my idiotic little warning-label rant

[hth]

Warning labels aren't one of the things I get all exercised about, every six months when they become an Issue again in fandom. There are certain subjects I'm totally willing to revisit over and over again for the rest of my life, but that isn't really one of them, basically because it's become blindingly obvious to me that no solution will ever make everyone happy, and such is life.

However, just this one time, I want to say this.

As much as you, gentle reader, may hate accidentally reading a story that upsets or disturbs you in some way -- and I get that you hate it, I hear that -- that is exactly how much I hate being told before I even start the damn story that everything turns out all right in the end. I fucking *hate* that, because if the story is even remotely well-crafted, there was a perfectly good chance that I would undergo some amount of suspense and excitement while reading it, but not anymore. I hate it when people do it in the notes to their own stories, I hate it when people do it in recs, and I *really* hate it when people do it to my stories. I also don't want to be told that everything *doesn't* turn out all right in the end -- if I get warned for character death, I goddamn well want it to happen in the first three paragraphs, otherwise I consider it a spoiler.

Isn't it weird how fandom gets so freaky intense about protecting people from spoilers in canon (don't say it was a funny one! Don't say Ladon's going to be in it! Warn people if your story gives away the color of Rodney's cat as revealed last week!), and yet is totally blase about giving away the ending of fanfic before anyone has a chance to read it and think, even for a moment, Wow, I wonder how this is going to work out?

You see what I'm saying about the no-win situation? If you don't warn for unpleasantness, you'll piss off all those other people. If you do warn by giving away the ending, you'll piss me off. Warning labels are a fandom dead-end. Everything you do is wrong, so you just have to pick your poison.

I think of labeling and recs and that kind of thing as serving a function similar to movie trailers. I know what kind of stuff I like, and if someone's written that kind of thing, I want to know about it, and I also want to know what I'm probably not going to be into enough to spend my time on it. This is a sketchy proposition at best -- how many movies have you wasted your time on because the trailer looked really awesome, and yet, no? But, for example, take The Departed, which I saw not too long ago. I knew it was a Scorcese flick, and I know not only that I love him, but what kind of stories he's generally drawn to, so that helped. I also saw a bunch of commercials, which told me it was some kind of a gangster movie, which I took to mean it would probably be violent. I read a couple of reviews, wherein I was told that it was kind of a psychological thriller about the parallel lives of a gangster undercover with the cops and a cop undercover with gangster, and that the reviewers in question liked it. This is the kind of thing I want to know. I do not, under any circumstances, want to know the body count. I don't want to know that. I want to be aware that, given the setting, the plot, and the people involved, there could well be one, and then I want to watch the freaking movie. Equivalently, I don't mind vague warnings for "darkness" or "adult content" or whatever; that's fine to know, that helps me know the mood and milieu to expect. But then let me *read the story* to find out if it's the everybody-dies kind of darkness or the wow-close-call! kind.

Anyway. Like I said, I think it's just a decision that everyone who writes or recs has to make, knowing that they're helping some of their potential readers enjoy the story more and causing some of their potential readers to enjoy it less. You just make the call and then get on with your life.

Comments

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally agree. What I found interesting when I posted a story for which I agonized a little as to whether people would read it warning-less and reassurance-less (my dS story Across the Great Divide), I got a lot of comments from people who said that after Certain Things Happened they immediately turned to the ending to see how those Things turned out. So I felt a lot better about not including a warning, because the people who wanted warnings just checked the ending on their own, and the story's ending is not wrecked for other readers.

[justbreathe80.livejournal.com]

A-fucking-MEN. I totally agree. I generally don't warn for anything on my own fic, and try not to do so when I rec, because I, for one, really enjoy the suspense of reading a well-crafted story where they can make me LIKE killing off main characters. It IS a no-win situation, you are absolutely right, because I HATE being spoiled too, but I know that people feel really strongly in the other direction.

I've sort of made peace with pissing some people off, frankly, because I want to preserve (not to be TOO dramatic) the integrity of my own writing. I guess I just don't get it, because I'm NOT one of those sensitive readers. I can take what's thrown at me, and like it most of the time.

