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Beginning with this issue, Strange Horizons will be adding a content warning feature to all of its published material. It will take some time for us to add them to back issues, but we intend to do that as well.

Why?

We have received requests for content warnings from readers, authors, and our editors—including me—who deal with post-traumatic reactions to triggering content. It is time.

Content warnings were originally created to help people deal with content that caused flashbacks associated with post-traumatic stress syndrome. People who have experienced trauma can have severe reactions to reminders of that trauma. Those reactions can be even worse when the reminder comes out of nowhere, keeping them from being able to use those practices that help them confront a traumatic topic. The traumas can include events like hate crimes, self-harm, combat, and abuse.

This is not about suppressing free speech. No content on our website will be removed. It will simply contain small, appropriate labels that are intended to help the people who need it. It is our hope that providing content warnings will give readers agency in dealing with material that might negatively impact their mental state.

How Does It Work?
At the top of a page, you may see the words Content Warning.
Screenshot of a content warning message with a tab that reads "show warnings"A tab located beneath the warning can be expanded to get a specific list of warnings.

Screenshot of a content warning message with a tab that reads "show warnings" -- beneath it, a box with the heading "This page contains:" and child death, child sexual abuse, and rape/sexual assault in a bulleted list.

The feature is in development. How it works will change over time as we adjust for community usability. Our current list of triggers is below: if you think of a new one that you feel is appropriate for us to add to a past or future story, let us know.

Content Warning List

  • Ableism
  • Abuse
  • Animal cruelty/death
  • Blood
  • Cancer
  • Child death
  • Child sexual abuse
  • Death/dying
  • Disregard for personal autonomy (kidnapping, enslavement)
  • Drug use
  • Dysphoria
  • Incest
  • Mental disorders
  • Needles
  • Pregnancy/childbirth/abortion
  • Rape/sexual assault
  • Racism
  • Shaming
  • Self-harming behaviors
  • Sex
  • Slurs
  • Snakes
  • Spiders/Insects
  • Suicide
  • Transphobia
  • Violence/Combat
  • Vomit
  • Xenophobia


Ness is a queer Baltimorean with a gaming habit and a fondness for green things. Work hats include developmental editing, calligraphy, writing, learning design, and community management (that history degree was extremely useful). Ve started as an articles editor at Strange Horizons in 2012, and is constantly surprised about the number of fencers on the team.
Current Issue
28 Oct 2024

By: Anna Martino
Translated by: Anna Martino
The truth is that I don’t know how much of my life was a dream and how much was reality. Does it matter in the end?
(...) A verdade é que não sei o quanto de minha vida foi sonho e quanto foi realidade. Faz diferença, no fim das contas?
By: Bindu Tiji
Translated by: Lakshmy Nair
Now, my passion is only for deserts.
എനിക്കിനി  ആസക്തി മരുഭൂമികളോടാണ്
By: Nanpai Sanshu
Translated by: Xueting C. Ni
PX9345 is a solar system situated on the outer edge of the Milky Way. It has one star, seventeen planets, three of which are located in a habitable zone, where water is not only present, but present in large amounts.
px9345是一个处于银河系边缘的星系,它有一颗恒星,十七颗行星,其中有三颗都处在宜居带上,不仅有水,而且是大量的水。
Issue 28 Oct 2024
Issue 21 Oct 2024
By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
Issue 14 Oct 2024
Issue 7 Oct 2024
By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 30 Sep 2024
Issue 23 Sep 2024
By: LeeAnn Perry
Art by: nino
Issue 16 Sep 2024
Issue 9 Sep 2024
Issue 2 Sep 2024
Issue 26 Aug 2024
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