ABSTRACT
Of all the developments discussed in this book, the demand for trigger warnings, and the controversy that surrounds this demand, best exemplify the specifi c cultural features of our time. Misinformed commentaries on the subject often imply that calls for trigger warnings are a contemporary expression of the ‘political correctness’ associated with the 1980s. Yet there is little that is explicitly political about this phenomenon. A report published by the US-based National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) in December 2015 noted that ‘despite a media narrative of “political correctness” student requests [for trigger warnings] concerned a diverse range of subjects from across the ideological spectrum’. 1 The NCAC report indicates that ‘many professors report offering warnings for the sake of conservative or religious students’.
