... 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Ten universities, including three from the Russell Group, have withdrawn books from course study lists, or made them optional, in case they cause students harm.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

Thesaurus. They have choices of words.

We're going on a bear hunt - hunting mentioned repeatedly, challenging situations encountered, and extremely poor parenting by the father (who takes their kids into a bear cave?)

Going on a Bear Hunt. Contains bear.

Anything by Enid Blyton - not only blatant child neglect but Mother gave them too much sugar for lunch before shooing them off until dark: jam sandwiches, ginger beer, fruit cake…this could trigger latent diabetes…

Agree. Too much choice may cause a panic attack.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest - misogyny, extreme violence, abuse of people with mental health issues, racism.
30 years ago I had a really good discussion with a tutor at one of the universities on that list about this book. I was there for interview and was reading it as I waited. He came out and said something along the lines of “Fascinating book! Come in and tell me what you think about it!”

Down and out in Paris and London- George Orwell. Contains graphic scenes of poverty and drinking

But yes, absolutely agree this is ridiculous. Jane Austen has nineteenth century views of gender and class identity. Errr yes? Isn't that a lot of the point? And why warn only about Persuasion? What about her other novels? Mind being blown here by these warnings.

Warwick, Exeter and Lancaster are in the list. I'm not shocked Sussex is in there after the treatment of Dr Stock or Essex after Dr Jo Phoenix.

Mog the forgetful cat: verbal abuse of animal, home invasion and depictions of the police.

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

😂😂😂😂 brilliant!

The Wonkey Donkey - Abelism, name calling, excessively long sentences.

Wuthering Heights - abusive relationships, infidelity, classism, racism. Absolutely no wafty dancing. Autocorrect may also be repeatedly Northernist and change title to Withering if you attempt to write an essay on it.

My favourite actual example from the list was The Old Man and the Sea ‘contains graphic fishing scenes’. The world has gone insane.

The bible. Too many examples to list, but content overly distressing. Includes
Flooding
Death
Pestilence
Plagues (10, I think)
Murder by torture

Too distressed to continue

A Squash And A Squeeze - overcrowding.
The Smartest Giant In Town - body shaming. Nudity.

The Pursuit of Love
Child neglect, child cruelty, adultery, war, death.

Mog the forgetful cat: verbal abuse of animal, home invasion and depictions of the police.

Not to mention Goodbye Mog.

Black Beauty - animal cruelty.

I read Crash at uni - the one about people getting off on amputations. Pretty hardcore for a very naive and sheltered 18 yo. I imagine that would have been removed too. It's ridiculous.

These works are triggering in many ways but literature is art and art is meant to be provocative and cause a reaction including strong feelings. And of course people do need to be exposed to things out of their comfort zone. Where will it bloody end? If we remove grisly descriptions of slavery say, will another generation grow up reading nothing about it and never be able to understand how terrible it was for the people living in that reality? It becomes an abstract concept, it's something that happened to someone else, easy to deal with, and people are removed from violence (bit like shooting prostitutes and running people over on GTA with no consequence), and the word itself just becomes meaningless. Too easy for it to happen again.

The Gruffalo, reference to murder and death

I’ve lost two pregnancies in the last year and repeatedly found myself reading books that have baby loss or infant death as a key theme, with no indication from the cover. Like a pp I wouldn’t mind being forewarned so I can brace myself or put off reading that one for a while.

With recent reports about the sexual abuse and harassment rife in private schools and ongoing sexual consent issues for freshers I imagine there are lots of topics that female students might want to be aware of before diving into an assigned text.

This thread may explain all the warnings at the beginning of Netflix/Amazon programmes.

The sorts of things I watch never seem to feature the terror they're warning about and I was starting to think that they just included all the warnings randomly, but it's probably that the horrors are all there, they're just so benign that I've just not noticed them as a 40 something brought up on Enid Blyton books and the sorts of public information films that involved Grandad falling off a stool or a child been electrocuted when flying a kite next to power lines.

I expect that the Tufty Club doesn't exist any more either?

"That's not my..." Usborne baby book series: encourages non-consensual touching.

They can't even leave them at parties anymore, per another thread 😂

But content warnings aren’t about telling people not to read something. It’s literally just a heads up that it might be a tough read if you have personal experience in that area.

The dictionary

Contains the definition 'Woman - adult human female'