Trigger Warning

13 Reasons Why the F@#!k 

"The following episode contains graphic depictions of sexual assault & drug abuse, which some viewers may find disturbing. It is intended for mature audiences. Viewer discretion is advised" 

But is this enough? Has this become just another way for Multi-million dollar corporations to cover their own asses? Do they really care about the audiences trauma or triggers while watching? Have these companies become so blind to the fact that the trauma they so easily portray are real life traumatic events and triggers for real people? 

I started watching 13 Reason why during it's Season one inception in 2017. I was fascinated by the idea of a series tackling real life struggles of teenagers, young adults and even parental figures and teachers. Finally a show that can shed light on very pressing issues, right? The show covers some very serious topics: suicide, Bipolar disorder, homophobia, depression, bullying, gun violence, substance abuse and sexual assault (just to name a few) 

I have always been very cautious when watching movies or series that are rated: 18, violence and sex. I always knew that if there was an "S" and a "V" in there, it meant there was a chance the show could depict anything of a violent and sexual nature such as rape or sexual assault. Personally, I get extremely triggered by this content, I get nauseous, shaky and start crying, therefore, I avoid it at all costs. My body responds this way because I am a victim of rape and sexual assault, by watching these things, I revert backwards mentally and get put in a really bad space, a space that I fight very hard to stay out of every single day. When I do not see a trigger warning and get exposed to sexually violent scenes, I get FURIOUS. I feel as though nobody took any care in warning their viewers of potentially harmful content, I feel as though nobody cared about people like myself. 

So why mention 13 Reasons why? They add trigger warnings to the start of their episodes, I quoted it above. I went into watching 13 Reasons Why knowing the base content, I had asked around and people who had watched it told me what it was about, I wanted to be prepared, and so I watched. During Season one, Main Character, Hannah, gets raped by a fellow pupil from the high school. I was prepared for this scene and when it started I skipped past. I was okay. I knew what had happened but I had not watched it happen and so my trauma responses did not kick in and I could continue watching KNOWING what had happened and still being able to follow the plot. I did not have to go through that. But then I thought to myself, what if I had not had friends or family who had watched it? I mean, I knew the show tackled intense topics but it is hard to know when an episode is going to really dig THAT deep into the specified topic. For example, every episode could have a Trigger warning due to Suicidal themes, but for the first 4 episodes they depict googling how to kill yourself, speaking about suicide and planning suicide, yet in the next episode they suddenly show you somebody ACTUALLY committing suicide and taking their own life. Same trigger warning, same topic but very different depictions am I correct? This is how I feel with sexual assault topics as well. It is one thing to have a victim talking about it, reporting to the police, having panic attacks when seeing their abuser and a whole other thing to watch a victim get abused. 

Do we not think that there should more emphasis put on specific trigger warnings for such graphic depictions of trauma? 

I decided to start watching season 2 of 13 Reasons Why about a week ago, why I never continued after season 1, I don't know, but I felt ready for season 2. Personally, My day turned from "pretty damn good for a Wednesday" to "absolute mental shit show" in a few seconds,thanks to 13 Reason Why, Season 2, Episode 13. 

I was greeted with the above quoted trigger warning, as in almost every episode. So naturally I expected what I have been watching.

I usually multitask while watching shows, having something I am interested in play in the background really helps me stay focused, it sounds backwards but that is how I have always been. I am familiar with the characters of the show and am following on their journeys with anticipation. Around minute 38 of the episode, we are greeted with another bully scene thanks to a jock. Nothing new. So there I am watching the episode and doing some work at the same time and out of nowhere I am presented with a scene of the jock sodomizing the "nerd" with a mop handle. Due to my fantastic urge to multitask I was not prepared and could not click out in time and so I was presented with the entire scene. I froze and started tearing up, I felt as though I was about to throw up and burst out crying simultaneously. I COULD NOT UNWATCH IT! Once I had spoken to my partner and had calmed down enough to be a functioning person again, I asked myself "why in the hell do we not have more specific trigger warnings in scenes such as these" 

But How?!    

Yeah everybody is like "but how will we do this without ruining everything?!" 

 Well I'm glad you asked ... 

Trigger Warning Title screen, little box in the bottom corner with a time stamp to display when we could be exposed to a graphic scene. 

Little symbol with a "TW" that pops up onto the top corner of the screen 30 seconds before a graphic scene begins to give the viewer time to skip over or click out. 

Well damn, that really isn't that complicated now is it? It would really save people like myself from recessing every time we are exposed to graphic content without knowing when to skip past or click out. 

Please don't get me wrong, I am not pointing the finger solely at 13 Reasons Why, this has happened to me on a few occasions, some without any Trigger warning at all (shame on them) but I had been lucky enough to have gone a while without being triggered by the media, this episode of 13 Reasons Why was just my most recent trigger and push to post this. 

I do not think it would be too difficult to put more effort into trigger warnings on graphic content. It would make the biggest positive difference for people like myself that struggle with trauma. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, please remember to keep it respectful, these are simply my opinions and we are all entitled to our own.