On Warnings And Why You Might Consider Using Them:

[rodo]

The current debate about warnings really disturbs me. I haven't experienced sexual abuse and/or rape. And I have a problem with triggering content. No idea why, but certain topics can cause panic attacks and nervous breakdowns. It's been that way since I was six. I had my first nervous breakdown then, after watching a documentary on how the world is going to end when the sun will expand in five billion years. To this day, I have problems with this topic (and please don't ask about it in the comments either, trying to explain will mean I have to think about it in too much detail, which is not good), and with certain other aspects of astrophysics. I don't expect a warning for that, but that's a very specific trigger.

I've spend most of my life avoiding this topic (and others) and it's not as easy as it sounds. Avoiding these things is hard. It takes an enormous amount of energy and work. I've spend the time when we had the topic in school either absent or trying to imagine I was somewhere else. That was at a time when my classmated bullied me, and I concentrated very hard on not crying so that I wouldn't make it worse. I can watch science fiction, but only because I sort of ... blend out certain topics. My whole life is a Spießrutenlauf ("running the gauntlet", according to Leo). I can never truly relax and I have to keep my guard up all the time. It's not a nice feeling, and no matter how careful I am, something always slips through in the end.

I am thankful for everything that makes my life easier. Warnings do make my life easier, because I have a problem with character death in fiction as well (1.8 of Torchwood triggered me, for example). And sometimes, I have problems with detailed depictions of psychological and physical illnesses. The more realistic, the worse it is, because it's just too close to home for me.

Descriptions of a beloved character dying of cancer won't really have that much of an effect on my mind, but I will feel what he goes through myself. Really. If the character feels violently ill, I will feel violently ill. If he feels dizzy, I will feel dizzy. It's always been that way, and it's not fun. I felt horrible when I had to talk about the symptoms of syphilis in school. When a teacher tried to explain why smoking is bad, he gave us a vivid description of a friend dying of lung cancer that lasted 40 minutes. I almost fainted. This is not fun, and it doesn't stop the moment I stop reading either.

I would like to avoid these topics, and so do other people, for various reasons, not all of them triggers, but still valid. I know it's hard for people who don't feel like their life is a Spießrutenlauf to understand this, but we are doing everything we can to protect ourselves, and we're not infallible. We need help for this. So please, warn for the most common subjects, and if you don't, state that visibly (not everyone looks into a profile before reading a story).

In fact, if something is warned for, I might even read it if I feel well enough, because that way, I can ready myself for the subject. Which helps more than you can imagine.

Comments

[blnchflr]

To me, fandom is different than the rest of the world/RL/what-have-you - it's why I'm here, and not at my local bookstore. I don't think it's a bad thing if we strive to be more considerate towards one-another. Warnings, or at least "I don't use warnings" are yay <3

[rodo]

Yeah, I really don't understand why it's so hard to be just a lottle bit nice. And if a warning totally spoils a story for the reader, it's not a good story.

[blnchflr]

I disagree with that, actually, but I think there's a way of getting around spoilery warnings which would work for most people.

[rodo]

Just a question: Do you reread stories if they only work with a surprising twist? I think I couldn't, but that might just be me. I hardly reread anything.

And yeah, you can get around spoilery warnings. And using them really isn't that difficult. Or time consuming.

[blnchflr]

Yeah, because the second, etc. time around, I can really marvel over how the writing leads up to the twist. Sometimes, knowing the twist means almost reading a different fic the second time around - a completely different interpretation, à la Sixth Sense.

[rodo]

But then the story doesn't work only with a surprise (because the element of surprise isn't given the second time). And yes, I agree that there are different ways to read a story, that's the same reason why I re-read the early Harry Potter books and all of my father's Asterix comics.

The few times when I read a story with a death warning, I read it more like most people would on the re-read.