Trigger Warnings: The Directory (Now Transmedium!)

[Quixotess]

Movies and television shows often have warnings and ratings with respect to drugs, language, sex, nudity, and violence. But there is no such resource for people who might want to avoid, or at least be prepared beforehand to deal with the possibility of being triggered by, movies that depict sexual violence. This is, as the kids say, bollocks.

Triggering can happen to people who've been through a traumatic experience, when they see a similar or related situation. Being triggered means having flashbacks to your own experience, sometimes to the point of reliving it; that is, for a short and terrible period of time, actually going through it again. Not pleasant. It can ruin your day, I tell you what. And rape scenes can certainly upset people who haven't been raped. Anyone who thinks they might not want to watch that kind of scene can post here.

Due to the fact that the subject keeps coming up on the rape thread and elsewhere, I am creating this thread for people to 1) warn others about potentially triggering media and 2) ask for information on specific media (for example "this movie is in theaters right now; is it safe?") I also imagine we'll have a healthy helping of 3) needing to be comforted after being triggered. That's fine too. Do what you need to do.

I don't see any reason why people can't also ask about books, graphic novels, Youtube videos, or whatever other media they need to know about. Again, do what you need to do.

Bomanthebear linked to a site that has the same idea as us: http://www.moviesthattrigger.com is a little old and stale, but it's a good place to start for recentish movies.

Please treat the people in this thread nicely! If you, dear reader, choose to be a douchebag; for example, come into this thread just to mock people for being oversensitive, I will...well, I can't really do anything about it, but I will ask SexyTalon to delete your post and commit various acts of mod-power abuse upon you.

Oh, and very important: Everyone, please remember that Dear SB (where the rape thread is) is visible only to registered users. High Culture has no such restriction. This may affect what you're willing to disclose on this thread. Use discretion accordingly.

Edit: If you do not feel comfortable posting queries on this thread yourself, several people have volunteered to post for you . Feel free to PM Teapot, BomantheBear, or myself.

[Nath]

Various websites exist to figure out how appropriate movies are for kids, e.g. kids-in-mind, Screen It!. They tend to have pretty detailed breakdowns of what kinds of potentially objectionable content are in movies. They do contain spoilers, though.

[steewi]

Some obvious ones that spring to mind:
American History X
Mysterious Skin
V for Vendetta (sort of)
Looking for Allibrandi (not quite, but enough to imply a trigger)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - two episodes near the end of season 6, plus spoilers at the beginning of other episodes flashing back

[Teapot]

I've said this in the rape thread, but I'll post it again here so it's easier for people to find.

Quantum of Solace was enough to make me feel extremely uncomfortable and I have no reason to be triggered.

Spoiler:

There is an attempted rape, which is interrupted by the main female character. The man who attempted to rape the other women tries to rape the rescuer instead.

Edited to allow people to decide if it will trigger them or not.

[BomanTheBear]

Hm. Okay, from the TV I've seen:

Oz. It's a prison show. But I am not exaggerating when I say someone gets shivved or raped pretty much episode. And they're quite graphic, and often they get referenced and flashbacked to multiple times. Might be safe to just avoid this one if you've ever been triggered.

The Shield. One of my personal favorite shows, but in the first season, there are many instances of rape, child rape, and child molestation. Admittedly, every time the strike team deals with it, it's shown as an abominable crime against nature. Still, it's there and very, very graphic.

Law and Order: SVU. Same vein. This series is entirely built around crimes of a sexual nature. Great show, but I mean, goddamn, if you get triggers ever and watch this, it would be like a PTSD Nam vet sitting through Apocalypse Now: Redux (which, by the way, also features rape prominently, again in a negative light). Might be safe to completely avoid SVU.

Dexter. I love this show. One of the main characters is a recovering rape victim (her husband was a junkie and did it to her repeatedly). I have no experience in the matter, but it shows her recovering from her experiences and learning to trust again (which could be therapeutic to watch), but there is a scene in there when her ex-husband gets out of jail and tries (unsuccessfully) to do it again. It's a very intense scene. Also, Dexter (being a serial killer who only kills criminals) kills a few child rapist/murderers and forces them to dwell on what they've done before he turns off the lights. I guess use your discretion.

Deadwood. Not specifically any rape in this show, but it shows many, many prostitutes having sex which, in the way they depict it, borders on it.

House. Has had a couple episodes dealing with rape. As in like two out of 4 seasons. One episode starts with a couple that has a rape fantasy.

[Moo]

Just echoing things I remember some people saying they've been triggered by elsewhere on the fora:
- Pulp Fiction
- A Clockwork Orange
- The Other Boylen Girl

[mochafairy]

Thank you for making this thread, Quix.

I'll go through my media inventory and see what I can contribute.

