Greenwich University is warning students to prepare themselves for the โtoxic friendshipsโ Jane Austen satirises in her novel
Spoilers โ but does it matter? Now Jane Austenโs Northanger Abbey is identified by a British university as a vehicle for potentially disturbing โgender stereotypesโ and โtoxic relationships and friendshipsโ, perhaps the safest way to approach the satire is, if at all, second hand.
The University of Greenwichโs trigger warning (TW) is for undergraduates, but since the original intention of such alerts was to prepare readers for some possible reminder of upsetting experiences, itโs older ones who should be most grateful for this vigilance. Who, after all, is likely to have squeezed in more toxic relationships or suffered more acutely from gender stereotyping? Can such a novel be considered remotely safe for mature women, even those of us too young to have been jilted by an army captain in a Georgian pump room? Plainly, since Greenwich has stuck a warning on it, not.
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