The list was published by the university’s Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center (PARC), a place that assists university community members who’ve been impacted by violence.
Trigger warning was one of several terms included on PARC’s list of “violent language.”
“The word ’trigger’ has connections to guns for many people; we can give the same head’s up using language less connected to violence,” the list explained. The list suggested the phrases “content note” or “drop-in” as possible alternatives.
The word trigger has been associated with guns since its 1621 inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary, according to NPR. In 1930, the word was used as a verb, meaning “to set off a chain of events.” In the 1980s, the word “triggered” became associated with the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In a PTSD context, “triggers” refer to words, images and situations that emotionally upset people who associate them with traumatic events.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, online writers began including “trigger warnings” to introduce works that included potentially distressing content such as rape, self-harm or other violence.
Researchers estimate between 40 to 65 percent of all survivors of gun violence experience PTSD associated with guns, according to a July 2020 paper in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.
On its website, the PARC says its list of oppressive language “is meant to be a tool to share information and suggestions.” Web users can also submit their own suggestions for the list.
The PARC told Newsweek that the list was developed by students who have voluntarily sought out advanced training in safety interventions for situations where other students may experience violence.
The list seeks to educate others who want to understand the background of some terms and suggest more neutral language, the center’s statement continued.
“It is simply a resource that can be accessed by anyone who wants to consider their own language in an effort to be respectful of others who may have different reactions to certain terms and phrases,” PARC’s statement concluded.
“Use of the suggested alternatives is not a university expectation or requirement,” PARC’s website states. “The language you choose to use or not use is entirely up to you.”
PARC’s full list of terms also included “picnic” as an example of “violent language.” PARC has since removed the word from its list.
“The term picnic is often associated with lynchings of Black people in the United States, during which white spectators were said to have watched while eating, referring to them as picnics or other terms involving racial slurs against Black people,” PARC’s list explained.
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, some white people had picnics during public lynchings of Black people.
However, the word derives from the 1692 French word pique-nique, a word that meant a social gathering where each attendee brings food, according to Dr. David Pilgrim, a racial histographer and curator of Ferris State University’s Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia.
Picnic didn’t appear in the English language until around 1800. Then and now, it referred to a potluck meal or an outdoor meal rather than a meal at an anti-Black lynching.
PARC’s violent language list also includes “rule of thumb,” an 18th-century idiom that 1970s feminists began to associate with domestic abuse. The list also includes such words and phrases as “survivor,” “victim,” “walk-in,” “people of color,” “wild” and “homeless person.”
Update (6/25/2021, 4:40 p.m.): This article has been updated to include a statement from the PARC.
