Let’s Talk Bookish: How do you feel about content warnings?

Happy December 6th everyone! I hope you’re having an amazing day, I had (despite my English exam) a great day, I went to eat crepes with my bestie and now I’m heading off to Tennis! As always, it’s time for Let’s Talk Bookish hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books, and today’s topic is a very interesting one: should there be content warnings?

Should there be content warnings: yes

In my opinion, that’s a clear yes. Content warnings are a simple gesture for people to not have to endure something they don’t wish to do. Warning younger people about sexual content they don’t wish to read is only nice, and warnings concerning physical and emotional violence are mandatory. Content warning are there for one reason, and one only: to protect you. To protect you from something you don’t wish to read, maybe because you don’t feel ready, because that’s not what you’re looking for in books, but maybe because you don’t feel up to be confronted with violence.

Do they cause any harm?

Do they do anything other than protect you – not to my knowledge. Nowadays, the only place I encounter content warning are in other reviews and I’m always thankful for them because they protect me from things I have no interest in witnessing on the one hand and spare me the trouble of buying unwanted books.

They should be encouraged for underage readers

I can only talk about eleven or twelve year olds who read Sarah J Maas and were shocked. Content warnings for children are a simple must because they might not be able to choose their books based on that aspect, seeing as they might not be able to research every book. Moreover, it would also be a help for the parents who could then be assured their kids’ books are okay.

All in all: yes!

All in all, having content warnings on display is a simple humanitarian act as you are harming no one. Their only cause is to protect and to spare people unwanted violence or dark scenes. I mean, you can’t force any authors and of course, you always have to have a specific reason to stamp off a book as “This book contains physical/emotional violence”. Obviously, you can’t go around tagging every book that may contain a scene where someone gets hit as that would be almost every book, but in general, content warning are both effective and legitimate!

That’s it for today, a very dark and serious topic! What do you think about content warnings? Feel free to comment! Happy reading and enjoy your weekend!