All I can think of off the top of my head (in my migraine sleep deprived state) is Sublime's song entitled "Date Rape"

Spoiler:

where, obviously, someone gets date raped, and then the rapist gets raped in jail...

[Quixotess]

I'd just like to note that all the graphic novels I've read so far (except Understanding Comics) have dealt with rape.

-Sandman depicts sexual violence constantly, but especially in books 1, 2, and 3, with varying degrees of graphicness.
-Watchmen features an extremely violent attempted rape scene that is central to the plot.
-Transmetropolitan (up through book six) described a girl who was repeatedly raped by her brother, and mentions acts of sexual violence/depravity for comedic purposes quite frequently.

[BomanTheBear]

Hm. I don't know who'd come across it on accident, but the song Jonestown Tea by metal band (and female lead) Otep is 10 minutes long and is about her being repeatedly molested by her father. Deeply, deeply disturbing. I'd mark that as avoid, considering it even unsettles me for like an hour afterwards.

[PictureSarah]

Movies:
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Natural Born Killers

[SecondTalon]

Deliverance.

[mochafairy]

details spoiler'd for those who just don't want to know.

Grey's Anatomy, I believe it's in season 1,

Spoiler:

has an episode about a woman who was raped and fought back. I don't remember...it's been a while.

Numb3rs, season 1,

Spoiler:

has an episode about a serial rapist turned serial rapist-murderer.

I know we all like firefly, but the Reavers in firefly and serenity might cause some issues. (I was a little shaken by this, but not as bad as I thought I would've been)

Lysistrata:

Spoiler:

I actually love this play, but there's a part about how if a man forces you to have sex that you are to do nothing. Since this was ancient greece and written by males, who don't understand how females work, all of the women were disappointed that they weren't allowed to enjoy sex, even if it was forced. There's also a lot of sexuality, nudity, and things of that nature in the play.

Mary Higgins Clark's All Around the Town:

Spoiler:

a girl was kidnapped and molested, raped, and abused for multiple years. It's been a while since I read the book, so I don't remember how graphic it is.

There's an episode of South Park in the new season

Spoiler:

that has Spielberg and Lucas raping Indiana Jones and a Storm Trooper. That was pretty bad.

There's also an episode of the the Sarah Silverman Show

Spoiler:

that involves the Mongolians raping Sarah's great^x grandma or something like that.

The Lovely Bones I never read it. I was warned before I was going to that I shouldn't read it.

I know there's a Family Guy episode or two that have made me cringe, but I can't think of them at the moment.

my brain won't let me think anymore about this, so that's all for now.

[SecondTalon]

I know there's a Family Guy episode or two that have made me cringe, but I can't think of them at the moment.

Well.. for one, the episode where Peter started his own TV channel had a cutaway joke parodying the end Sixteen Candles,

Spoiler:

in which Jake Ryan shoves Peter to the ground while he yells "Not like this!"

[mochafairy]

and there's also the one where Peter sues for getting a prostate exam and calling it rape.

blah...

[Quixotess]

I know we all like firefly, but the Reavers in firefly and serenity might cause some issues. (I was a little shaken by this, but not as bad as I thought I would've been)

That part wasn't an issue for me at all (though I can appreciate that it might be for some.) The problematic episodes would be Heart of Gold and Our Mrs Reynolds. And Objects in Space. All of those dealt with sexual(ized) violence, in quite nasty, unself-aware ways. Well, Heart of Gold did a good job, but those other two did not.

[Torvaun]

Elfen Lied.
Hellsing OVA.

[mochafairy]

I know we all like firefly, but the Reavers in firefly and serenity might cause some issues. (I was a little shaken by this, but not as bad as I thought I would've been)

That part wasn't an issue for me at all (though I can appreciate that it might be for some.) The problematic episodes would be Heart of Gold and Our Mrs Reynolds. And Objects in Space. All of those dealt with sexual(ized) violence, in quite nasty, unself-aware ways. Well, Heart of Gold did a good job, but those other two did not.

That's also true. I was trying to not think specific episodes when I wrote that.

[Alder]

Any books by Lind Fairstein. She writes murder mystery thrillers, but her main character is a prosecutor for the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, and she draws on her own experience at that job.

[michaelandjimi]

I can think of two for now.

Medium - Depicts a psychic detective. There are occasional scenes in which rape occurs off-screen with the events heard.

As a matter of fact, most detective type shows will probably have triggers in them.

Also, John Marsden's The Tomorrow Series, in the book "Darkness Be My Friend", though the characters don't think of it as rape, I'm pretty sure it is and it would definitely be triggering:

Spoiler:

The protagonist is taken to a party in New Zealand by a guy named Adam, who proceeds to get her drunk and have sex with her when she is too drunk to resist.

and in The Third Day, The Frost

Spoiler:

soldiers from the invading army capture most of the group with the intent to rape the girls, though the protagonist stops them before anything occurs.

