There are people who are dedicated to exploiting people's traumatic experiences for a nice laugh. (Unfortunate, but true.) If you have ever frequented a Reddit board, an anti-feminist Facebook page, the Youtube comments section, or just know someone who is actively trying to seem like a new age ironic alpha male, then you have probably seen people making fun of trigger warnings. People will say phrases such as "ugh that triggered me so bad" or "stop triggering me with all of your feminist bullsh**" or "trigger warnings trigger me". These comments are usually made in jest to delegitimize and poke fun at the feminist movement and (usually women) who have issues with a specific topic. But what even are triggers and trigger warnings, and why are they such an issue?

First what is a trigger -- or what is something that is triggering? A trigger is an event, action, or thing that invokes an emotional/psychological response from the the person viewing said action, thing, or event. Things that are triggering to a lot of people are usually traumatic type experiences, most notably in reference to sexual assault/rape or violence (usually domestic). Triggers can vary from person to person, and depend on the subject matter. Law and Order Special Victims Unit has multiple scenarios in which sexual assault/rape is harshly, but realistically, depicted but that may not trigger someone. The infamous rape scene from American Horror story, however, may be extremely triggering to some. The point being that trauma is a complex concept, and has far reaching long lasting psychological effects on the individual who went through it.

What is a trigger warning? The name is self explanatory, trigger warnings are usually a singular statement at the beginning of an article, a video, a show, or whatever the case may be, to warn the potential viewer that the following content may trigger the individual if they have gone through a specific traumatic event. The warning varies depending on what is being depicted or talked about. Whenever I share an article on rape or sexual assault I tend to put at the very top of my status a trigger warning. They are usually very basic and simple statements such as: Trigger Warning: Discussion of rape in detail. This lets the viewer know that something about assault will be discussed and the viewer can do with that information as they please. The Idea of trigger warnings is very simple and innocuous in its nature, so why then is there so much hate for trigger warnings?

There are many who seem to be directly offended by trigger warnings, as if it is personally hurting them that someone put a warning up before a gruesome situation was depicted. We can theorize that perhaps they feel as though they are being attacked because they themselves do not participate in giving out trigger warnings, or they have held on to that "life's hard and sh** happens so get over it" kind of mentality that lacks any kind of human compassion or sympathy. The people who usually find issues with trigger warnings and people being triggered have never been through the particular traumatic experience that the triggered individual has been through. They make jokes about real world traumatic events because it has never directly affected their psyche before and it is a good thing that it has not. Being triggered by something is more than just being slightly offended by a topic (which I assume the people who make jocular comments about trigger warnings figure that's what being triggered means), it is a deep psychological response that causes flashbacks, nausea, increased heart rates, immense fear, dissociation, etc. It is not a slight disagreement with something. It is actual pain. Therefore, if we can help it, a warning might be nice for some. There are a multitude of arguments that try to dispute trigger warnings as a way of coddling individuals or not actually helping them recover (because that 17 year old high school student in the comments section is obviously a certified doctor and knows everything about the human psyche) and will argue (or troll) to the end of time about their disapproval of the warnings. But it is important to remember that the warnings are just that -- warnings. They do not dictate the actions of the individual after they see the warning. There are seizure warnings before certain videos and no one seems to be upset about those. There are movie and video game ratings and not many people seem to care too much about those either. So why is putting a warning such a big deal? The answer is: it is not.

I should state that not everything that triggers someone can be thwarted, The scent of someone's perfume, the starting of an engine, the shooting of guns in a movie, or even a certain way someone sounds can trigger someone. There are things that can not be helped by a single individual, however, there are things that we as a whole can do to help. If we know something can be possibly be triggering to someone, then putting a quick trigger warning never hurts, but only helps. They exist to allow the person affected by the trauma to have more control of their responses and reactions. The arguments against trigger warnings are inane and based on opinionated intro level psychological "knowledge". In the end, triggers are a serious matter that mean a lot to the person being triggered, and while we can't help the people affected by trauma entirely, we can at least help a little bit, by showing a little compassion and sympathy.