Content warnings for a memoir workshop

[fandomnumbergenerator]

I manage a memoir workshopping group, and a new member wants a more formal content warning policy (not because of specific triggers she wants to be warned for, but because she was an instructor at small liberal arts college for a semester and felt they were very useful). A long standing member of the group who has been a professor for decades is opposed to requiring trigger warnings (she has more of a 70s liberal take on most social issues, and also has seen trigger warnings used as a way to manipulate the administration into censuring adjunct professors).

The current policy is:

Writing presented in the group may contain references to or descriptions of death, illness, abuse, unhealthy family and relationship dynamics, sexual assault, racism, sexism, or homophobia, as well as explicit sex or drug use. We do not generally use trigger or content warnings, though specific warning requests will be taken seriously.

Elsewhere in the guidelines, it says that people need to briefly introduce their work before they start reading, so there should never be a situation where a potentially triggering topic is a total surprise. But the way the topics are addressed might be more graphic in one section than another.

I am working on a project about my boyfriend's death when I was 24, and the piece I brought to the group last week included a description of a dead body, and so I warned people in an email. Everyone appreciated the warning, but none of the people who actually attended the in-person meeting wanted to change the policy (the new member who wanted the change the policy wasn't there).

We are looking for new members and I am trying to craft policies that will work for people we don't already have a good working relationship with.

None of the workshopping classes I took included content warning requirements, so I feel like I don't really know where to start.

I also feel like triggers are incredibly personal. I usually use "Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings" on AO3 because almost every story I write has some fleeting reference to the character having sex when they were under 18 or some past traumatic experience.

And in my memoir writing, I'm still grappling with what to call things. Like what level of creepiness on my father's part requires a trigger warning? When I am still trying to come up with a stable way to frame my experiences for myself.

Comments

[kara_mckay]

I like the current policy with brief introduction. As you say, triggers are very personal. I used to know someone for whom country music was a very real trigger. It's not my story to tell, but I can say that it was no joke. Hearing country music was very bad news for this person. Thing is, the world's sharp edges can only be bubble wrapped to a certain point. This person had to deal with the fact that she might hear country music coming from someone's vehicle or through the open door of a bar, and she had to plan how to avoid those things to the best of her abilities. And, sometimes she couldn't, and it was bad for her when that happened. Sometimes the reality of something and its seriousness, and the degree to which the world around a person can be responsible for managing it for that person just don't match up.

To my mind, a writing workshop is, at the get-go, a potential red flag environment. A person knows going into it that they might encounter things that are distressing, and if they have a serious, devastating trigger on the level of this woman's country music trigger, they'd probably be better off staying out of it. Giving people a general heads up about the possibility of encountering the most typical triggers feels like a good plan, and asking people to introduce their individual works feels like an extra layer of safety. Beyond that, it just seems like extra layers of bubble wrapping that will be stressful for some people and still won't insure that no one will ever bump up against something distressing.

[fandomnumbergenerator]

I feel like I'm less concerned about the bubble wrapping aspect, and more wanting to protect the writers. But I'm trying to articulate what that means to me.

First, there's the issue of how any policy could be used to harass a writer. And so you make certain decisions about what is allowed and how complaints are made and what the response to complaints is to prevent your guidelines from being used in bad faith. This hasn't been a problem for our writing group so far, but it's something that I think about a lot. And to the degree that there is a legitimate objection to trigger warnings in an academic settings, it's that the requirement for trigger warnings they can be used in bad faith to shut down discussion or harass an instructor.

But it feels like there is a danger that is most acute in a memoir writing group, which is that writers are still working on naming the experiences that they're writing about. And so a requirement to label an experience abuse or sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse seems like it is going to really inhibit someone's ability to write about complicated experiences.

And sometimes a reader's reaction to something can be really alienating to the writer. I remember the forward to a lesbian novel I read where the woman writing the forward described fisting as "people who seduce you and then punch you in the most private places" and as a reader I was totally grossed out by the concern trolling of it. I can't even imag8ine how it felt to the author.

Content warnings seem to work on AO3, and to not create a chilling effect. But again I wonder how many people are just using "Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings" because they don't want to be accused of mis-categorizing a fic that they don't think is non-con, but someone else might.

