Okay can yall reblog this to share something that’s actually helpful? There are two websites that can assist people with triggers to know whether or not a movie is going to be something they should avoid. The first one is:
Originally created to list whether or not the animals in movies were harmed, it has expanded to list a number of triggering things like people being cut, jumpscares, strobe effects, vomit, deaths of children, and many more. For some categories it links to:
which has a similar format to Does the Dog Die but deals with a variety of sexual themes. It even elaborates on some of the checked categories just to let you know how serious or in what way the category is expressed in the movie.
I don’t like the environment of tumblr scaring people into thinking they don’t have the help or resources they need to live happy and without anxiety unless the right PSA floats across their dash. If there are any other databases anyone knows of that provide more info about media or elaborate upon MPAA ratings, please comment. Let 2018 be a year of empowerment.
some other sources:
common sense media is a generalized and well updated site that gives content warning as a guide to parents, but is also relevant and very helpful if youre looking for your own uses
also all IMDB movie pages have a ‘parents guide’ section that is extremely thorough and gives a description of all potentially disturbing scenes grouped by sex, violence, drugs/alcohol, etc
and wheres the jump is great for horror movies, it gives an exact timestamp and description of any jumpscares in the movie
there is, it’s a NOTP. you don’t like the ship, maybe you even hate it, but you don’t pass judgement or harass people over it.
The word for “this ship bothers me because reasons” is ‘squick” btw
squick can apply to many things besides a ship, too. a squick is not a trigger, because it doesn’t cause panic attacks or bring up memories of trauma or anything, it just really really grosses you out. you might have a reason, you might not, but a squick is something you just don’t ever wanna see, but like NOTP, it doesn’t pass judgement on anyone. if my friend ships incest and I say that’s my squick, they can respect I don’t wanna see it or hear about it, while I respect their right to ship it.
Wait, I thought that ‘squick’ mainly applies to a fetish or kink that disturbs/grosses you out?
it does! or I guess if I understand your confusion, a specific ship might squick you out because it contains elements that you find…squicky.
like, a ship where person A canonically has abused person B. the word “trigger” might be too strong because you don’t have personal trauma related to that, but the idea of it still really bothers you, enough to call it a “squick”.
I don’t know all the reasons why I like dark things, and I don’t think I need to know them all, but… I was just looking at the blog of that person who said I “dehumanize and fetishize” gay men, and I saw that he was quite young (15) and his blog was all full of pastel colors and references to his mental illness and something dawned on me that I hadn’t thought about in a Tumblr context at all.
Part of my PTSD is about experiences I had in hospitals, and because of that one of my triggers is… not pastels, all by themselves, but like… have you ever stayed in a hospital as a kid? And everything is covered in soothing soft colors and all the nurses wear scrubs with like… cute animal drawings on them and everyone talks in a sing-song voice and reassures you things won’t hurt when they OBVIOUSLY will and you’d rather they tell the truth, accept that you have good reasons to be scared, and get it the hell overwith?
Yeah, I think I just figured out why those kids’ blogs give me a weird tingly feeling of creeping dread.
And I think I figured out, also, where my intense leeriness of “safe spaces” and trigger warnings comes from too–even though as a person with PTSD I’m supposed to want them.
It’s because in my experience, people who were trying to make me feel safe were LYING. They were lying because it was in their interest–in mine, too, but in theirs–for me to feel calm and soothed. For me not to feel despair, or anger, or blind screaming rage.
…Is it any wonder I like the stories where the people with the knives and the cruel smiles and the mind games are blatant about it? Or that I might want a few knives of my own, even though I have no desire to hurt anyone who isn’t going to get off on it?
I don’t want those kids to not need safety.
I want them to stop pretending safety looks the same for everyone.
Yes, this.
When people tell me “You’re safe,” I don’t think of Helpful Adult saving me from the monsters under the bed. I think of my teachers, saying the people who hurt me would never do such a thing, and I should stop lying because I was perfectly safe. I think of the people who used to hug me until my lungs wouldn’t fill and my ribs creaked, and got away without a whisper of a reprimand. Because they were pretty and soft, and I was cold and harsh.
That’s not safe, to me. That’s the most dangerous place in the world, because the people who live there will do anything- anything at all- if it means they don’t have to acknowledge how nasty their walled garden has really gotten. Because if I defend myself, they can’t pretend anymore. And they sure as hell won’t defend me.
Beltainefaerie's Flights of Fancy 