[ratcreature]

If one is really agonizing over the issue there always the option to hide the warnings, though I admit that even though I don't even prefer warnings I often can't resist looking anyway when I see "Warning: They all DIE!!1!" or something like that, even though the author did her best to accomodate everyone. Heh.

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

Your lips, God's ear.

But I know I'm just going to have to continue to rage at (and mock) the delicate sensibilities of others. But I'll do it quietly. Really.

[dsudis.livejournal.com]

I once risked pissing off everyone in a new and creative way, by putting a death story warning on a story in which the primary character thought he was going to die, for the whole story (and then didn't). I couldn't think of another way to get the majority of readers to entertain the possibility that he might actually die, within the context of a fic community where you simply do not kill characters without warnings.

I was relatively new at the time, though (and it was due South in a polite phase, at that) so I just got gently corrected regarding the definition of "death story." *g*

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

that is exactly how much I hate being told before I even start the damn story that everything turns out all right in the end.

Oh my God yes. I just... warnings have become crazy. I don't read death!fic because it's a forgone conclusion and I spend the entire story waiting for the author to kill someone and how... It's not why you should be reading a story.

I just... don't understand it really.

[arby-m.livejournal.com]

I always thought there could be some kind of compromise, like a "Click Here for warnings" and put them in a separate section, like at the very bottom after lots of spoiler space. That way those who wanted to could read the warning and those who didn't, didn't have to. Don't know how much if ever this is utilized though. Agree it's way too big of a deal in this fandom for some reason.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

I found your comment really interesting, mostly because of within the context of a fic community. Because while I understand Hth and most commenters that it can be incredibly frustrating to be told where things are heading, I think dsudis puts her finger on the main reason: as a community it seems we've agreed to certain conventions over the years, have created certain expectations, and part of this is that a larger number of things are already pregiven.

I mean, fanfiction has stretched if not exploded its generic limitations quite a lot recently, but I'd still argue that a large number of readers a lot of the time read for repetition and comfort rather than exploration and surprise. Personally, I go back and forth. There are times I adore getting surprised (like in pop, I used to enjoy not knowing who'd end with whom) but other times, I'd hate not to get my happy ending for my couple, not to have my generic expectations fulfilled...

I think it keeps on coming back to the debate I seem to be having nonstop lately (and sorry to drag it into your LJ, I guess), namely, that fanfic is *not* like regular literature insofar as we're already invested in the characters in ways we don't tend to be in most stories with characters we just met. As a result, we may also read for particular generic expectations and can get upset when these are not fulfilled (just like a romance reader may get upset when the couple doesn't live happily ever after or a mystery reader may bedisappointed when the story turns out to be *not* about solving a muder).

To me the not wanting to read death (or even unhappy ending or having my characters end up with someone other than whom I think they should be with) is simply an extension of not wanting to read even the bestest story in a fandom I don't care about. And I guess we all have different levels of what we need to know or not (like, some folks *will* read a fic even without knowing the fandom and others need to know pretty much every major plot point), but I don't think it's an either/or as much as a spectrum where most of us align somwhere in the middle...

And because of that spectrum, I think you are totally correct that everyone needs to decide for themselves...b/c the same thing can spoil one person and lack warning for another. I just updated my sGA rec page, and had a hard time putting fic in relevant categories, b/c it might spoil the plot (like, one fic I had should have gone into "notquitehuman," but that wasn't revealed until the end, so I ended up not putting it in there... otoh, if someone were to look for that particular genre, they wouldn't get to read that story...)

[delfeus.livejournal.com]

I don't have a set opinion of warnings. In the case of squicks/kinks it's nice, so I won't end up reading a breathplay fic by mistake and know to read the bloodplay fic, but as no one warns about licking toes, it's a no win situation, really. I don't go around complaining that people should add it in warnings, though. What puzzles me most are the people who list in a high-rated slash fic "oral, anal" etc in the warnings. Isn't the rating supposed to tell you that?

