Warn Responsibly
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Warn Responsibly |
| Creator: | Laura Jacquez Valentine |
| Date(s): | January 2002 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Wayback; WebCite |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Warn Responsibly is an essay by Laura Jacquez Valentine.
Summary: "Thoughts on warnings, the responsibility of authors and readers, and definitions of audience."
Originally posted to FCA-L, in multiple posts. Edited together and for clarity. It is at listen to me! listen to me! essays.
Excerpts
The argument over whether warnings (or lack thereof) say something about the value of a writer's (or reader's) time makes very little sense to me. I don't like warnings, but time is hardly the issue. I know what I wrote, I know what's in the story and whether where I'm posting it requires a warning. It's not a time thing at all, for me.It's also not that I think it's going to ruin a story if there are warnings on it. If I thought that, I wouldn't archive stories places that have required warnings, but I do.
I do think that in some ways it's a responsibility issue, but not an issue of "the reader needs to do research to be responsible." It's more an issue of "it is the writer's responsibility to evoke a reaction in the reader, and the reader's responsibility to deal with their reaction to the story." *That* is where I think responsibility enters into it.
I've been kind of interested by the whole discussion of warnings in fandoms where there's canon to support the kind of thing that happens in fanfiction, and also by the discussion of warning for things that can't be considered usual.Which is kind of fascinating to me, because a lot of types of stories are staples of fanfiction. I mean, in fanfic, you have to expect rape and torture and character death stories. They're gonna happen.
If we were going to be up in arms about warning for unusual darkfic grossness, rape/torture/character death shouldn't even make the list, you know? Incest probably should, and cannibalism, and maybe flaying and violent use of zabaglione. Probably "explicit sexual murder and/or rape with knives", too.
If you want warnings on a story before you read it, _I am not writing for you_. That's it. You are _not part of my intended audience_. If you ask me straight-out about the story, sure, I'll tell you if it's got murder or zabaglione in it--but I didn't write it for you.I wrote it, at least in part, for the people who will read it without warnings. And I feel no obligation to put warnings on a story that's intended for people who don't need them.
Anyone who doesn't like it can take a long walk off a short pier.