... to think we can extend this list a lot? Surely almost every book and film could have a content warning for something?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

The Times today reports that ^universities have started removing books from reading lists to protect students from “challenging” content and have applied trigger warnings to more than 1,000 texts, a Times investigation has found.
Ten universities, including three from the Russell Group, have withdrawn books from course study lists, or made them optional, in case they cause students harm. The texts include the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, which has been “removed permanently” from a course reading list at Essex University because of concerns about graphic depictions of slavery.^

There are many serious and obvious things to say about this, but they're all in the article. The aspect that engaged me is that it gives the list in full. I am certain we could help out the university sector by pointing out other potentially distressing books.

Here are some of the examples:

The Ancient Mariner, S. T. Coleridge University of Greenwich Content warning: Animal death, human death, supernatural possession

Persuasion, Jane Austen Aberdeen Portrays views of gender and class identity that are rooted in the context of early nineteenth-century England

The Waste Land, TS Eliot Aberdeen Contains references to death and war

The Iliad, Homer Highlands and Islands Violent close combat

Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens Royal Holloway Child abuse

Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson Aberdeen Kidnapping [No! I'd never have guessed it would cover this subject]

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie Greenwich Contains murder [What! Shocked, I tell you, shocked]

And my favourite: The Bible York Shocking sexual violence

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/339af864-17ce-11ed-b1f4-627a202c7457 (Sorry, I don't have a share token for the article, but you can read it for nothing by signing up with your email address. That way you get to read a few free articles every month.)

So, what are your suggestions of content warnings for university students?

Here's mine:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - contains description of an eating disorder and consequent physical discomfort

The Famous Five - children completely unsupervised for days on end, parents should be referred to social services.

What I dont understand is surely going to university means you are 18+ so an adult who can make their own choices what to read?

The very hungry Caterpillar - fat shaming

Dear Zoo - trigger warning for excessive use of the postal system and animal abandonment.

It's ridiculous. I get they're challenging, that is the point of them. And from what i see on MN if this is extrapolated to all parenting over the last, say, 20 years - it's because children aren't robust enough.

The Oxford Dictionary - contains words

This is going to be an EPIC thread!

But…good grief…the very notion that university students need warning of and potentially shielding from anything that might “upset them”.., Do they never watch the news?

A friend of mine read American Psycho for a module of her English Lit degree! That would need at least a paragraph.

I actually thought the examples in your OP we're your spoofs at first. FFS. I work alongside a handful of young graduates in a sector which probably attracts this kind of bullshit more than some, and I find it exhausting how much attention is meant to be given over to alleviating anxiety or uncertainty in the workplace. I'm fairly sure there's a connection. There's so much fragility on display in the workplace which I'm certain wasn't there when I began full-time work 20 years ago. It's really not healthy.

😂 Words! They can be so HARMFUL

@Brefugee this is sadly exactly the problem 🙄

Is this so that they continue to close English Literature degrees down? Once you have banned all of the literature there is no need to offer the degree any more.

Pretty much all literature is concerned with death, money and sex. It’s the human condition.

They are literal violence.

The Railway children - children should not play near the tracks or make contact with strangers

Shakespeare pretty much covers all human conditions.
The Railway Children did actually attract OFCOM complaints when it was shown recently due to safety concerns.

The most terrifying part of all that article is that I've found myself agreeing with a quote from Liz Truss.

!!!!!TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!

'Liz Truss, the Conservative Party leadership candidate, said: “Universities should not be mollycoddling students like this, it patronises them and is not good for wider public debate. A good education should be underpinned by a free exchange of speech and ideas not constrained by left-wing group think'

Look what you've done now OP, you've sent my anxiety through the roof

But FFS, are we supposed to pretend that slavery, war, murder, sexual violence etc has never existed? What next, allowing medical students to opt out of practical training in case they get a bit squeamish at the sight of injury or blood or upset because someone has a serious illness?

Hardly the creme de la creme of universities on that list is it?

Putting a trigger warning is not the same as banning the books. I look up books I’m about to read on a trigger warning website to check if I’m going to read something that might upset me (specifically suicide) - I still read the book if it does contain suicide (a surprisingly high number of books do) but I want to know if it’s going to contain it so I’m prepared for that.

Ohhhhh … I sat up at 2.am reading The Times with my gob quite resoundingly smacked.

The Magician’s Nephew - (too long since I read it last, but off the top of my head …) child abuse, child labour, imprisonment, kidnap, assault, probably animal cruelty. Plus unacceptable religious references, creationism, existential risk … I could go on.

Elizabeth David - French Provincial Cooking - extreme animal cruelty: lobstercide, crayfish torture, butchery, theft of eggs from hens,

P. G Wodehouse - entire oeuvre - classism, ageism, sexism, ableism, non-inclusive language, references to lifestyles readers may find unattainable …

<Burns down entire library>

<Experiences redemption>

Just William - anti social behaviour, vandalism, low level violence and conkers.

Little Miss Trouble - bullying, violence and worst of all discovering that your own actions have consequences.

Glasgow, Aberdeen, York, Royal Holloway are all good solid universities. Some universities didn't provide the information and the article includes examples of academics refusing to co-operate with the request, so it won't be a complete list.

Lord of the flies- horrific bullying.and torment in unsupervised children.

They read this book in year 8 and 9 btw!

This is my favourite thread ever.

The Wasp Factory - graphic violence, animal cruelty, bomb-making detail, exploration of gender.