[klutzygirl]

My grandfather died from cancer and turns out cancer triggers me. I didn't realize this until last year some time. (Hell, I can't even watch the cancer arc on X-Files)

I just avoid fics that deal with cancer and that's that. I don't need a warning - The fact that it's in the summary is enough for me. Some warnings do go overboard, though.

[thene]

I feel like trigger warnings overused become authorial preening. There are some common traumatic experiences and phobias that some people have a real health need to avoid hearing about - I think the AO3 list does fairly well for that, though I add suicidal ideation and self-harm to the must-warn list on my comm. I'm not sure about warning for ableist/racist etc characters - it is something a lot of people have had real-life traumatic experiences and as it's just a matter of verbal atmosphere rather than plot, it's not going to spoil a reader's pleasure by knowing in advance that it's there. I don't see a lot of downside to warning for it (other than clutter) and I do see some upside. But it's not something I ask other people to warn for in the comm that I maintain.

[(Anonymous)]

When one of my friends first started reading fic he was so pissed off that one of the fics I recced him warned for mpreg. He was like, "What the hell! Why'd the author put that at the beginning of the story!? Now the plot is ruined!" I had a hard time explaining warnings to him after all these years in fandom; it's just something you do. You warn for every little thing possible that could trigger or iritate someone. I remember warning for slash and homosexual conduct back in the day... now, not so much, but there's a whole new set of things people like to be warned about.

[visp.livejournal.com]

The things you do warn for, OP, are the generally accepted requirements. Don't bother with the rest.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe because some people don't want to deal with the same crap they put up with in their real lives in their happy pretendy fandom fun time? I don't know, I consider in-character depictions of -isms to be relatively mild, more of a "you might not want to read this" than an actual trigger; I'd warn for them if it's something especially hateful but I don't expect others to.

[(Anonymous)]

ikr triggers are ridiculous
wait I take that back.
OMG you could get out of english class so easily
"No Mr. Murdock, I can't read Romeo and Juliet because I have a suicide trigger."

[(Anonymous)]

I think there's a wide difference between warning for something like terminal diseases and warning for "in-character ableism".

In the end, it's up to you what you warn for on your own stories. Obvs if you're posting to comms or something you have to follow their rules, but it's still up to you if you want to even post at comms that you don't agree with.

[(Anonymous)]

As a disabled person (Yup, wheelchair and everything), I find the idea of warning for ableism in fic, completely ridiculous. Why? it's simple, ableism is a ~REAL THING~ in my life. It's not something I have the luxury of becoming distressed over any longer at this point. Disabled people deal with this crap, all-the-time. Most of us, at least myself and my disabled friends, manage to find ways of getting beyond other people's shitty pre-conceived notions, based around our disabilities. It has been my own experience, that those who are most distressed by ableism... are 100 Percent Able Bodied Individuals! Which, frankly, boggles the damn mind.

[(Anonymous)]

How about you just not include ableism in your fics? If you don't need to be ableist, don't be ableist. I'm bipolar and it's just so damn aggravating that people confuse it with BPD, schizophrenia, or schizo-affective disorder. I don't even care that people say "she's so bipolar", etc., it's just that people get it wrong all the damn time. There's rarely a reason to include stupid little jokes or reference these disorders for any reason.

If it's in character, then it doesn't need to be warned for, since anyone familiar with canon would know about it and have no reason to complain when it shows up in fic.

oops, incoming tl;dr

[duendedefined]

Wholeheartedly agreed.

I do take triggers seriously, but Jesus fucking Christ, it's unreasonable to expect that you should warn for everything that might POSSIBLY be a trigger. There are definitely things you should warn for, yes, but I don't think "ableism" is one of them. (I'm speaking as someone who has a disability (an autism spectrum disorder, to be exact) and finds the very term "ableism" to be HORRIBLY overused, though, so I may be a bit biased anyway.) And if it's something the character would say or has canonically said, there really shouldn't be any need to warn for it.

Another thing is that some people (myself included) are triggered by things that aren't commonly thought of as triggers. For instance, in my case, the names Nick, Laura, and Kate bring back some pretty awful memories--not quite a trigger per se, but it's not exactly a comfortable experience seeing those names. And yet I don't go around saying "TRIGGER WARNING: THIS FIC MIGHT CONTAIN THE NAME OF SOMEONE WHO HURT YOU" or whatever. That would be silly.

tl;dr I think trigger warnings have gotten way out of hand, and also that "ableism" is such an overused thing to bitch about that I honestly cannot take it seriously anymore.

[(Anonymous)]

Why are you upset about "too many" warnings? How does it negatively affect y or anyone else? It helps someone, and you read five extra words. What's the issue?

[streetcake]

Once you see people arguing that incest triggers need to be added to non-incest pairings, warning for ableism won't seem like such a big deal.

