I’ll preface this with a TW for mentions of sexual assault and SH.
So, in my English class, we just started reading the book ‘Warriors Don’t Cry’. Going into it, we all knew there would be racism, and bullying, and difficult topics like that. We were given our first reading assignment tonight. All he said was to read chapters one and two, and that was all he bothered to mention.
16 pages in and the main character is attacked by a man on the street and he attempts to >!rape!< her. It’s rather graphic. It describes him hurting her, and trying to force her clothing off. She’s helped before anything worse can happen, but what the fuck. I know this happens in the real world and back then, but uhhh… I feel like when you’re forcing a group of teenagers to read a book with this material, you really need to provide a warning. I’m sure it was uncomfortable for everyone reading, but i have a friend with some pretty bad PTSD around this subject. The teacher gave absolutely no warning. i had to give the warning once i finished reading (they hadn’t started yet), and go over what happened pages 16-18 so they wouldn’t have to read it. It’s SO EASY to just say “Hey, by the way, on these pages there is some assault; read with caution.” Additionally, there are a few upperclassmen who sit at my table at lunch. They asked the table a few weeks ago if we all agreed that teachers should provide trigger warnings, and continued to explain that in the book the teacher assigned it had a two-page scene of the main character rather graphically harming themself. Their class also got no warning. I know these didn’t exact back in the ‘old days’ or whatever, but maybe they should’ve? And maybe they should now. I know we’re older and can read books with darker themes, but they’re still sensitive issues that so many teens do deal with! 70% of all SA reports are from teens, and there are SO MANY that go unreported too. 1 in 9 girls under eighteen, and 1 in 20 boys under eighteen is the estimate of assaulted teens. 1 in 5 teens ages ten to eighteen have done self harm. Not everyone of these people might be triggered, but there sure as hell has got to to be a handful that will be. I’m not expecting rules to be set, but i feel like this should be an unspoken understanding… Idk. That’s all. — Just wanna add for those saying it’s preparing for the real world… If I’m watching a movie and a scene comes on with a triggering topic, i can turn it off or skip ahead. If i’m in a theater, i can close my eyes or simply leave if i must. If people are talking about it, I can ask to change the subject matter or I could walk away. I have a choice. If someone is being assaulted on the street, I can walk away or choose to help in some way if possible (which trauma could lead to a sense of necessity to do either). Even if I’m not warned, in the real world I can choose not to witness these things/to be affected by these things further. When it’s a book assigned for school, and my only other choice is to not read it and fail anything in relation to it, that’s just unjust. And it’s not soft to have trauma??? I can’t wait for y’all saying that to learn what PTSD is and how it works. It’ll be life changing—really.