Beyond Trigger Warnings: A Survivor-Centered Approach to Teaching on Sexual Violence and Avoiding Institutional Betrayal

Abstract

As sociology instructors increasingly include materials on sexual violence in their courses, both instructors and students express anxieties over how best to handle such sensitive conversations. This article critically examines the conventional advice to offer a trigger warning, which can interfere with student education (e.g., requiring survivors to miss out on a lesson) and does not adequately prepare instructors for the difficulties that may arise during discussions of sexual violence (e.g., managing victim-blaming comments). Using institutional betrayal as an alternative frame, this article builds a trauma-informed and survivor-centered pedagogy that offers specific examples and strategies of how to teach to survivors instead of around them.

Mental Health in the College Classroom: Best Practices for Instructors

“…Should the instructor wish to include a same-day warning, one option is to give students a break and let them know that the discussion, film, and so on will begin immediately after the break. This way, the instructor can avoid making students uncomfortable with a statement like, “Whoever needs to leave the room, please do so now.” Yet students may not necessarily wish to leave class, and instructors should not present this as the only option; rather, instructors can hold space for students to share their own experience if they so choose (Bedera 2021).…”

“…They also suggest including information about confidential versus nonconfidential campus resources-an important distinction given that instructors and many administrators are mandatory reporters for sexual assault and suicidality (Active Minds 2020:7). As Bedera (2021) notes, instructors may want to spend some time describing these resources on the first day of class and answering any questions students might have.…”

“…This way, the instructor can avoid making students uncomfortable with a statement like, "Whoever needs to leave the room, please do so now." Yet students may not necessarily wish to leave class, and instructors should not present this as the only option; rather, instructors can hold space for students to share their own experience if they so choose (Bedera 2021).…”

Book Review: The Voices of #MeToo: From Grassroots Activism to a Viral Roar

“…However, the collaborative, multistage social marketing project proposed and evaluated by Hertzog and Williams (2007) in their Teaching Sociology article, “Applying Sociology through Social Marketing: Student Reflections on an Intimate Violence Awareness Project,” provides a group structured process for engaging with sensitive topics, such as intimate partner violence, and could be readily adapted for projects involving sexual harassment and social media movements. Regardless of the approach, reading Nicole Bedera’s (2021) article, “Beyond Trigger Warnings” is essential preparation for teaching this book as survivors of sexual harassment are present in all sociology classrooms.…”

Teaching about Victimization in the #MeToo Era: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…Hulme & Kitching, 2017;Journell, 2017), and, combined with the growing attention to the use of traumainformed practices by criminal justice professionals (Becker-Blease, 2017), resulted in forays into the use of trauma-informed teaching approaches (e.g. Bedera, 2021).…”