Why This Blog Has No Trigger Warnings

Despite seeing a lot of importance in “trigger warnings” (but more accurately to my work: themes), I do not use them much if at all on this site. The reason is that it can be really dehumanizing, particularly in a space like this. where I want to be able to speak freely, say shit off rip, pour my heart out.

But I am someone whose spent far more of my life in abusive and unsafe situations than not. I am someone who first attempted suicide at the ripe old age of seven. Those feelings, those condition are deeply woven into who I am, how I perceive the world, and how I interact with it.

Think of something like changing your bath towel. Do you always think about the steps of your life that lead to the cementing of when you believe is the right time to change your towel? Do you constantly think about the steps other people go through to come to their decision. Do you compare and analyze your history to theirs and adjust how you describe your towel changing process to fit into what they think is normal?

There are so many mundane things in life that people don’t give that level of thought to. But because I lived a life so thoroughly drenched in abuse and trauma, I feel I am no longer allowed the privilege of treating my life as mundane.

I must constantly pick every moment of my life apart because someone else will be upset if I don’t recognize what has been influenced by my life experience and sanitize it accordingly.

And being very frank, the feeling of constantly being reminded that it’s too much if a burden and no one should have to think about the things I had to experience, so I must be responsible for making my life more palatable is gutting. It is retraumatizing and a new trauma on its own. And truly feels like too much to demand me be responsible for at all times.

And, again, I do value the purpose and intent of trigger warnings. But I think this is a place where the concept of “accessibility friction” is relevant, and I plan to talk more about accessibility friction at a later time. But it really is an accessibility need for me to be allowed to create or seek out spaces where I can speak freely with those that allow me the mundane, that don’t feel burdened by my experiences and perspectives. And if that’s a blog no one reads, that’s fine. But this is a demand I can’t falter on.