Trigger

About

“Trigger” is a term referring to any stimulus that evokes the memory of a traumatic event or episode. While the word is most commonly used in the context of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), it has been since adopted by those in the social justice blogosphere to refer to any topical issue that is deemed contentious or debatable, and to a lesser extent, the term has been also re-appropriated as an ironic term used by their detractors to criticize certain issues that may be seen as too trivial or irrelevant to discuss in length.

Origin

The word originated from the psychological phrase “trauma trigger,”^[1] or something that causes a traumatic past event to come back into memory. The concept of triggering was initially formulated in 1918 in relation to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),^[2] a disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to one or more traumatic events, indicated by recurring distressing flashbacks.^[10] According to BuzzFeed,^[10] the first mentions of triggering and “trigger warnings” were posted to feminist message boards discussing sexual assault in the late 1990s.

Spread

In the early 2000s, Livejournal users started posting warnings for potentially triggering fanfiction.^[10] On July 9th, 2002, Livejournal^[11] user innocent warned followers that she was pro-anorexia, adding that entries may be “triggering” to those with eating disorders (shown below).

On July 1st, 2003, Livejournal^[12] user morbid-thoughts submitted a quiz titled “What Type of Self-Mutilation Are you?(Warning:Triggering Pictures).” By 2007, “trigger warning” was used over 60 times on the blogging platform.^[10]^[13] On November 2nd, 2008, Twitter user @jlandrith^[14] tweeted a link to a blog post accompanied by the phrase “trigger warning” (shown below).

On April 13th, 2010, the news site True/Slant^[16] published an article by writer Susannah Breslin, who criticized feminists for using the phrase too generously. On February 5th, 2011, the “Fuck Yeah, Trigger Warnings” Tumblr^[15] blog was launched, which describes itself as being “dedicated to education and awareness about the proper usage and necessity of trigger warnings.” On August 29th, 2012, the feminist news blog Feministing^[17] published an article by writer Maya Dusenbery, who admitted that she doesn’t “really believe in trigger warnings” while still using them in articles. On December 15th, 2014, the news site Reason reported that a University of Michigan student who mocked trigger warnings in a satirical op-ed for The Michigan Review^[18] had the doorway to his apartment vandalized by those who were offended by the article.

Melody Hensley’s PTSD Claims

In April 2014, Washington resident Melody Hensley claimed that cyberbullies on Twitter caused her PTSD, which many met with skepticism. The story was subsequently covered by various news sites, including The Daily Dot,^[3] The Daily Mail^[4] and Fashion Times.^[5]

In Homestuck

In the online webcomic Homestuck, the character Kankri Vantas^[7] often uses the term, which author Andrew Hussie confirmed was inspired by its use on Tumblr.^[8]

On 4chan

In December 2014, 4chan’s /pol/ (politics) board was updated to with a scrolling “[Trigger Warning]” to sarcastically indicate that all posts on the board were potentially offensive (shown below).