#(I consulted doesthedogdie)

[key-to-everything]

Acid Witch - Elves

When there’s no more room in Hell, the ELVES will walk the Earth!

New Acid Witch single for the holiday season, fucking love it 🤘 their ig post ab it

[moremysteries]

This ended up longer than I expected, so I apologize in advance if any of my points came out jumbled. I am also neurodivergent, so if I sound harsh, I assure you this is not my intent. I just struggle with tone at times.

Firstly, here's a thought I want to present to the table, one that's honestly made me grow a lot as a writer, and one that I think is relevant to this topic; why should readers read our works the way we want them to? Writing is a conversation, and though that conversation may begin with us, it certainly doesn't end that way. You may want to surprise your audience with this content, but shouldn't it be up to them whether they maintain that surprise or prepare for it? To you, the surprise is important and adds to the weight of the dark subject matters you cover. It might even be enjoyable and the way you view this content for yourself, but that will not always translate to your readers. Let's also not forget that, for some, a list of trigger warnings makes them more excited to read a work. In general, as writers, let's not forget how diverse our audiences can be, and that the reactions of our readers or what helps our readers feel more engaged will not always mirror our experiences.

Let me put this into another context. As someone who needs trigger warnings, I think this explains my experience rather well, and why I personally don't agree with the idea that trigger warnings ruin the surprise. It could also be argued that flashing lights and affects lose their surprise factor if they are warned about, but creators of visual media understand the risks of not warning viewers, and that this is more important than the surprise factor. As someone who isn't affected by flashing lights, I can assure you this warning leaves my mind almost the second after I read it (more of scan it like "yeah, yeah, take me to the game"), and I still end up surprised. The game Mi/side warning me about flashing and glitch affects did not stop me from nearly jumping out of my skin everytime I was suddenly met with one. The context is what makes these flashing lights so shocking moreso than whether someone knows about them ahead of time or not. Being suddenly triggered can make someone go to extremely dark places, and that's worth avoiding. Though I think how trigger warnings are presented can be more flexible than flashing light warnings.

In my opinion, at their best, trigger warnings are extra material readers can consult if they want to, but also something they can avoid if they want to go in completely blind. The important thing is that the audience member consented to either experience. Since I've used the word, let's discuss the matter of consent and art. I think it's often not discussed enough within creative spaces, despite how important it can be. In my opinion, it is everyone's right to have enough knowledge to be able to fully consent (engage with the work) or not consent (not engage with the work) to reading about certain sensitive subjects before being exposed to them. The thing is, when you're an indie creative, readers can't just use a site like doesthedogdie, or other similar tools. Providing optional trigger warnings can help readers have a better experience, as they are given more agency towards what they consume. Encouraging agency shows a respect for your readers time and energy. However, I do feel for writers that use websites like Wattpad, as, unlike AO3, there aren't many good places to put these warnings. So that's definitely worth acknowledging.

Secondly, as someone who had to deconstruct this notion within myself, I think it's worth acknowledging that trigger warnings are viewed as deflating the seriousness of something, or making something seem "childish", for two reasons (I know you only said the former, but the latter is an opinion I've seen as well). One, they are yet to be normalized, mainly for reason two. Two, the experiences of certain trauma victims are so terribly misunderstood that big parts of them are believed to be over exaggerated or "actually not that bad", which causes the tools we need to be treated as "not that important". I wish I was kidding when I say I have literally seen people laugh at accurate depictions of PTSD flashbacks, because they know so little about our experiences they think it's just a funny over exaggeration. I've even had some expect me to laugh with them before, because that " obviously can't be right".

Logically, there is no reason why trigger warnings should be seen as any different than a description or blurb about your story. For instance, writing an informative description about my horror works doesn't take away their scare factor, a description just requires me to put it into different packaging. It won't feel as poignant as the actual horrors within, but that's okay, because the point of a description is to intrigue and inform. They help future readers decide if they'd be interested in a work or not, and properly set their expectations walking in. They are a tool for drawing in audiences just as much as they are a tool for scaring away anyone who absolutely would not enjoy the experience.

And let me be clear, I personally believe it is impossible to warn against every possible trigger, as some triggers can be very personal or obscure. However, I do think it is important to offer a warning for the "obvious" triggers, such as the covering of sensitive topics like abuse. And yeah, I think trigger warnings can be that straight forward, such as "this work covers themes of abuse and may not be suitable for some audiences". You don't have to spoil the important parts of your works in trigger warnings, just make people aware certain content is there if they don't want to consume it. Us creators may overlook some things, as we're only human, but, for me personally, it's the effort that matters.

