Exactly. Zines, if they warned for anything, warned for the basics - major character death and rape. Books and movies certainly don't warn for anything. Re the bike helmets, kids did get killed in the bad old days so sensible safety measures make sense to me. But there's a lot OTT there as well. A related issue: parental responsibility. Back when I was about 3 years old (I have lots of memories going back that far), my mother didn't know I knew how to open the back door AND how to open the back yard gate latch. So when she took a nap one afternoon I let myself out of the house and the yard and went across the busy street, which was right next to a train crossing, and to a Dairy Queen. The Dairy Queen had something I dearly wanted and my parents wouldn't let me have: a whistle in the shape of an ice cream cone. (Cannot imagine why any parent would not want to give their toddler a whistle.) The last part I remember is when they wouldn't give me the whistle. (Can't imagine why. :-) The first thing my mother knew is when a strange man knocked on her door and asked, "is this your child?" These days she would have been arrested for child neglect. Yes, the safe spaces. Another complicated subject. Necessary in some instances, yes; in another, abusive of one marginalized group by another in at least one circumstance I'm aware of. Re college campuses, the world is not going to protect anyone once they leave that bubble. But a safe refuge is a good thing, a place where you can be yourself. The trick is understanding how much of the outside world just doesn't care, and be prepared to face that with strength. Complicated issues.
Re the bike helmets, kids did get killed in the bad old days so sensible safety measures make sense to me. But there's a lot OTT there as well.
A related issue: parental responsibility. Back when I was about 3 years old (I have lots of memories going back that far), my mother didn't know I knew how to open the back door AND how to open the back yard gate latch. So when she took a nap one afternoon I let myself out of the house and the yard and went across the busy street, which was right next to a train crossing, and to a Dairy Queen. The Dairy Queen had something I dearly wanted and my parents wouldn't let me have: a whistle in the shape of an ice cream cone. (Cannot imagine why any parent would not want to give their toddler a whistle.) The last part I remember is when they wouldn't give me the whistle. (Can't imagine why. :-) The first thing my mother knew is when a strange man knocked on her door and asked, "is this your child?"
These days she would have been arrested for child neglect.
Yes, the safe spaces. Another complicated subject. Necessary in some instances, yes; in another, abusive of one marginalized group by another in at least one circumstance I'm aware of.
Re college campuses, the world is not going to protect anyone once they leave that bubble. But a safe refuge is a good thing, a place where you can be yourself. The trick is understanding how much of the outside world just doesn't care, and be prepared to face that with strength. Complicated issues.
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