thesickdoll.system:33

I’ve been noticing an influx of people talking about explicit content that can cause others to be triggered and/or come under extreme distress. While not everyone in the communities regarding systemhood, plurality and/or multiplicity have trauma, I’d make a good bet that the majority of us do. And if we don’t, then we may be more vulnerable than the average person to sensitive or explicit content.

Considering this, I am reminding the community to be more mindful and add content warnings or trigger warnings (preferably both) when discussing certain topics.

This is a PSA detailing what they are, why they’re important and how to actually use these warnings. I’ll also include some common topics you can add a trigger warning for.

What is a trigger/content warning? How are they similar and different from one another?

A trigger warning, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is a “statement at the beginning of a piece of writing, before the start of the film, etc., warning people that they may find the content very upsetting, especially if they experience something similar.

A content warning is very similar. However, it has less focus on an advance warning for trauma survivors. It’s a broader warning for content some may find “upsetting or offensive”.

Overall, the two are similar and, for the sake of this post, can be used interchangeably.

Why should I add content warnings and trigger warnings to my post?

Trigger warnings and content warnings are not just a courtesy. They also bring about informed consent to the material of your posts. Anyone can look over the warning and then know whether or not they are able to consume your content. After all, as mentioned previously, these topics can be distressing for some. Others may not find the content upsetting but just wouldn’t be interested in seeing it. Either way, they deserve to know the broad content of the post so they may curate their experience as much as possible online.

In addition, neglecting to add a trigger warning or using the proper tags can and does trigger people. Depending on the severity of the episode caused by the content they consumed without informed consent, it could lead to someone being hospitalized or harmed.

How do I add content warning and trigger warnings to my post?

The easiest way to do this is through Tumblr’s tagging feature. I’d recommend you use both “tw” and “cw” and then put the topic right after. So if the topic is abuse, then you can put “cw abuse” and “tw abuse” in the tags.

If you only briefly mention something, such as it being part of one paragraph in a long post as opposed to the main forced, you can add ‘mention at the end’. “Tw abuse mention” tells someone your post is not focused on abuse, but may mention it. This helps people make more informed decisions on whether or not they can read your post.

You can also put the respective warnings at the top of your post, and hide the actual content under the cut.

What are some common topics to add content and trigger warnings for?

I’ve listed some common topics here. This is not an exhaustive list.

• Abuse (specifying which type of abuse, such as physical abuse, is useful)

• Suicide/Self-harm

• Racism/Xenophobia/Antisemitism

• Homophobia/Transphobia/Intersexism/LGBT+ phobia

• Islamophobia

• Sexism

• Violent Crime

• Weapons (specifying the weapon, such as guns, is useful)

• Hate Crime, Police Brutality , Hate groups (KKK, Nazis, etc)

• Death (specifying what died, such as child or animal death, is useful)/Gore

• Genocide

• Slurs (specifying which type, such as racial slurs, is useful)

• Substance use

• Domestic violence

• Sexual content/Kinks