As for how bad being triggered by a work can be, I can speak to that, as someone who has been suddenly triggered before. It can ruin an entire week, sometimes more, and throughout I essentially have to deal with a plague of horrific memories, or experience several nightmares about my trauma. To summarize, it is extremely distressing and essentially makes me non operational. It feels like being put into a mental coma where the only thing you can have is nightmares, and when you eventually do wake up, you still understandably feel awful and extremely fatigued, emotionally and physically, from all the stress. I've literally been made bed ridden and physically ill from being triggered unexpectadly. I am now reminded of how little this experience is understood, and I am putting it into my latest writing project effective immediately. I do my best to make informed choices with the media I consume, but this recent trend I've noticed of surprising the audience as much as possible with sudden triggering content, these works often having no warnings whatsoever, makes it extremely difficult to do so. Because, you know, until that point, the work gave off the impression of not planning to cover that kind of content at all.

This got more wordy than I intended, and I apologize if my frustrations concerning the topic came through. My intent is to inform, not to ridicule, and I hope that was made clear, though I know my neurodivergent self can sometimes sound harsher than I intend. As a writer in the horror space, it can be rare to find another horror writer who uses trigger warnings, so I am usually wary towards reading their works. This can certainly make it harder to connect with fellow writers. And when I do try to read ones without warnings? Well, I am so prepared for anything to the point I end up focusing on that more than whatever I'm reading, and typically just end up dropping it altogether. So yeah, that's my experience, take it or leave it. At the end of the day, writers are free to add or not add trigger warnings, but, I personally strongly advocate for their use when it comes to sensitive subject matters. I will also always try to educate about how bad the experience of being triggered actually is whenever I am able.

Poll time!!

hihi, just posted a scene from a wip and figured i should add trigger warnings, but that made me curious so

my opinion about this may be a tad controversial, id prefer not add trigger warnings, but i do add them just out of understanding and to avoid triggering others.

all my WIPs include heavy themes, and i know that i will always be writing heavier angstier stuff, i dont like adding TWs on wattpad or wherever i publish my stuff because i feel like it takes away from the seriousness of my story. when youre going into it, i dont want you to know what to expect, i want you to be shocked and feel negatively about certain events or characters, and imo trigger warnings just take away from the shock value.

i will admit my privilige though, i have been through traumatic things but nothing that triggers me, so i dont understand how bad things could get for someone to be triggered about certain things in stories.

if you wanna discuss this or comments or reblogs please remain respectful, because this is a conversation i want to have and i want to be more educated on the topic of TWs, but i will not engage with things i deem as disrespectful.

[eggthew]

Oh my god I cannot wait for you to get to later seasons they are some of the best tv of all time but also it does get steadily more and more disturbing so be on the lookout for that

I've consulted doesthedogdie and also have syds posts rattling around in the back of my brain, so while I dont know exactly what happens I know what some of the fucked up things contained 👍 I'm LOVING it so far like I fucking hate walt but I loveee his character. and jesse. on my knees and head in my hands jesse baby I will get you out of there

[arwenkenobi48]

This is probably going to sound very strange, but I tend to approach media containing triggering content the same way I’d approach sex and consent. Allow me to elaborate:

Before I consume any kind of media, I consult this lifesaver of an app called DoesTheDogDie, which provides extensive trigger warnings for films/series/video games etc. Then I’ll make a judgement on whether or not I can handle watching that media based on what triggers are provided.

For example, last night I watched the horror movie Event Horizon. It contained subject matter which would have ordinarily been very triggering had I not done my research beforehand. Once I found out what kind of content was in the film, I told myself “You have the option to say no, Ezra. If you don’t want to watch the film, nobody will force you to. Only watch it if you want to, 100%.” And so I responded to that with “Yes, I want to watch this film.” So I watched it and found it absolutely incredible. I highly doubt that would have happened had I not been prepared and had I not made that agreement with myself.

Sometimes I can’t watch films with heavy or disturbing content and that’s ok. Some days I can and that’s ok too. It helps to build up that trust with myself as well. If I can trust myself to protect my well-being then I’ll be able to make more progress with my healing journey. And I hope that someone else reading this will be able to do the same.

