I argue that reading kink is in itself a kinky act, in that, like kink, the person engaging in it can imagine being in danger or harm, while having an escape hatch. The story is itself a scene, and safe words exist outside the scene.
Ordering a meal is not the same as eating a meal. In art, it's okay to not show somebody flagging down a waiter, giving them the order, and waiting for their food. It's okay to just show them eating. It's okay to just show them fucking, even if that fucking is dangerous or harmful.
I wish more people understood that they can't expect art to be comforting or safe. They can *want* that, but they can't demand it or expect it. Art, as a whole, never *should* be a safe space. You cannot tell the truth and be perfectly safe because the truth often isn't safe.
I don't use trigger warnings in my work because 1: triggers don't work like that and 2: creating an expectation of safety only makes people *more* hurt when you cant keep them safe. If you tell people they can let their guard down and then they get hurt? Now they're hurt and MAD.
Triggers are very often innocuous things. A smell. A pattern. A touch. I have triggers like a specific shade of a color, certain buildings, a type of haircut. No one could ever warn me for those things in art. I get triggered sometimes. It sucks, but it's my cross to bear.
There's a bar in my town that I love, that people consider a "safe space," and they let their guard down while they're there. But it's a public space, and the bouncers can't predict the future. Things happen, and people get angrier than when those same things happen more regularly at other bars.
I agree and can definitely parse the difference between "my art is edgy! it's not safe for everyone! deal with it!" while throwing it in people's faces, versus the fact that art can sometimes just be for *who it is for*
RE: is art "allowed" to be offensive?
"There is an art to offense: like hatchet-throwing, chainsaw-juggling, and shooting an apple off someone's head - there are a million smaller excellencies you must study and perfect within yourself, if injuring the audience is not your goal"
