Do you know what trigger warnings are? These 5 insightful illustrations explain.

Trigger warnings help us gain control over our emotional reactions.

 Alicia BarrĂ³n
11.14.16

You know the feeling when you're going about your day and you're suddenly struck with a deep pang of emotion?

Something you saw, heard, or witnessed subconsciously took you back to a traumatic event you experienced. That's a trigger.

For some people, these triggers can bring about unpleasant or even harmful emotions.

That's why it's important to be aware of how discussing certain issues might not just affect us, but also those around us.

Cartoonist and illustrator Madeleine Slade created this incredibly insightful comic detailing what trigger warnings are based on her personal experience. Not only is it brave, it's also important to understanding and being mindful of others sensitivities.

These comics explain how trigger warnings can help someone avoid a personal, emotional crisis:

Illustrations by M. Slade, featured with permission.

Illustrations by M. Slade, featured with permission.

Illustrations by M. Slade, featured with permission.

Illustrations by M. Slade, featured with permission.

Illustrations by M. Slade, featured with permission.

The 2016 presidential election will be triggering for people you know and love and maybe even for you personally.

If you're emotionally invested and can't control your feelings while talking politics, know you can leave the conversation before it turns into something damaging.

Stepping away can save you the anxiety of not knowing what to do because you're uncomfortable with the situation. Removing yourself from those triggering talks will help you remain focused, relaxed, and — most importantly — healthy.

An NPR survey recently found half of college professors have used trigger warnings before. The National Coalition Against Censorship explains that "in many cases, the request for trigger warnings comes from students themselves." They help students feel that they're in a safe space.

Whether you feel you need trigger warnings or not, it's important to understand what they are.

They're a way we can better understand each other. They help establish awareness of others and their emotions while discussing sensitive subjects. Trigger warnings are act of empathy.

Give your friends a heads up if you need trigger warnings, too. Kindly remind them how they help you stay healthy.

We can't control the things around us, but we can control our reactions to them. And that is always worth discussing.

self-care comics empathy healing understanding emotions trigger warnings madeleine slade m. slade triggering words trigger words
Family

Someone named ‘Jeffrey’ or ‘Michael’ is more likely to be a CEO than a woman.

Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

If you're a woman and you want to be a CEO, you should probably think about changing your name to "Jeffrey" or "Michael." Or possibly even "Michael Jeffreys" or "Jeffrey Michaels."

According to Fortune, last year, more men named Jeffrey and Michael became CEOs of America's top companies than women. A whopping total of one woman became a CEO, while two men named Jeffrey took the title, and two men named Michael moved into the C-suite as well.

The "New CEO Report" for 2018, which looks at new CEOS for the 250 largest S&P 500 companies, found that 23 people were appointed to the position of CEO. Only one of those 23 people was a woman. Michelle Gass, the new CEO of Kohl's, was the lone female on the list.

Keep Reading Show less
ceo women in business representation corporate america female leaders
popular

Netflix cuts controversial suicide scene in ‘13 Reasons Why’ more than two years later.

Netflix

How much of what we do is influenced by what we see on TV? When it comes to risky behavior, Netflix isn't taking any chances.

After receiving a lot of heat, the streaming platform is finally removing a controversial scenedepicting teen suicide in season one of "13 Reasons Why. The decision comes two years after the show's release after statistics reveal an uptick in teen suicide.

"As we prepare to launch season three later this summer, we've been mindful about the ongoing debate around the show. So on the advice of medical experts, including Dr. Christine Moutier, Chief Medical Officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, we've decided with creator Brian Yorkey and the producers to edit the scene in which Hannah takes her own life from season one," Netflix said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Keep Reading Show less
netflix 13 reasons why suicide mental health tv series
Culture

Trump just bizarrely claimed Arnold Schwarzenegger had 'died.' An unfazed Arnold flexed back.

At Trump's 'Social Media Summit' on Thursday, he bizarrely claimed Arnold Schwarzenegger had 'died' and he had witnessed said death. Wait, what?!


He didn't mean it literally - thank God. You can't be too sure! After all, he seemed to think that Frederick Douglass was still alive in February. More recently, he described a world in which the 1770s included airports. His laissez-faire approach to chronology is confusing, to say the least.

Keep Reading Show less
Democracy

There is literally no such thing as 'sex with underage women.'

The language we use matters.

Words matter. And they especially matter when we are talking about the safety and well-being of children.

While the #MeToo movement has shed light on sexual assault allegations that have long been swept under the rug, it has also brought to the forefront the language we use when discussing such cases. As a writer, I appreciate the importance of using varied wording, but it's vital we try to remain as accurate as possible in how we describe things.

There can be gray area in some topics, but some phrases being published by the media regarding sexual predation are not gray and need to be nixed completely—not only because they dilute the severity of the crime, but because they are simply inaccurate by definition.

One such phrase is "non-consensual sex with a minor." First of all, non-consensual sex is "rape" no matter who is involved. Second of all, most minors legally cannot consent to sex (the age of consent in the U.S. ranges by state from 16 to 18), so sex with a minor is almost always non-consensual by definition. Call it what it is—child rape or statutory rape, depending on circumstances—not "non-consensual sex."

Keep Reading Show less
Culture