As for character death... sometimes I like to be warned, and sometimes not. If the story has a dark or angsty setting, it's kind of unnecessary, as it can be expected. In some cases it completely destroys the story to have the warnings up. *shrug*

[eleventh-guard.livejournal.com]

I like this idea. There isn't a perfect solution, but that, on some sites (like LiveJournal), provides a way to warn those who want to be warned and let those who would prefer not to have warnings proceed without them. Although I can't resist peeking, either...

Unfortunately, some sites make it very difficult to post coded warnings like that. For those that make it possible, though, it works.

[eleventh-guard.livejournal.com]

I only put the specific types-of-sex warnings in slash if I'm posting to AFFN, because it's technically required (although a lot of people don't do it and somehow get away with it.) On LiveJournal, I don't warn for specific sex acts, and unless the comm rules specify warning for slash, I will assume that listing the pairing is sufficient.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

[Here from metafandom. [wave]]

Absolutely and hallelujah. I have serious issues with the way fanfic fandom has gotten so delicate and so sensitive that you practically have to warn if there's a left-handed red-haired character with a hangnail because God Forbid some left-handed red-haired reader should've had a Really Traumatic Experience with a hangnail at some point in their life and have, like, flashbacks if they were to wander into your story and read your hangnail scene all unprepared and unbraced. [facepalm]

When I first started posting fiction online back in the late eighties, there were no warnings. You posted your stuff in the adult area if it had adult stuff in it, which generally meant sex but could also mean anything else the movie censors might find disturbing, but if it was in the adult area then that was considered to be warning enough. Anyone who'd stated their age to the sysop and requested admittance to the adult area was assumed to be, well, adult enough to be responsible for what they read and to know what the [Back] button was for if they tripped over something they'd rather not read. People who were too delicate for such things were welcome to avoid the adult fiction area.

I've allowed myself to be persuaded to put warnings on some of my fiction in certain areas. I'll put general "sexual violence" or "dark themes" warnings if I have to, but I won't get any more specific than that if doing so would spoil something in the story.

Most of my stories written over the last... almost two years now, actually, have been fest fics, and one of the reasons I'm comfortable with them is that it's customary to post the prompt in the header. That being the case, there's usually not a lot to be spoiled, you know? I had no problem warning for "character death" on my ghost story because the murder was part of the prompt to which I was writing, and besides, the character was dead when the story started -- you have to get a ghost from somewhere, right? [wry smile] But I'm starting to move away from that and if I'm writing purely my own stories then I don't put spoilery warnings on them. I just don't. I know that'll lose me some readers but that's my choice to make and I'm hoping it'll gain me some others, and maybe encourage some other writers who think this whole warnings thing has just gotten ridiculous to refuse to go along with it as well.

But I've seen writers practically get on bended knee in their headers to assure readers that, "Everything comes out fine in the end! Really, I promise! Happy-happy!" when the story deals with violence and drama and whatever all else. Umm, gee, thanks for telling me. [sigh]

How do these people who insist on warnings for anything and everything manage in a bookstore??

Angie, who refuses to play that ridiculous game

[dmarley.livejournal.com]

Here via metafandom

There is, as you say, no winning on the warnings issue. Some folks want them, some don't, and both sides have persuasive reasons. That's possibly why I keep trying to think of ways of winning anyway. :)

My favorite warning system was the one in Pros fandom, where you put all your warnings, notes, disclaimers, etc. in a separate "0" post--even if there *were* no warnings or notes or disclaimers--so the first-numbered post of your story started with the story, and nothing else. Some of the Automated Archive mailing software does the same thing, which I really like. It allows folks who want to be warned to have that option, and those that don't can just skip right to the story.

Unfortunately, while this works great on mailing lists and Usenet (well, you know, as far as *anything* works with thousands of people trying to coexist in gentle anarchy), the system breaks down on web pages and even Livejournal. In theory, it's possible to have a "0" post on LJ, but in practice I think most folks (me included) would be annoyed to have two posts for every story instead of just one. And on web pages, it's a bit awkward to have a teeny little separate file for each story just for notes and warnings. I've been thinking that maybe the best solution is to put all the notes and warnings at the end of the story instead of the beginning.

But then again, I also probably think about this kind of thing way too much anyway. :)

[bluecove.livejournal.com]

Here from metafandom as well.

