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I've been following discussion about the new Vividcon Background and Procedures. I'm really pleased with the response to concerns raised last year and this year; it makes me happy that people in my fannish communities are proactive about making fandom a better place for themselves and for others. I am sad that some people see the critiques as attacks or requests for perfection; I tend to think of them as ways to make good things better, or at least accessible to more people.

Personally I am psyched about the Newbie Dinner on Thursday, despite being an oldbie, because I am an oldbie who is scared of people and never meets half the people she has heard are coming even though it is a tiny con.

There are some discussions about warnings going on, to which I have nothing new to contribute and yet about which I wish to express myself anyway. Fortunately, I have this blog thing to be repetitive on.

Nothing new
Last year's discussions about warnings in fanfiction changed my mind about warnings. I am firmly opposed to censorship. I don't have triggers myself. Generally I prefer to avoid vid warnings. I am almost certain that my position on my premiering vid will be "Choose not to warn." And I am in favor of implementing warnings for common PTSD and physical triggers, preferably as a separate list rather than included on the vid or in the vidshow itself.

As I understand it, this is what is being requested:

Vidders to label premiering vids with one or more of the following:

Choose not to warn
Common PTSD triggers
- Explicit violence (assault, self-harm, suicide, gore, explicit medical procedures)
- Sexual violence (rape, sexual assault, noncon, dubcon)
- Sounds of gunshots
Common physical triggers for migraine or epilepsy [eta - This set of triggers has been edited from the original based on feedback]
- Bright flash
- Strobe lighting
- Quick flashing microcuts
- First-person "shaky" cam
- Abrupt changes in sound volume
No warnings apply

The thing is, I am opposed to requiring warnings for "offensive content." That's something I consider a free expression issue. I am in favor of warnings for "triggers," which is more of a disability and accessibility issue. I don't feel that my artistic freedom of expression is best served by my incapacitating people with flashbacks or inducing a migraine.

I was going to talk about nonrequired warnings in last year's program that I was grateful for, and things I wished I'd been warned for, but on reflection they're irrelevant. Things may have upset or disturbed or squicked me; they didn't trigger me. (Except for the vid in Non-Attending Premieres with strobing dissolves and that did have a warning on it -- I just didn't think it applied to me, because I don't get migraines. Non-migraine headaches: also unpleasant! And also my responsibility, for ignoring the warning.)

Asking for trigger warnings is asking for more than my culture generally provides. The thing is, I kind of think my culture in general sucks in its treatment of trauma, assault, sexual assault, and disability. My culture in general pretends these traumas are not common and that disability is irrelevant. I don't think either of these things are true. I am always hoping my fannish subculture will do the mainstream one better.

Since premieres have already been submitted and uploaded, I don't think it makes sense to ask the concom to collect warning information for 2010. If we did a post or a Google form to collect information from people who were willing to volunteer warnings, though, I would be happy to collate the information; not responding would be a de facto "Choose not to warn"/"Caveat viewer."

I have modified/updated what I'd like to see in a warnings policy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This wasn't something I understood myself before last year. I used "triggery" sloppily, not making the distinction between being reminded of something and being triggered to relive it. I am very grateful to the people who spent time educating other fans about this.

You speak for me, as well: I came to the same understanding as a result of last year's discussion. Thanks for making this post.

This post makes me happy. I am feeling rather down about my fannish community at the moment, so it is good to be reminded how good it can be. Thank you.

I think there needs to be an in-between space because while "offensive content" is not a particulalry helpful phrase, limiting it to "triggers" is needlessly restrictive.

I don't get triggered by gore and violence. I also do not want to watch them. (I am pretty good at closing my eyes quickly.) I don't see why I would have to be triggered in order for a warning for content to be something a vidder could extend me the courtesy of providing. If 'warning' is not a word people wish to use, they could call it "note". Much like how theatres say "Note: there will be gunshots/smoking/nudity in the performance." It's not a judgement on the content, merely information provided.

Is there something you'd like to be added to the list above or do the common triggers cover the things you'd like to be warned for?

Also, we should go over the Premieres schedule together so I can tell you about fandoms that are likely to have violent content or vidders who like to vid disturbing content.