Can't think of any more, but I'm sure I've seen them.

[Quixotess]

I have a query.

I just got my set of The West Wing DVDs in the mail (hooray!) and am about to commence some serious television watching. It doesn't seem likely to me, but is there anything in there that might set me off?

[mochafairy]

from a quick google search, there doesn't seem to be anything in West Wing.

During that search I found out that there is rape scene in Rescue me. If you want more info on that, you can read about it here.

[SecondTalon]

I forgot, but it's good to remember that IMDB categorizes movies (and to a certain extent, TV shows) based on content.

So you can search for movies that contain rape, sexual violence, rape scene, rape victim, rapist and so on. Good to keep in mind as a way to look out for that sort of thing, maybe not so much as a search engine for it, but for looking up a title you're interested in and seeing what keywords it matches.

The West Wing's Keywords mention nothing of sex or sexual violence...but that may be meaningless as there might be something. I mean, if it's got the keyword then for sure it's there. Without the keyword... I dunno.

[Quixotess]

(I generally like doing my own research, of course. For this, though, other places in the vastness of the unfiltered internet will always make me uneasy, because there are two very different reasons one might want to search out rape scenes in film.)

[Mo0man]

You shouldn't watch Veronica Mars at all

Spoiler:

Roughly half the series deals with it

[BomanTheBear]

I think it goes without saying, but still: A Clockwork Orange. Saw it again last night. Very tough movie to watch.

In the medium of music (which I'm going to try and do some work with), the bands Insane Clown Posse and the Misfits are pretty cavalier with the subject. Both are meant to be jokes, but still very, very graphic.

Also, there are some episodes in 24 that might be a problem. One woman is forced to save her daughter that way, a couple instances of attempted sexual assault. Nothing is shown in any instance.

[__jess]

Books by Jodi Picoult.
My Sister's Keeper, Harvesting The Heart, Keeping Faith and Vanishing Acts are probably the least likely to be upsetting to read, but they're all pretty harrowing.

Picture Perfect

Spoiler:

is about domestic abuse.

The Pact

Spoiler:

is about teenage lovers who grew up living next door to each other. One was molested as a child. She commits suicide, and her boyfriend is charged with her murder.

The Tenth Circle

Spoiler:

is about date rape and I wouldn't recommend reading it.

And so on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodi_Picoult has pretty good descriptions of the plotlines.

[Quixotess]

I think it goes without saying, but still: A Clockwork Orange. Saw it again last night. Very tough movie to watch.

Well, it's already went with saying, actually. *points to Moo's post*

[sophyturtle]

Big trigger warning: Dogville

The first time I saw it I was shacking and crying so bad my boyfriend (at the time) wanted to turn it off, and then refused to finish watching it with me because he could not deal with seeing me that upset. Still, I think it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Mostly because of the ending.
I put the whole plot below basically. I did not read the whole Wiki but it might be in there too. I found myself identifying with Nicole Kidman's character a lot.

Spoiler:

The whole town ends up abusing her. Interesting social commentary. Shows the darkest parts of human nature when willful ignorance is involved. She keeps making excuses for the people there in her own mind to justify why they are not bad people for what they have done (jealousy, rejection issues, etc.) Anyway, in the end she burns the whole town down and shoots the man who pretended to be there to help her (but really just got her into more difficulties and felt all innocent and victimized himself) in the back of the head. God I love that ending.

Also, I notice that when comedies like Family Guy make a joke about rape I find it much more upsetting than watching CSI:SVU. I can handle those because they take it seriously. It is when it becomes a punch line not an outrage I get really upset.

[mochafairy]

Also, I notice that when comedies like Family Guy make a joke about rape I find it much more upsetting than watching CSI:SVU. I can handle those because they take it seriously. It is when it becomes a punch line not an outrage I get really upset.

That's also generally true for me, but it depends on how graphic it is.

For shows like Family, South Park, etc. it's either nothing off limits, or everything is, so I take tv shows on an episode by episode basis. There are some episodes of CIS type shows that I just can't watch, just like there are some episodes of South Park that I just can't watch. If I'm given warnings on the episodes, though, it makes the concept of flipping through channels less worrisome.

[Alder]

I have a query.

I just got my set of The West Wing DVDs in the mail (hooray!) and am about to commence some serious television watching. It doesn't seem likely to me, but is there anything in there that might set me off?

I have seasons 1-6, and don't think that there's anything specific.
The nearest I can think of is

Spoiler:

the double bill ending/beginning to seasons 4/5, where a character is drugged in a nightclub, which leads to a kidnapping

. But because of its political setting, very little of the action takes place outside the workplace, really.
It's an excellent show, hope you enjoy it.