I've seen the arguments go back and forth on whether warnings are a good thing. Should you warn for swearing (language)? Should you warn for character death? Should you warn for minor character death?

For the first three chapters of a long-winded fic I'm currently writing, I took the politically correct path and warned. Your rant, however, reminded me that what I like best about the shows my fandoms spring from is the element of surprise. When I first watched Blakes 7 I was shocked by Gan's death, but it was a good shock, because it showed that any character could go at any time. More recently, in Stargate fandom, Daniel's original death/ascension was splashed around beforehand, and for those who knew, it reduced the impact of the episode.

After thinking about it, I've decided to remove the warnings I had put up, and not use them in the future. Since I'm writing a gen AU, the more intense stuff won't come up anyway. If someone gets upset that I didn't warn them about a particularly sensitive character's demise... oh, well, at least I surprised them....

Thanks for the knock to the head, I think I needed it.

Here via <lj user="metafandom">

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

Your post has caused me to think about an issue I haven't for a while, and I thank you.

When I entered fandom, I never used warnings; traditional fiction doesn't carry them (unless as a marketing tool), so I didn't feel they were necessary. As I came to understand the conventions of the community I'd joined, however, I began placing warnings in my headers, feeling that it was the appropriate and polite thing to do.

Now, I'm considering obscuring the warnings I give in some way as a courtesy to people who don't want them. I'm not sure how I'll do this, or even if I will, but I can certainly understand a reader's desire to allow a fic to speak for itself. Warnings are dreadful spoilers, aren't they?

[clauclauclaudia]

It's really easy to put the warnings at the bottom of the page and link to them at the top, on LJ or your own site. Of course, many archives don't allow for this.

[dossier.livejournal.com]

here via metafandom--

I am absolutely with you on this. I despise spoilers of any kind, and I prefer that I just don't get the warnings, etc, and even the *pairing* is an issue.

See, I got this rec yesterday for a story, but all it said was, GREAT STORY GO READ.

So I read. I find out oh, 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through that it was a pairing that I don't avoid, I just don't seek it out. Now, I'm kicking my own ass that I probably read some pairing label somewhere on some warning when it was posted and I passed by this really fascinating story that was beautifully written.

as an adjunct, and apropos of completely nothing, I hate it when the warnings and labels and disclaimers and rants and thanks are longer than the STORY. I'm sorry, nothing 100 words long needs that much explanation--and if it does, then, well--they did it wrong!

LJ-cuts are a fanfic writer's best friend

[duskpeterson.livejournal.com]

Seriously. If you announce a story at a fanfic list, just put the warnings under an LJ-cut. That makes everyone happy.

(Here via metafandom, by the way.)

Like dmarley, I came into the fanfic community when warnings were being placed in 0 posts on lists. In fact, at the first list I joined, members were required to put the warnings in the 0 post under spoiler space. That way, list members could read the rest of the 0 post without having to read the warnings unless they wanted to.

If somebody has a multiple-post story at their LJ or home page, then it's easy enough to create a separate warnings post and (if necessary) link to it from every installment.

Alternatively, if you want to place the warning in the same post, or if have a table of contents where you want to place the warnings, just put them in white type. Then tell your readers to highlight the entire page if they want to read the warnings. (Control-A or Command-A.)

I surveyed folks at various slash lists once about whether they wanted warnings. Half said they did; half said they didn't. The ones who said they didn't stated they were fine with warnings being given as long as they were hidden from view.

Interestingly, a lot of the people who wanted the warning did so because they were using them like the erotica fiction world's story codes: so that they could find the stuff they liked. They wanted a death warning because they liked deathfic; they wanted a BDSM warning because they liked BDSMfic.

Because of this, I know that there are readers reading my warnings in order to find what they like, not because they necessarily like spoilers. I also have the problem that my warnings make my stories sound a lot more depressing than they actually are. And I've dealt with the problem that dsudis dealt with - namely, in about twenty-five percent of my stories, it looks as though somebody's going to die who actually doesn't.