The things in your lists covers the content I would like advance notice for!

And yes, we should. Of course, I also hope we can sit next to each other during Premieres so that I can make faces at you during every inevitable Supernatural vid. :P

It will be helpful for me to have someone to clutch as I watch my first premiere on the big screen!

I really, really appreciate people asking about this.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, mine are now so severe I can't even watch the Who crawl. Before that, though, here are some guidelines.

* Strobes.
* Bright flashes.
* [one many people don't realize] Repeatedly cutting back and forth between 2/3 stills. The sort of thing you see in a lot of people's icons: still 1/still2/still1/still2. That's a flicker, and that sort of specific flicker, between objects that almost repeat exactly but not quite, is a trigger for many migraineurs.

Unfortunately, there's no guaranteed "this is safe" because everybody with photosensitive triggers has different ones. :( When I tried to look up flicker rates, I got "Generally, flashing lights most likely to trigger seizures are between the frequency of 5 to 30 flashes per second (Hertz)." which is not exactly a big help.

So. Back in the day, I'd have liked a "Photosensitive warning" for any of the first three.

Thank you! I've edited the list of physical triggers to reflect this.

This is an excellent post, and I have updated my position in part based on it (as reflected in my post via ETA).

Thank you!

Also, thank you for hosting discussion of the issue. I felt it was really helpful.

No problem. I'm glad it became a place where people could discuss their opinions logically and respectfully whether or not they agreed with me. That's the most I could ask for.

The thing is, I kind of think my culture in general sucks in its treatment of trauma, assault, sexual assault, and disability.

Seconded. I like going to the opera, and last month I saw La Fanciulla and Die Walkure. Both times, there were signs by the doors that said the performances used gunshots/strobe lights/smoke, basically things that could trigger epilepsy attacks or flashbacks. That is all good! Especially as I recall a big debate in newspaper theatre reviews a couple years ago as to whether playhouses should have to post warning signs for gunshots as a service to patrons who might be triggered by them, or whether that would ruin the artistic experience or play or something.

What there were not warnings for, however, in the opera house or in the program synopsis and notes, were sexual assault, a sexually abusive marriage, and attempted rape, all of which happened onstage. It would have been nice to know about that content before I went to the shows and saw staged sexual assault! yay! in what I'd expected to be a lighthearted Wild West dramedy. It made me think about trigger warnings in fics, and how helpful they are, and I was sad to think about how, given that U.S. society at large doesn't take sexual assault seriously, and given that posting signs for strobe lights and gunshots was such a controversy, I'll probably never see theatrehouses posting trigger warnings for big, obvious triggers like simulated sexual abuse.

[reposted due to HTML error eating part of the comment]

Common physical triggers for migraine or epilepsy

I love this one so much. I'd add first person shaky cam work to this list, too. I spend a lot of time trying to find out if movies and video games will contain it, and it can be a real pain in the ass to get the information I need.

Oh, God, yes, shakycam. +1. I *had* to put Blair Witch Project down almost immediately.

Added, thank you!

jonquil pointed me here, and I think this is a great idea. Along with seconding the first-person shaky cam mention below, I'd also add that many of the migraine-prone people I know personally (including myself) can be triggered by abrupt changes in sound volume. I mean, I carry earplugs to pop in when things get loud around me, but I have to take them out to hear anything quiet, and while I'd have to be willing to put them in or take them out for each new vid at a given show, volume changes within a vid itself are likely to come too fast for me to adjust my equipment. This means vids that start quiet and then go loud are likely to induce noise-triggered migraines, and vids that start loud and go quiet will lose some impact, because I can't hear the whole thing.

I wouldn't actually be able to attend vid shows because my triggers are so common and severe, but if the final policy ends up being split into sections, and one section specifically addresses elipepsy/migraine triggers, I would strongly encourage the concomm to reiterate that all shows are available on videotape during the course of the con in that particular section. Even better if the shows are available on discs that play on computers, since I have my system set up so the volume/brightness/screen resolution is optimal for my comfort at those times when I feel up to watching a vid or two, which is not a thing that can be guaranteed with the hotel television sets.

I've added volume changes to the list.

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Migraine triggers

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Migraine triggers

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