two highly recommended warnings essays

[seperis]

As This Is My Life

So apparently, someone doing roadwork cut through our cable line, and we have a.) no cable, b.) no internet and c.) no phone. Which means tonight, may not be on if I can't get the tethering to work between John II and Arthur. However, Arthur the G1 and I are going to bond like whoa. Just. G3 is not very fast. So we'll see how that's going to work out.

ETA: Have internetz! They fixed it! Shocking.

Warnings

Sexual Assault, Triggering, and Warnings: An Essay by impertinence

Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery.

In response to this essay, I've had a complete reversal on my general attitude of whatever on warnings. Sure, it should not take someone gutting themselves publicly for me to work out why this is so important, but there you go, that's what it actually took in this case. That is perhaps one of the hardest things I've read in the last year, bar none. Recommended reading no matter what side of the warning debate you are on and in my opinion required reading if you're going to debate this topic at all, ever, anywhere.

Also recommended:

Warnings by zvi_likes_tv at Dreamwidth, with an alternate perspective on the warning issue, along with very good conversations in comments (actually, both essays have both great and faintly terrifying commentary). I'm going to say whatever side you are on, this, too, should be read thoroughly before engaging.

ETA: reginagiraffe linked in comments to kalpurna's post on easy ways to do warnings. We shall all read and learn and do better.

For me, I think I'll just automatically add a line to all headers (and if I don't, someone for the love of God slap me for stupidity; I'm adding it to my autotext header in MSWord now) for Warning and either enter None or See Cut for a separate section before the story starts. I don't often have the more common trigger issues in my fic, but honestly, since I haven't thought about warnings, I very well may have and just haven't paid attention to it.

Comments

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

That first one, oh yes. I think one of the most important points she makes in it is that it's the moment before, the lead-up, that is her trigger, and that's the moment at which people argue survivors of rape and sexual assault should see what's coming up and click out of the fic. That's what this debate is about for me--I'm less interested in debating whether or not to warn for, say, character death (I do, with my stories, but I have incredibly strong reactions to what I read, and so I tend to try to be cautious in return). Consent issues is a common trigger, and warning for it just seems self-evident to me.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Until this essay, I never realized it wasn't the moment, but that the lead-up itself that was the trap. And once people get that far, backbuttoning doesn't do any good. And it really feels like soemthing that should be obvious.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Yeah--it's the way I've always felt about this, but part of that was extensive mental health training as an RA, so I'm not going to judge anyone for anything. I'm really glad you changed your mind and did it publicly--given the amount of people who read your journal (and how many fandoms they come from), it could really be very important. Thank you.