[kara_mckay]

Ah, I see where you're coming from. I don't have a lot of real life experience, and none within the last five or six years with group interactions, so it's sometimes hard for me to imagine how things shake out in those settings. Online, people are a lot more likely to be confrontational and unpleasant, I think, whereas I think most people in real life don't go out of their way to make things difficult without a good reason or unless they have some heavy duty personal investment in the matter. But, you can read that opinion and those that follow as equivalent to someone saying, "As a third generation potato farmer, here's my take on the New York subway system."

I guess my concern would be how to decide whose experience or interpretation is the one that needs to be privileged and/or protected. If six people have the same experience, you'll get six different stories; thirty-six readers will come back with thirty-six at least slightly varied interpretations of them. I'm not in the camp that says they're all equal, but I slide a little closer to that than I do to the idea that there are right and wrong ways for an author to feel about and respond to their own experiences, or that the author's interpretation is the one that should always be privileged.

I can see the flipside, whereon you could have people using this take on personal validity as a way of forcing hateful or threatening attitudes on a group, and maybe even changing its composition if people feel uncomfortable enough with what those people are doing. Maybe that sort of thing would be better addressed in terms of behavior and focus expectations, though? As you've said, asking people to label their experiences can be troubling in and of itself, and that getting much more specific than a contents list can feel like a request to self-judge. One of the reasons I think people who post at Ao3 are less susceptible to self censorship (I don't say immune; I was just bitching about the homogeneity of fanfic last week) is that they're only asked to use broad, general warnings and then tag as they see fit.

[fandomnumbergenerator]

In terms of who or what needs to be protected, I think the most common person who gets hurt in a writing critique is the writer. A bad critique (especially one where it feels like it's about you and not about what's on the page, or something where you feel like you are being required to do something that you are totally incapable of doing) can really shut down your ability to keep writing.

Which is not to say that the author is always right. Just that constructive criticism needs to be constructive.

But if someone in the group has PTSD triggers, then the balance of who is most likely to get hurt switches to the person with the trigger.

As I'm thinking more about it, I feel like the issue may be about squicks vs triggers. So far, I have never workshopped with anyone who had specific triggers that we were trying to accommodate (even though everyone was writing about trauma in one way or another). It has always been about squicks and hot-button issues.

And once I frame it like that, it seems more important to protect the writer from people saying "the immutable facts of your life squick me" than to protect the reader from being squicked

Though a perfectly valid thing that a reader can say to a writer is, "You may not realize how much this description of XYZ is viscerally upsetting your readers, and you may want to either change how you write about it or be more intentional about the effect you're having." And that's a place where different readers can argue back and forth about what reaction they had to that particular passage.

[kara_mckay]

It sounds like you're really figuring this thing out! And, I think you're right on the mark with the distinction between triggers and squicks, and how they work in this setting. Having to slap a warning on part of my life experience because someone finds it icky would distress hell out of me. This might be something really good and useful to talk with your group about -- the idea that saying, "Writing about X is just nasty," or "I don't want to hear about X because it grosses me out," is the opposite of helpful, but saying, "I'm not sure that this way of describing X is getting it across in the way that you want," is constructive. And, it might not be a bad idea to talk with them about what a trigger actually is. I don't know about real life, but online it surely does seem that quite a lot of people think it's just an all-purpose word for any negative response to anything a person sees that they don't like.

[fandomnumbergenerator]

Part of the reason that I'm trying to get a lot of this in writing is that the guidelines are sort of a screening tool. If somebody emails the moderator (currently me) asking to join the group, the first step is for them to read the guidelines and to get back to me if they think the group will be a good fit. So the document has to do a lot of work.

I am toying with the idea of actually using the word "squick" in the guidelines, but that would probably just be confusing.

Triggers are complicated because there are PTSD triggers, but also behavioral triggers around compulsive behaviors (drug use, alcohol, self harm, disordered eating). And then things like phobias. And I'm trying to figure out when an overview is sufficient and when a specific warning would be required.

Here's a draft of the new trigger warning guidelines:

Content warning guidelines:

We aim to create a space that is respectful of the experiences of both presenters and readers, and to make the workshop accessible to people with a history of trauma.