So I've come up with a boilerplate warning (labelled as such) that warns but doesn't provide spoilers:

"I write hurt/comfort, angstfic, and darkfic. Many of my stories deal with the topic of abuse, death, or voluntary submission. All of my stories feature love or respect, though sometimes it takes a while to get there."

That covers the difficult topics which are most likely to arise in my stories: death, rape, physical abuse, severe violence, and power dynamics. For anything else, I add an extra warning.

Oh, by the way, I warn for religious references. I found when I was a reporter that the three topics most likely to tick people off are the traditional ones: sex, politics, and religion.

[geeklite.livejournal.com]

Isn't it weird how fandom gets so freaky intense about protecting people from spoilers in canon (don't say it was a funny one! Don't say Ladon's going to be in it! Warn people if your story gives away the color of Rodney's cat as revealed last week!), and yet is totally blase about giving away the ending of fanfic before anyone has a chance to read it and think, even for a moment, Wow, I wonder how this is going to work out?

I love spoilers and warnings. Give me more of them!

But having said that, one of the reasons I do love spoilers in fanfic is because I know there are places the show won't go. But there's nowhere that fanfic won't go.

[fantasyenabler.livejournal.com]

Here via metafandom. Also, here to dissent.

While I agree that warnings can act as spoilers, I also think they are a necessary evil. Yes, most fiction books and/or movies don't come with a warning label on them. However, they do come with opportunities to research them beforehand, in the way of reviews, author interviews, and word of mouth, that most fic does not offer. With most fic, all you've got before you is a link to a story written by someone you most likely do not know. Thus, you need some sort of information to gain an indication of what you're getting yourself into.

Ratings are helpful, but typically too vague to provide much information, and the same goes for many adult sites' classification policies. Hence, like it or not, warnings are usually a fic reader's best selection tool when it comes to choosing to read a fic. Nothing else is specific enough to let you know what might be ahead of you.

Also, while some warnings may seem like they're about silly things, others are not. Again, like it or not, there are child abuse survivors out there who don't appreciate either underage or incest fic. There are rape survivors who don't appreciate non-con, BDSM, or slave fic. There are even people who've fought in wars who don't want to read torture fic or other things that risk triggering attacks of PTSD. I know people who fall under all of these categories, and I myself qualify for at least one.

Speaking for myself, I don't care if you don't warn me that you're going to kill Character A three-quarters of the way through the fic. However, if you're going to have a child raped at that same point and there's no warning, you can expect to receive an email from me, and I can assure you I will *not* be happy. Also, you can be assured that I won't care if what I say pisses you off. I have too much perspective as what's really frightening in the world to care about that thing. I just don't want you causing pain to others like me who aren't as apt to speak up about it happens.

Thus to me, warnings are a system of mutual protection. They allow readers to skip things they have an aversion to, and they allow writers to write what they want without having to worry about the Censorship Cavalry, such as the people who were ranting against incest a little while back, riding in and trying to paint these fic writers as perversion spreading freaks. My response to them was that I am an SN fan and yet I have never been fooled into reading anything I don't want to read, because most Wincest is very clearly marked. In this way, specific warnings make it possible for writers to do what they want, because they put the burden on readers to take personal responsibility for what they click and read.

In other words, it's thanks to warnings that I have no right to cry "My eyes!" after I've waltzed past a sign I should have stopped and read. I also have no right to throw rocks at you, even if you're doing something I don't like.

I just ask that you don't lead me down a dark path and then drop something heavy and unpleasant on me. Because then, I'll have no choice but to ride with the Censorship Cavalry to keep myself safe, and believe me, that's the last thing in the world I want to do.

[fantasyenabler.livejournal.com]

I just don't want you causing pain to others like me who aren't as apt to speak up about it happens.

Should be "when it happens."

I hate LJ sometimes. *sigh*

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

With most fic, all you've got before you is a link to a story written by someone you most likely do not know. Thus, you need some sort of information to gain an indication of what you're getting yourself into.

There are many, many ways to research a fic before getting into it. Asking around for other people's opinions, reading the comments on the story first, first, looking for recs of the author's other stories to get a sense of what kind of stories she usually writes, etc.

