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First Harry Potter book given 'trigger warning' by university, fans call it 'nonsense'

Students at University of Chester were told that 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' could raise 'difficult conversations '

JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book has been given a trigger warning for university students as it could raise “difficult conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class, and identity”. This was said to freshers by the University of Chester's English Department in its Approaches to Literature module, led by Dr Richard Leahy. Students were also told that they could raise concerns in case they faced "any issues" with the topics being discussed. 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' is one of the course's three-set literary texts, with the other two being Suzanne Collins' 'The Hunger Games' and Philip Pullman's 'Northern Lights'.

"Although we are studying a selection of Young Adult texts on this Module, the nature of the theories we apply to them can lead to some difficult conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class, and identity," the trigger warning tells the students. "These topics will be treated objectively, critically, and most crucially, with respect. If anyone has any issues with the content, please get in touch with the Module Leader to make them aware."

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This comes after JK Rowling faced severe backlash over her views on transgender rights. Various schools have removed her as a house name and distanced themselves from her after the row.

"Before they were successful films, series such as Harry Potter, the Hunger Games and Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights had already succeeded in introducing millions of children to books and literature," MP Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline. "Kids understand that in any successful story characters have to face challenges, just as we all, in our lives ,face them too. Children understand that stories without difficult themes don’t tend to be very good stories or reflect real life."

"Children and young people are amazingly resilient. It really is very sad that universities are seeking to rob them of that resilience with ridiculous trigger warnings," he added. "Katniss Everdeen may have lived in a dystopian world in the Hunger Games, some may argue that our universities are creating one for our students too."

A spokesperson for the University of Chester, founded in 1839, insisted: "Those studying literature should expect to encounter all the issues, challenges and complexity of humankind. As a University we promote rather than avoid discussion on these." "We do of course include a generic paragraph on our reading lists to draw attention to the opportunity for individual students to talk with tutors if anything is particularly difficult because of its personal relevance," they added.

"Tutors know how to signpost students to specialist support which is occasionally needed but often the tutorial or seminar discussion is sufficient for a student to put an issue in context," the spokesperson stated. "The example paragraph you picked out is generic - rather than specific to the three texts you mention."

"Are university students really this thick?"

Social media users seem to be in shock as they question what could possibly be in the book that requires a trigger warning. "In what possible way could the reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone "lead to difficult conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class and identity"?!" one user wrote. "Turn it in FFS. If you’re triggered by Harry Potter by the time you’ve got to Uni, it’s a miracle you’ve survived that long," one user commented, while another wrote, "Are university students really this thick or is it the university’s lecturers? Who actually comes up with all this nonsense? Triggered by a simple book wait until they get a real job & realise it’s a big bad world out there."

"I’m not sure whether the trigger warning or the fact that Harry Potter is a university literature text is worse. Harry Potter and the Infantilists of Doom," one user wrote. "So what gets "triggered"? Memories of their time in the Gulag? That time they were mutilated by & narrowly escaped a serial killer??Terror of hearing a different opinion???" wrote another

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