First things first, what is trauma porn in the first place? According to Marie Beecham, it’s “written, photographed, or filmed media which exploits traumatic moments of adversity to generate buzz, notoriety, or media attention; perverse fascination with other people’s suffering.” So basically it’s recording a police shooting—or something of the same sort—and posting it on Instagram trying to bring awareness.
Now that you know what it is, you probably already thought of a couple of instances that trauma porn has been posted—George Floyd’s murder being one of them. You probably posted a couple of these recordings. But what does it do to viewers?
To some, this is some sort of activism and it brings awareness to what is going on in the world, but to others, it’s reliving trauma and causing more damage than awareness. Seeing these graphic photos and videos can be overbearing because of the violence. But then there are people that see these videos and feel more woke to what is going on in the world.
So whether it brings awareness or not, be mindful on what you’re posting, it may not affect you, but it may affect others watching.
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