If the reader has concerns, it is the reader's responsibility to do these things first, *before* reading an unlabeled story from a stranger. Why would someone with serious psychological triggers risk reading an unlabeled story from a complete stranger? I like fanfic as much as anyone else, but after reading two or three stories that caused me serious psychological damage, *I would not read fics unless I knew they were safe*. And I would *not* assume that a fic with no warnings is "safe."

As a child, I had some food sensitivities. If someone handed me something-- say, an unwrapped piece of candy, without a food label, there are two ways I could react.

1) "Well, there's no label on this candy that says 'artificial flavors.' Therefore it must not contain artificial flavors! It must be safe to eat!" *Wee!Livia eats the candy and becomes ridiculously hyperactive for hours*

2) "Well, there's no label on this candy that says 'artificial flavors.' It might not contain artificial flavors... but I can't be sure. I'd better not eat it." *doesn't eat it, remains non-hyperactive*

I don't see why people don't approach fic the same way. (Especially since a psychologically triggering story about rape is likely to affect them much more seriously than a piece of candy affected me when I was younger.)

People seem to be proceeding on the assumption that an unlabeled fic is safe. Instead, they should proceed on the assumption that an unlabeled fic is dangerous, and skip it, unless they can confirm *for themselves* that it is actually safe. *That's* taking personal responsibility for protecting yourself-- not expecting the author to do it for you.

In other words, it's thanks to warnings that I have no right to cry "My eyes!" after I've waltzed past a sign I should have stopped and read.

No-- it's not thanks to warnings. It's thanks to *your choice to read*. Whether there are warnings or not doesn't change the fact that if you had an unpleasant experience reading a story, you *chose* to read it. This is not the author's fault unless she intentionally misled you about the contents. (Failing to include plot spoilers in the header of the fic is *not* the same thing as misleading readers about the contents. )

Suppose I hand you a videotape. The label is blank. And I tell you, "This is a movie. I'm not telling you anything else about it. It might be G-rated or R-rated. It might be the Princess Diaries or it might be hardcore porn. Would you like to watch it?"

You have a choice: watch it, or not watch it. If you *choose to watch it*, I am not responsible if you are offended or shocked or triggered by anything in it. Even though I didn't put any warnings on the tape, I am still *not* responsible for your choice. You were aware that it was unlabeled and unrated, and could have contained anything, and *you* made the choice to watch it anyway. How is this my fault? It's not. It's yours, for not saying "No, I think I'll go watch some movies over here that *do* have labels, thanks."

Nobody is "leading you down a dark path." It is *always* your choice to read or not read, whether there are warnings or not.

[dmarley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's along the lines of what I was thinking. Then again, I don't ever really *write* anything worth warning, so for me it's not such an issue. :)

[fantasyenabler.livejournal.com]

Nobody is "leading you down a dark path." It is *always* your choice to read or not read, whether there are warnings or not.

That's very true, and I don't mean to dispute that. Believe me, when it comes to my own reading, I'm very cautious in where I go and what I read, and I don't approach anything recklessly.

The problem we run into though is that not everyone approaches life this way, and that includes people who should be more cautious than most. Myself, I would love it if people took more responsibility for their own immediate environment, but unfortunately, I've learned that this is just not the case. There are far too many people out there who expect everything to come pre-processed for their use and comfort--and it's these same people who raise a stink when they stumble across something that obviously isn't.

Look at the recent furor over incest fic. My first response to anyone is always going to be, "Well, just don't click on it. It's what I do." But how well does that excuse work when not all incest fic is appropriately marked? Suddenly, these crusaders have a "prime example" of someone trying to lead innocents down a garden path. It's in this way that a lack of warnings weakens fandom's ability to stand by and for what it does--providing a place for any and all to play and interact--and makes it possible for the people leading the Safety Brigade to paint us all with the same broad deviant brush.

Now, you can say, "Well, these people have no place being out here if they can't handle some things." You can say that because God knows I've said it myself, to some specific individuals, in fact. Statements like, "Well, you know slave fic and BDSM are things you're going to run into here and here and here, so you might want to stay away." Again though, my case is helped because in those instances, the referenced sites make it very clear what they're about, so when these individuals come back to me and say, "Oh, you won't believe what I found there," I can point to the warnings and say, "Well, whose fault was that?"