Idk, it doesn't have to be under a trigger warning or in the header. Most fics I see have at least warnings or heads-up of what the fic will contain. I mean, I wanna know what kinda fic I'm reading even if I won't be triggered by anything.

Though I'm curious of what the common opinion on writing x-ist characters is. Do they need trigger warnings if anyone who knows the series would know of their prejudiced behavior? Saying that they're in the fic and play a major role could be a warning in itself.

[tamabonotchi]

Reminds me of when I would read "warning: yaoi/gay" for fic featuring slash pairings.

[tei]

So... who exactly does it hurt to be "too liberal" with trigger warnings?

[avocado_love]

I kinda gave up on my last fanfiction and said: IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO ANY ISSUE WHATSOEVER REGARDING CONSENT, DO NOT READ THIS FIC.

There wasn't any rape in the fic, but there are just so many flavors of consensual/nonconsentual/rape/are we allowed to say rape?/dub con/implied threat of rape if you squint the wrong way... I knew I would miss something.

It fucking sucks. There's no right answer. I don't want to trigger people, but how the hell am I supposed to warn for everything? No one can, but I feel like people expect me to be their damn babysitter and bubblewrap them against every possible pain... but some poeple have PTSD and I don't want to hurt anyone and... UGH. Circular thinking. I have a headache.

[(Anonymous)]

Fanfiction is starting to need the same stupid warning labels we need IRL. Because people are too stupid to hit the "back" button and get on with their lives. No, instead, they have to read the offensive material, bang out a rant about it and get more idiots like them to agree and get the offending fic removed/censored/banned/etc.

Might as well get started now. "WARNING: FIC CONTAINS WORDS AND PUNCTUATION THAT MIGHT OFFEND FRAGILE READERS!"

[(Anonymous)]

i think it's good to warn for everything you can think of. i mean, i don't care personally, because the only trigger i have is for torture, and if i come across it i will just stop reading if it gets too bad, but why not warn? it's nice. warn for marshmallows if someone says it triggers them. there's never anything wrong with being overly considerate. :)

[(Anonymous)]

"cancer triggers?" Really?

Well, see, I don't know about that. My grandmother died of cancer when I was a kid. She died in the house I grew up in and I heard and saw everything. She knew she was going to die and it was agonizing. I don't remember a lot from those months for a reason and I really wouldn't want a fic to be so realistic that it makes all those feelings of helplessness rush back. Then again, reading a summary can usually clue me into the content of the fic rendering the warning superfluous. I see both sides, I guess.

I think some people just want everything clearly labeled to avoid offending anyone, but I have had moments where I epic!eye-rolled at the warnings I see on fics.

[(Anonymous)]

TBH this "trigger warning" bullshit has just gotten ridiculous. I understand warning for things that are common triggers and might be upsetting to a lot of people even if they aren't triggering (like graphic depictions/in-depth discussion of rape, abuse, suicide, etc.) and have no problems doing that. It's when people start expecting warnings for brief passing mentions of the above things or for completely random shit like ableism that I just roll my eyes. Fandom and the internet are not your safe space, people are not obligated to warn for every little thing that might possibly upset someone and if you are really that sensitive that you can't even handle seeing those things at all then maybe reading fanfiction is not a good idea.

We're not here to be your babysitters by trying to preemptively guess what thing might upset what person. Warn for common triggers, sure. But beyond that? No, the author isn't obligated to do squat.

[attackfish]

I have added warnings for in-character ableism in the past, but I'm in a unique situation, having written posts about ableism in media, and I want to make clear to anyone going from those to said fic that it won't be dealing sensitively with the subject at all. (Of course, the narrator in that fic refers to a disabled woman as a talking dead body, so it was a special case all around.)

I have also added warnings for one character's messed up views of rape victims, and for warped discussion of love potions. And once, I warned for sexualized bullying. Some things should be warned for that don't fit the nice boxes.

As for normal things I warn for, that would be rape, abuse, severe depression and suicide ideation, incest (never had to, yet) drug use, self harm, and eating disorders. On vids, I also warn for shaky cam and rapid scene change, which are seizure triggers.

[(Anonymous)]

Something funny about warnings, usually if there's incest in a fic it will be very heavily warned for. In my fandom, the biggest ship (and my otp) is incestuous. I warn for incest, sometimes, but my attitude is, if you don't know the characters, why are you reading the fic? XD I mean, one look at the character names will tell anyone who's seen a single episode of the show that they're brothers...

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not really bothered by most "triggers" in fanfic. I have never had nightmares over fanfiction before. (I'm the same way with movies and other media.) Basically, it takes a lot to make me cry or feel scared.

But I can see why it's needed. For example, often survivors of rape and assault experience PTSD, and with PTSD, the slightest, most innocuous things can sometimes cause them to "relive" the experience. So imagine what it would be like for them to be blindsided by a full-on rape scene in a fic.

So yeah, the trigger warnings are starting to get ridiculous, but I can see why they're needed in a lot of cases.