Content warnings - a Recommendation from Laura

(Content note: discussion of rape and violence in literature)

 

           Hey, so I was wondering if we should have a content warning / content note system in place for book club discussion? Especially since the group has expanded, it might be a good thing to keep in mind. Here's an example relevant to the book club context: I don't personally mind reading stories with rape scenes in them, but I do like fair warning, so that I can skim or skip if I'm not feeling up to reading it at the moment. A warning also gives any of us who might never feel up to reading a rape scene the opportunity to choose to sit this one out or not. This is a courtesy I've definitely come to appreciate.

Expanded example: I just read a great story where the rape was just DROPPED IN to the middle of a paragraph and I would definitely have appreciated some kind of heads up. So, if it were my turn to pick for book club and I chose that story, I would include in my blog entry, somewhere visible, "Content note: rape" or some such thing (like the parenthetical above).

       Or, if I were recommending this historical essay I've been considering about early American schools, I might include a (Content note: Descriptions of violence, corporal punishment), as a fair warning for anyone who wanted to put off reading about those things until they were feeling better, or just appreciated being mentally prepared to read about a lot of sixteen-year-olds getting beat up in various contexts.

The problem is figuring out when to include content notes & how specific to be -- but that can be a subject for discussion. It's fairly easy to do this on a common-sense, your-own-best-judgement basis and fine-tune it as we go.

 What do you think?