
Like many adolescents, Samantha van Staden enjoyed horror movies. “I’m not sure I really like the terminology ‘trigger warning,’ but I do like the idea of educating the audience a little bit about what they’re going to hear about,” Mannarino said. He feels it’s a way to allow individuals who were personally impacted to prepare themselves. When he’s leading trainings for mental health professionals, Mannarino often tells the audience they’re about to hear mentions of things such as sexual or domestic violence. Individuals who have experienced racial trauma and discrimination may similarly be reminded of those experiences when hearing about violence against Black people, including the murder of George Floyd by police.
OXENFREE TRIGGER WARNINGS FULL
Mannarino said most people don’t have a full understanding of the impact of trauma, even though millions of Americans are living with some form of it.įor instance, he points to the prevalence of opioid addiction in the Pittsburgh region and media coverage that could be a reminder of trauma.


Proponents see them as a tool for viewers for participants to decide whether to engage with potentially traumatic material.

That tension has followed trigger warnings since they moved from feminist blogs in the 2000s to broader use online and in other spaces like college classrooms.

What makes some students feel safe can be seen by others as limiting how freely they can speak. “Whereas for someone, that can be completely traumatizing.”Īvellar, who is also a clinical psychologist, said it’s important for instructors to understand the implications of lessons on students who have been through trauma. “Some people might be able to view something and they say, this is fine,” Avellar said. He’s aware of polarized opinions about the concept - criticism that warnings are overly sensitive or amount to censorship - but in his view, it’s worth providing students space to prepare themselves for lessons on topics like sexual violence. While he was at Point Park University as a psychology professor, Todd Avellar sometimes used trigger warnings to caution undergraduate students about disturbing material and give them a chance to work through complex emotions.