[darthsuki]

So apparently a new Netflix original series came out a couple days ago by the name of The Witcher. Up until that point I only vaguely recognized that name as a game series (and also a book series?) but nonetheless my fiance had us watch it together--she’s a huge fan of the books and games both and apparently it was a big deal that it also got a series on Netflix. It’s 8 episodes long and almost an hour per episode, so it took us a couple days to binge together.

And it is fucking amazing. 

I know next to nothing about the source material, but the series was a fantastic watch. It’s filled with all sorts of humor, fantasy, action and twists, and there is an extraordinary amount of variety in the casting in terms of both ethnicity and gender--I honestly don’t think I’ve seen so many meaningful female characters in almost any other media.

If you’re a fan of the games or books, it’s apparently very close and respectful to the source material and translates wonderfully for the current and only season (though it’s already got a second one slated for early 2021). If you’re not a current fan of the other media (like me) you honestly don’t need to know anything going in to enjoy it all the same--the writing is wonderful and the characters have a fair amount of depth in them. If you’re looking for a new series to binge (and there’s 7-8 hours worth of said binging) then I definitely suggest looking into it.

However, please know going in that the series has a lot of violence, blood, gore, and heavy themes of death--I would consult the series’ doesthedogdie page for more details on what it has and the episodes they are shown in before you give it a watch.

And, now that I have to wait for the next season to come out, I have a new game series to play and beat.

[lilnasxvevo]

I’m a little calmer now because I think I see now that the OP of that post was just trying to warn people who had triggers and was going about it in a slightly misguided way. It sounded like they were blaming the new movie for having upsetting content and it certainly sounded like they were heavily implying that the movie shouldn’t contain that content at all, which really fucking grinds my gears. People being surprised that movies rated R for violence are in fact very violent is something that has happened on this website before and it certainly frustrates me a lot. But certainly people with the specific triggers named in the post might not expect to see those in the movie, even though I’d argue they’re all relatively common events in horror movies, so I think the post was just to help those people. It just made it sound like the OP felt the movie didn’t have the right to include those scenes, which really gets my hackles up as a writer. I initially read their “I don’t want anyone to boycott or anything” comment as implying that “I understand that my comments would make people want to boycott the film, but I don’t want you to do that,” further reinforcing my impression that the person was criticizing the movie for being violent and thought that a boycott, while unwanted, would be understandable.

I still stand by my assertion that things like reading why the MPAA gave it the rating it did, and consulting resources like doesthedogdie (which covers a WIDE variety of triggers and upsetting things) and even movie reviews/plot summaries if the MPAA rating doesn’t give you enough information, is the viewer’s responsibility if there are triggers or things that upset them. You can make posts on social media spreading the word about potential triggers, but not with an implication of “the movie just shouldn’t contain these things.” Like, honestly, I’m not gonna say that post did me a solid exactly because I had no intentions of seeing this movie, but it let me know that it has a suicide scene in it, and I know that suicide scenes put me in a bad place so I won’t be seeing it, while respecting that a horror movie has every right to portray suicide.

[kittenboom]

Same!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried explaining to my partner that Tumblr is still a site where I basically never have to worry about stuff like that. Not that it doesn't exist I'm sure, but I just feel like I have more *control? over my feed here - or something?

So triggered by animal abuse. I have studied criminology and growing up was super fascinated by serial killers & macabre content but not with animals.

As soon as I see an animal in a film (particularly horror/thriller/etc) I will always consult 'doesthedogdie(dot)com' to check if there is any onscreen harm.

My favourite movie as a child was Milo & Otis before I rewatched with friends as a teenager & we started questioning how that movie was shot without harming animals and it turns out... It wasn't. That movie harmed sooooo many animals that I don't think I'll ever watch it again.

@chickenkeeping sorry for the rant. I feel you deeply though. I have encountered horrible content on other platforms that are not only existing but are *popular* amongst some users 🤢🤢🤢

not to sound like a giant baby but every social media except maybe tumblr is traumatizing. I go on tiktok for like 2 seconds and im immediately met with a video of a rooster buried alive and then dug up like he's a vegetable for XD random humor I guess? and then I go on instagram and there's 13 videos of Ostrich egg being cracked open and newborn bunnies spill out everywhere™ it's so bizarre what goes viral why is borderline animal crush p*rn being recommend on a large scale and allowed to exist i dunno it makes me deeply uncomfortable seeing what people do to animals to go viral it really does. social media is a mistake.