University puts trigger warnings on human body to avoid upsetting biology students
Biology students are being warned that they might see upsetting images of the human body in trigger warnings introduced by a university.
Life sciences degree students at the University of Reading were issued with a booklet containing a warning about challenging material featured on the syllabus.
Under a section labelled “trigger warnings”, the university highlights “topics that some people may find challenging”.
The course log continues: “Every week will include potentially graphic images or videos showing the human body, as well as content on specific health conditions or diseases/death.”
In the booklet, students are also advised that they should seek consent from their peers when performing mock medical examinations on each other.
It then advises them that those who are “uncomfortable” with touching others “can either observe or work on their own body”.
Dr Renée Hoenderkamp, an NHS GP, told The Sun: “When they do this in real life, after graduating, it only means they’ll be even more shocked.”
A University of Reading spokesman told the newspaper that the warnings “followed best practice”. The university was contacted by The Telegraph for comment.
It is the latest example of universities using trigger warnings on the content of courses.
In October, the University of Nottingham placed a warning on Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales over “expressions of Christian faith”.
A freedom of information request revealed the university put the warning on the medieval collection of 24 tales that features pilgrims travelling to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of St Thomas Becket.
The stories also contain explicit references to rape and anti-Semitism, but the warning made no reference to these theme.
In August, the University of Nottingham also banned the term Anglo-Saxon from its module titles in an attempt to tackle “nationalist narratives”.
It offers leading courses in Anglo-Saxon history and literature, as well as being the only institution in the country with a course in Viking studies.
However, in a move to “decolonise the curriculum”, professors renamed a master’s course in Viking and Anglo-Saxon studies to “Viking and early medieval English studies”.