Like I said before, it's a system that protects writers and site owners every bit as much as the reader, especially when the Internet being what it is, so many readers are first-timers and relative newbies. These people aren't going to know how to go out and research a fic or a fic author. They're going to be a lot like I was when I first got on the Web nine years ago, not knowing what "fandom" is and being amazed that there's "free fiction" up here. They're not going to know to go to this community and ask around. All they're know is, "Click or not click. That is the question."

Now hopefully, they would also realize just as quickly as I did that a certain amount of caution needs to be utilized, but sadly, I'm finding that's not the case and these people walk away from the Net with a very diseased picture of what's out there in their minds. It sort of cements it for me that not everyone takes their own safety into their own hands the way I do, and when they feel that their safety has been breached, the last person they're going to blame is the person they see in the mirror. Hence, my feeling that it's better not to offer them an obvous scapegoat. Because they'll gladly wring its neck with both hands.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

It sort of cements it for me that not everyone takes their own safety into their own hands the way I do, and when they feel that their safety has been breached, the last person they're going to blame is the person they see in the mirror. Hence, my feeling that it's better not to offer them an obvous scapegoat.

I think I see what you're saying, but honestly, I don't feel like I need any kind of protection from people saying or thinking mean things about me. Part of being a writer, I think, is taking your lumps from people who, justifiably or unjustifiably, dislike what you're saying. If I couldn't cope with that, I wouldn't be showing my work to strangers on the internet.

With things like movies or books, we have some ability to research -- but most of us don't, in any great detail. With television, at least if you watch first-run television, you usually have even less control. And yeah, what that means is that you get shocked sometimes, and the deeper your issues run, the more at risk you are. That's a hard truth, but I'm not sure it's one that writers are under some kind of responsibility to fix. In the case of death stories, for example, I wasn't warned, nor did I get a letter of apology, when Law & Order suddenly killed off Claire Kincaid, or when Due South killed Louis Gardino, or when Buffy the Vampire Slayer killed Jenny Calendar -- all shows that, up to that point, had never killed a significant character and that I had no particular reason to expect it from. I wouldn't expect that kind of warning, and if those fictional stories touched off something in viewers' own lives that needed to be addressed, I would assume those viewers addressed it without asking Dick Wolf, Paul Haggis, or Joss Whedon to help out. Hopefully, they also did it without shifting the blame to those writers, but if they do choose to scapegoat in that manner, honestly, so be it, you know? I wouldn't expect TPTB on those shows to change their decisions about how to proceed narratively because someone, somewhere was unhappy about it.

I personally am more likely to warn for sexual violence, because in most stories with that theme, the dramatic heft isn't in *whether* the violence will occur, but in how the characters respond to it. Likewise, if I write a story where the death is the precipitating action and the story is about the fallout, I don't mind "warning" -- I wouldn't consider it a warning, per se, but essentially a summary of the premise. My objection is specifically to warning lables that reveal the end of the story, not all warning labels everywhere. I think you're right, in many circumstances they're helpful all the way around the board. In others, not so much.

Look, personally, I myself have a serious rape squick, and from time to time, that's something I've had to cope with in my entertainment life. I vividly remember seeing Rob Roy in the theater, and having to go outside and sit in the hall to freak out quietly until I could pull myself together for the rest of the movie. I did the same thing with Pulp Fiction, and I damn near had the same freak-out over the "Pegasus" episode of Battlestar Galactica. Such is life, you know? My issues are my issues, and I deal with them, and not everything I encounter in this world makes me feel good; some things make me feel awful, in fact. Other people deal with their issues in their own ways, and if the only way they can deal is to write me an angry e-mail because I wrote something that made them feel awful, then I hope that helps. But I'm not going to be the first or the last person to piss them off in that way -- hell, maybe they saw Rob Roy in the theater, too -- and nobody can expect that every movie producer, novelist, screenwriter, and fangirl is working full-time to protect them from things that make them feel awful. It's just an unfair expectation to put on other people, and I'm not going to let myself be bothered by a small handful of people who would like to put that expectation on me.