Content Warnings and Why They're Important

A current topic of debate I've seen in the book community is the topic of content warnings. For those of you who don't know, content warnings list out the possible offensive, harmful, traumatic, etc. content present in a book. They don't necessarily have to be triggers of PTSD, but can also be a warning for content some readers are not interested in. 

Content warnings help readers to decide if this is the book for them. If you don't like pregnancy tropes in romance, you probably want to know if a book contains it before you buy it. If you don't want your kid reading something with sexual content, you probably want to know before you buy the book. I remember when I first started reading my mom's rule was if the scene started to get sexy I had to stop reading it and let her look it over before I could read more. Content warnings just weren't as accessible in the 2000s. 

I also remember getting a book and reading it that dealt heavily with sexual assault following my own assault. This was very traumatic for me and I probably wouldn't have read it had I known the content. There are also plenty of books that have been really harmful to my mental state. 

Nowadays, for me, I typically like a heads up if certain content is going to be present in the book that I'm reading. I don't want to be reading something expecting it to be a fun, happy read, and bam something traumatic happens. 

I also think we have this tendency today to look down on people for worrying about trigger warnings which is why I prefer the term content warnings, but not wanting to have a negative reaction to media you're trying to enjoy is completely valid. We need to be supportive of people making decisions to keep their minds safe the same way we support people keeping their bodies safe. We also need to accept that there is some content that people do not want to consume. 

Content warnings keep everyone safer. It keeps tweens and teens from reading things that are not appropriate for them. It helps people not interested in sex scenes avoid them. It helps people not interested in gore avoid it. It makes reading more enjoyable and more accessible. We need to realize content warnings help everyone. 

Also, I want to know if a book is racist or ableist or homophobic, etc. so I know not to support that author with my money. 

As always my favorite place to find content warnings is StoryGraph. This site lets readers add in the trigger warnings that they find while reading. You can also type "book title content warnings" into your internet search bar. 

With that, I will say happy reading.