Requests for specific trigger warnings will be taken seriously. Contact the moderator if you would like to make your request anonymously.

Writing presented in the group may contain references to or descriptions of death, illness, injury, pregnancy loss, disordered eating, self harm, suicide, addiction, abuse, unhealthy family and relationship dynamics, child abuse, sexual assault, racism, sexism, and homophobia, as well as explicit violence, sex, and drug use.

Presenters are expected to engage with sensitive content in good faith, and to not try to shock or surprise readers. Please provide an overview of your project that alerts readers to sensitive content your work deals with, and be sure that this overview is provided to any new or visiting members of the group. You may also choose to preface specific sections with an additional warning.

Readers are expected to engage with the details of other member’s lived experiences in good faith, and to distinguish between content that makes them uncomfortable or that they disagree with and content that triggers them. Readers are free to discuss their reaction to content they find upsetting (the writer may not realize the effect a particular passage is having on readers) but should be careful of shaming or silencing the writer.

[kara_mckay]

Sorry -- I kinda lost track of the "written" part of guidelines. Loss of focus and forgetfulness are features of my particular malfunction.

I think your new guidelines look good. To me, they show concerns for the individual and a safe, confidential route for individuals with triggers to follow while also providing general category warnings, requesting overviews, and stating behavior expectations. It looks like you've got it nailed down fairly well. I can see where you're coming from with wanting to use "squick," which is such a wonderful fit for some of what you're saying, but I have to agree that it's also a very fandom specific word. Shame it never caught on anywhere else.

I hope this all works out for you and your group!

[shy_magpie]

it sounds like you are already doing a functional trigger warning, a summary and a "no surprise rape/gore/violence" is actually more useful than a checklist until you hit a scale like AO3 where being able to remove hundreds of items from your list at once is possible. You are already asking for specific warning requests, aside from offering to make the requests anonymous so people don't feel like they are disclosing to the whole class I am not sure what more you can do. There always seems to be one jerk who thinks that their work's "impact" will be eliminated if you know ahead of time that they are going to have "shocking" violence/sexual assault/hard drug use but the summary policy should be enough for you to call them out on it. As to your ending question, I would say definitely warn for touching or indisputably sexual comments, but a good faith summary of what you are presenting and maybe a single "hey my father did some creepy stuff so maybe brace yourself when reading my stuff with him in it"(either at a time when you get a bunch of new members or in a referable spot?).

[shy_magpie]

trigger warnings vs censorship is the kind of philosophical problem with real world effects that I love to pick apart! let me know if I can help you brainstorm on what absolutely has to be mentioned in the summary

[fandomnumbergenerator]

I definitely want to talk through the issue. And I'm also interested in trying to figure out what a workable set or required warnings would be.

There is definitely a bad faith reason to avoid trigger warnings -- the edgy, shock value justification. I personally believe that suspense doesn't require surprise, so I have no problem banning things done just for shock value. And if someone is adamant that the thing wasn't done for shock value, but was just badly handled, then we can go forward from there.

Though there is a whole other question of the logistics of banning someone. It is in our guidelines that people who harass other members or who are "repeatedly disruptive or insulting" will be removed from the group, but we have never actually had to invoke it. We also struggle with what to do with people who are just kind of jerky but not actually abusive. Again, so far, we've been able to hash things out, but there's no formal process.

There are also bad faith uses of trigger warnings. Analogous to reporting and take-down mechanisms online that can be used to harass and silence content creators. This is a talking-point of right wing freedom of speech absolutists. But is, also, I think a real issue. Just because I'm progressive, doesn't mean I think that call-outs that use progressive language can't be used to bully, harass, and silence people. But I haven't seen anything like that in our writing group. So, I want to write the guidelines in such a way that they are hard to use to harass people. But it's not my most pressing concern.

There is always the question, Is a requirement for trigger warnings going to inhibit people's ability to write about complex issues. Like, does naming the thing at the beginning of the process make it harder to write honestly about one's experience. And also issues about, What if I call this abuse, and the reader pushes back against that. Am I wiling to open myself up to that pain.

But I think the central question is what do you do about squicks (instead of PTSD triggers) in the context of a memoir writing workshop. We're supposed to be focusing on the work and not on the writer's life, but I don't see how you can say you are squicked by the facts of the writer's life without it getting very personal.

