Saturday, March 16, 2019

Snarky Opinion: Stop Treating Me Like a Petite Delicate Flower

Image copyright Pezibear

While it's better to be a bit too far in the direction of protecting people who may be vulnerable, sometimes I get a little tired of being "content warned" about every little tiny thing that has even the potential to be remotely triggering. 
I do experience suicide ideation. I experience suicide ideation a lot of the time. Looking at a fucking pie chart telling me how many people working for a given shitty company feel suicidal is not going to make me go jump off the nearest bridge into a poison lake infested by mutant sharks.
Look. I am an adult. An adult who happens to experience suicide ideation much more often than I'd like to, but an adult nonetheless. And as an adult, I sometimes get sick of the culture of content warnings on every little fucking thing. 
I probably need to put a content warning at the top of my blog to read a little bit something like this:
Everything on this blog has the potential to be triggering and the blog's main author is an asshole. Deal with it.
Like I said, it's probably better to be a little too careful rather than not careful enough. But sometimes I get sick of the constant content warnings about every little fucking thing that exists ever.
"This post contains references to saltine crackers. If you find saltine crackers to be the equivalent of mummified wallpaper paste sprinkled with salt, you may find this post triggering."
"This post contains fart jokes. If you have ever been in a crowded elevator where some evil so and so slipped off a one-cheek sneak so bad it singed your nose hairs, you may find fart jokes triggering."
"This recipe contains references to milk. If you are lactose intolerant, you may find references to milk triggering."
Honestly, I don't find most things particularly triggering. Graphic references to sexual assault and sadistic acts against helpless human or animal victims are triggering. Particularly hateful slurs can be triggering. Socially sanctioned diatribe against people with larger bodies can be triggering, but nobody cares about that because "I'm shaming the fatties for their own good!!111!!!" 
I'm complaining about this in my own space because it isn't really appropriate to complain about it elsewhere. I just sometimes feel like I'm being coddled when I don't need to be coddled. I have a mental illness. I'm not a petite delicate flower.

~Cie~

2 comments:

  1. Trigger warnings on everything really bug me. I like your warning. Mine is basically, "I could say almost anything. Prepare yourself."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't mind the warnings for serious subjects so much. However, I kind of feel that on a blog about mental health issues, it should be assumed that one might talk about some not particularly pleasant subjects. When I say that this is a safe space, I mean that no-one should be ridiculed for expressing potentially sensitive information, and I won't put up with anyone who does so. I don't mean that this blog is a happy playground where I never talk about anything bad ever, because it certainly isn't that. For a blog where nothing upsetting gets mentioned about 99% of the time, people need to go to Cie's Wonderful World which is mostly pictures of plants. However, the occasional "sign this petition so greedy fuckwipes don't destroy our planet further" may appear on occasion, so even that isn't 100% Happy Crappy either.

      Delete

This is a safe space. Be respectful.