Why is this important?
Students at UCL come from a range of backgrounds, with varying levels of trauma. We have students who have experienced war and conflict, sexual and physical violence, loss of loved ones and various other traumas that should be accounted for in UCL’s student wellbeing policies. It’s known that UCL deals with cases of violence and harassment poorly.
The Eugenics Legacy Education Project toolkit for “Preparing a session teaching difficult and/or sensitive topics” recognises the use of trigger warnings as a preparatory resource option; adding sensitive topics that evoke more emotion are common in high-education curricula. Despite this, there is no policy to enforce the use of trigger warnings regarding this content across the board.
This toolkit instead emphasises careful planning and inclusive teaching to assure students are made aware of the content ahead of time. What better way to do this than to implement mandatory trigger warnings on sensitive content? This idea will help many students across the board. Let’s take a look at how.
For example, according to the World Health Organisation, 1 in 3 women experience sexual or physical violence. This means unless your class has less than 3 women, statistically speaking someone has been a victim of sexual or physical violence. Yet, we do not have a policy warning these victims about content containing gender-based violence. This is only one example of the many traumatic experiences that cause PTSD.
Implementation
These content warnings do not have to be complicated. For implementers and users, it can be a straightforward process. Let’s use an example, sticking with the theme of violence against women:
Bates, L. (2020) Men who hate women: from incels to pick up artists, the truth about extreme misogyny and how it affects us all / Laura Bates. London: Simon & Schuster. [online]. (This material contains themes of sexual violence).
You see that little bit at the end? That would be all that’s needed. This line could be at the beginning of a lecture, seminar presentations, readings, or anything and everything that contains sensitive language.
Putting trigger warnings on content may sound too “woke” for some readers but it reduces the chances of triggering PTSD for many. PTSD is triggered when someone is reminded of their trauma. Being reminded of trauma can look different for everyone, but one way to decrease the effects of being triggered is to provide content warnings.This gives the individual a choice about if they want to continue interacting with the material in front of them.
Let’s return the power to the individual by implementing mandatory trigger warnings on sensitive content at UCL.
