I ran across the following header, "Slavery, Non-con, D/s, Hurt/Comfort, reference to torture, bondage, NC-17 (Stop now if you're easily squicked)" I've changed enough that I doubt you can find the story I'm talking about by googling it, but it's representative.
My problem with this header is the words "easily squicked." If someone is bothered by rape and torture that's not evidence that they're "easily" squicked. Being bothered by stories about rape and torture doesn't mean someone is a wuss, it means they're a well adjusted human being. (Not being squicked by stories about rape and torture doesn't necessarily mean I'm not a well adjusted human being, (although I'm not, precisely) but that's a completely different topic.) Frankly, unless you're bothered by discussion of feet, or watching humans consume food, you're not "easily" squicked, you're just squicked.
(My apologies to those who are bothered by discussions of feet or humans consuming food. You are easily squicked.")
These "easily squicked" warnings are odd. They contain no actual helpful information for those with squicks, and they manage to sound vaguely insulting at the same time. The (no doubt unintended) implication is that the reader who is bothered by these things is merely over-sensitive, and tougher readers can take it. Fandom shouldn't be a contest of endurance.
My suggestion. Lay off the "easily squicked." Let people just be squicked by whatever squicks them, without worrying if this makes them "easily" squicked. (Except you foot-discussions squickists. We laugh at you.)
I was about to not post this because I thought it might be boring, but then Livia said, "You are not boring!" and some people might think she was addressing someone else, what with it being in an unlocked post, but I chose to believe she meant me.