And when you’re talking about PTSD, then the harm to the reader is more pressing than the harm to the writer. But for a squick, in most cases it isn’t.

There's always an issue of whether the writing is doing what the writer intends it to. If readers are universally squicked by something, the writer should know that, but that is something that would come out during the discussion.

[shy_magpie]

I think starting by expanding how you describe what the summary should be is a good way to start. I think with the exception of the shock jerks most people will understand that in a work shop its reasonable to ask for more info than a reader would normally come in with. Your policy on trigger warnings makes it clear that you don't have a moral opposition to the idea, but that a check list is not the right way to do things in this environment. Ask that people make a good faith effort to warn for things most likely to cause problems (not sure on phrasing); then specify the most obvious and fence post from there:

As a starting point for discussion what do you think about:
"unfortunately it is all too likely that more than one person in this class will be (actively harmed? triggered? have trauma associated with) unwanted sexual contact, violence, and or hard drugs, so we would like to emphasize things in that area when deciding what to include in the summary. While its not always possible to draw a clear line, it would be better to include it in the summary needlessly than not include it when needed. It is an absolute must for scenes with on screen (unwanted sexual touch/rape/forced kissing), physical violence, injection of drugs or drug use resulting in (passing out?hallucination? not sure on what would be the trigger for most people since I usually have to tap out around slurred speach or needles existing which is probably too tame for most)"

[fandomnumbergenerator]

Yes, you're right that I should talk about the overview in the Content Warnings section, and make clear that the overview should alert readers to sensitive topics the work deals with. Because, up to this point, it was more about orienting readers to where the chapter you're presenting fits into the larger project.

I added an option for people to reach out to the group admin (currently me) to make trigger warning requests anonymously. It's a pretty small group, so I'm not sure how that will work in practice. But I can at least make the option available.

I listed a bunch of other common triggers -- both trauma-based (e.g. pregnancy loss) and compulsive-behavior-based (e.g disordered eating). So that people can have a starting point for what I mean by "sensitive topics"

I introduced the topic by talking about accessibility for people with a history of trauma, so I hope that helps frame the stakes for people who are dubious of trigger warnings.

I'm sending it out to a new group of people who are interested in the group, so I'll just have to see how it goes, and revise as necessary.

[shy_magpie]

Sorry if I was rude, it wasn't until today I realized that was monologue rather than dialogue! I was just about to send you an apology and follow up with questions to help you think about what you wanted instead of me telling you what I thought. I got kinda over excited, in part because this sounds like a great workshop! There was a memoir class at my community college but it seemed to be aiming for Lake Woebegone stories of an idealized youth not a place where you could dig into real issues.

[fandomnumbergenerator]

No worries!

It has been incredibly helpful for me to open up the topic to discussion.

The thing that I've realized is that in all the workshopping I've done, the people most likely to have something that looks like a panic attack are writers after a bad critique. And so I'm starting to think of trigger warnings in this very specific context (memoir about traumatic events) as being different than e.g. a college course.

But on the other hand, as I understand it, trigger warnings started in forums for the discussion of sexual assault. So not totally dissimilar. But also, a forum post is something you can mute without the poster having any negative impact.

[lou2]

Hoo boy, i do not envy you that complication. Balancing the fairness to the writer with the triggers of the audience is such a catch 22. Though i have confidence in your decision. You always seem so in tune and thoughtful

[fandomnumbergenerator]

Thank you!

The workshop guidelines are a work in progress, so we can always go back and revise them later. But there are also the first thing that new people learn about the group, so I want them to show that we are serious and thoughtful about the work we're doing.

As I think through trigger warnings in this particular context, I'm realizing that the people I've seen drop out of workshops are always writers, usually right after a bad critique. So I feel like it's a situation where the trigger warnings need to err on the side of protecting the writer vs the reader. Which is a very different situation than a movie or a fic or a college course.

I rewrote the guidelines, and we're getting a new influx of people (because I just messaged all the people in the MeetUp group that I'm not planning on posting any more events on MeetUp and that if people want to join the listserv that I migrated the group to, they need to reach out to me). So, we'll see how it goes.

I really want these guidelines to make the group robust, even if I end up leaving to take a more formal course.