[Teapot]

I've been told by Lolsaur (who has no internet access at the moment) that The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson are books to be avoided.

Spoiler:

Lolsaur says: When Thomas Covenant arrives in the world he continues to think lustfully of one of the characters (who Lolsaur thinks is about 15 at the time) this comes to a head in a graphic rape scene which is referred to many times throughout the series.

Trying to post over the phone. Not something I'd recommend.

[Quixotess]

Oh yeah, I read that. It's one of the few rape scenes I know of that is told from the point of view of the rapist. Not recommended.

I kept bringing all these things up before in the blog thread, but now I'm having trouble remembering them all. A Song of Ice and Fire is one to look out for, for sure.

Spoiler:

That shit has all kinds of rape and sexual cruelty in it, and it takes place in a very patriarchal society, such that even the sex women "consent" to is often coerced in a way. There's a lot of points where women are completely at the mercy of the men around them, and mercy is not always granted. They are first-rate books and I love them, but my God, leave yourself time for aftercare.

[michaelandjimi]

Oh! Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood.

Spoiler:

Pretty much the same deal as written above. Hugely patriarchal society, any sex that occurs was basically forced by the patriarchy even though they reckon they consented to it. Particularly troubling is a girl who was raped and had an abortion is physically and verbally abused for that.

[Quixotess]

See, that one was written for the express purpose of exploring a patriarchal dystopia. I will now tease you by comparing it to a thread for people who are traumatized by governmental abuses of power and you posting 1984.

Re: West Wing:

Spoiler:

So far, there's been a scene where a young woman is at a bar. Three large men sneak up behind her, cornering/surrounding her, and then toy with her. They do not touch her, but they block her way when she tries to leave, which she does try several times. Ever seen Fiddler on the Roof? The scene with Chava and the Christian boys was extremely similar. This was not too troublesome for me, but I can see it being so for others.

Oh, so I guess that means I'm issuing a mild warning for Fiddler on the Roof.

[michaelandjimi]

Yeah, I'm possibly more aware of the reasons for it, themes, motifs - all of that stuff - than you, having studied it for half a year in Extension English. I felt that even though Margaret Atwood was writing the book to outline the evils of a patriarchal dystopia (and also radical feminism, incidentally), the depictions of rape and reactions to rape made it worthy to be included in this thread.

Funnily enough, 1984 was another of the texts I studied.

[eternal luna]

I'm going to add Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes to Jess's list.

Spoiler:

Though I may be super-sensitive to it because it was pretty much what happened to me. Others may not have such a problem- there is one scene where the girl is fooling around with her boyfriend, then he rapes her amidst her protestations, and no one seems to see the problem. Squick. But it's not really centric to the story or focused on much at all, so if you're generally okay with this sort of thing, I think you'll be fine.

I was thinking of reading A Clockwork Orange before watching the film, but Wikipedia says that the rapes are much worse in the book. We'll see how it goes.

Edit: Also, Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk.

Spoiler:

Some guys kill women with a deadly lullaby, then have sex with them, and one calls it "the best sex [I've] ever had". I've only read it once, and quite some time ago, so this just the basic gist that I remember.

[Torvaun]

House of Leaves

Spoiler:

When Johnny gets attacked by Gdansk Man, and basically goes crazier. After beating the shit out of him, he turns his attention to the guy's girlfriend, and imagines in disturbing detail inflicting a long string of torture/rape to her until she's dead.

[Moo]

Mild warning for Braveheart:

Spoiler:

I saw it ages ago but I remember a scene where soldiers attempt to rape William Walace's wife. She doesn't get raped iirc but she is shown in danger and attempting to fight off some very ruthless men.

I imagine many dark ages type movies may portray this kind of treatment of women, especially as part of the spoils of war.

While we're at it, I've only read most of the first book in Bernard Cromwell's Warlord Chronicles, The Winter King, but it contains this type of rape. The character that I remember getting raped is a very strong and fierce woman, and a total survivor and it's not very graphical, but it's in there.

[pseudoidiot]

Since I've seen some books listed before, I figured I'd point out Terry Goodkind's, 'The Sword of Truth" series.

Spoiler:

I don't remember all the specifics, because I haven't read the earlier books in a while, but rape happens quite often. Even within the first book there are strong implications of one or two small boys being sexually abused. It comes up even more later in the books with Jagang's army, because they use it as a threat quite often: "if you resist, we'll kill all the men and rape all the women."

[Virtual_Aardvark]

Can we also add trigger warnings for suicide and SI survivors. Those subjects tend to be treated very graphically and I've definitely had mild breakdowns in theaters, or sudden compulsions towards self harm. The same goes for potential anorexia triggers, if you've heard of thinspiration you'll know what I mean.