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Cambridge Uni students get Shakespeare trigger warnings
Shakespeare contains gore and violence that might "upset" you, Cambridge University students have been warned. The "trigger warnings" - red triangles with an exclamation mark - appeared on their English lecture timetables.
Lectures including Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus contain "discussion of sexual violence, sexual assault", the BBC's Newsnight programme has learned.
The university said the warnings were "at the lecturer's own discretion" and "not a faculty-wide policy". The lecture timetables were issued to this term's students by the university's faculty of English.
[...] Asked about the warnings, one Cambridge academic who did not wish to be named, said their "duty as educators was to prepare students for the world not protect them for three years". Prof Dennis Hayes from Derby University's education faculty said: "Once you get a few trigger warnings, lecturers will stop presenting anything that is controversial... gradually, there is no critical discussion".
Cambridge University said the English faculty "does not have a policy on trigger warnings", but added: "Some lecturers indicate that some sensitive material will be covered in a lecture... this is entirely at the lecturer's own discretion and is in no way indicative of a faculty-wide policy."
Forsooth!
Also at Cambridge News, The Guardian, and The Independent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @12:41PM (3 children)
Not too long ago, people who are so delicate that they would need something akin to a "trigger warning" because they might see something that would offend their delicate eyes were called thin skinned pussies. I do believe that these days, "trigger warning" requirements are not really a necessity for poor snowflakes, but just another way for new bullies to try to exercise power over others.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @05:29PM (2 children)
You obviously have a very limited world view, this means you were coddled by you parents and not forced to learn anything that made you uncomfortable.
Trigger warnings are for people who have experienced trauma and may suffer PTSD if they're not prepared for the material. If you think this is ridiculous I welcome you to go to prison, get raped, then spend the rest of your life breaking out into a cold sweat when large men walk past you. Emotional trauma is a real thing, and actually I hope you never have to experience it to the level where you are grateful for a trigger warning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @07:45PM
I learned grammar.
You have no idea what trauma I may or may not have suffered. What you do know is that I did not expect others to warn me about the horrifying perils of reading Shakespeare or anything else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @04:58AM
It's still bullshit. That kind of thinking is why OCD so often winds up being a death spiral out of control as the actions that would get one out become unbearable.
Unless you're so sensitive that exposure will lead to murder or suicide you should be locked up for treatment. Of you're not that sensitive you should just suck it up as colleges are for educating people which includes coming across sensitive issues.
The world is an unsafe place and people regularly come across triggering things they have to learn to cope with.