Iconic children’s book author Judy Blume has nothing good to say about “trigger warnings,” as TIME magazine discovered this week.
You’ve been very active in fighting against censorship. Have you heard of trigger warnings?
No, what are trigger warnings?
Some college students want trigger warnings in front of classics like Ovid that would say, “There’s going to be a reference to murder or rape here, so if you’re particularly sensitive to that, then don’t read this.”
That is making my blood boil! And I have heard of it, now that you tell me what it is. I mean, Please! Let’s grow up.
Why does it make you upset?
Why are we treating college students like babies? You’re supposed to be challenged in college. We can have our beliefs and still read and discuss things. We don’t have to become zealots and say, “This has to be removed, and this has to be removed” and “You have to be warned here because oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!” There are many, many challenges to books. All you have to do is look at a bulletin of the National Coalition Against Censorship or the ALA’s Freedom to Read newsletter and you will see that there are still plenty of things being challenged. The desire to censor or ban or challenge is contagious.
