# #TheTriggering

#TheTriggering was a two-day hashtag campaign launched by Canadian conservative commentator Lauren Southern on March 9th and 10th, 2016, where participants flooded Twitter with intentionally offensive posts framed as a free-speech protest against political correctness. The tag trended worldwide, drawing sympathetic coverage from Infowars alongside sharp pushback from feminist outlets like The Mary Sue, and became one of the widely covered anti-SJW organizing stunts of mid-2010s Twitter.

## Origin
The campaign began with a tweet from Lauren Southern on September 18th, 2015, calling for a day where users would post "offensive" statements on social media in defense of free speech[3]. One day later, on September 19th, Southern set the date for March 9th, 2016 and gave the campaign its hashtag name[4]. Southern had already drawn attention earlier that year after showing up at a Vancouver SlutWalk with a sign reading "There is no rape culture in the West," a stunt that made her an icon in anti-feminist Twitter circles[2].

The idea sat idle for about six months before any organized rollout. In the week before launch, the anti-SJW blog Age of Shitlords published a dated timeline post for the event[5], and days later a promotional thread hit the International Skeptics Forum urging readers to stand up for speech "like Socrates would"[9].

- **Platform:** Twitter
- **Creator:** Lauren Southern
- **Date:** 2016

## Overview
Rather than a single image or template format, #TheTriggering worked as a coordinated post flood. Participants used the tag to share deliberately provocative content aimed at feminists and progressives, from edgy jokes about safe spaces to explicit denials of concepts like rape culture[1]. The anti-SJW blog Age of Shitlords, which published the campaign's official date timeline, framed the event as "shitlords around the world" fighting "cultural Marxists who seek to subvert us"[2].

The energy came from Gamergate-adjacent corners of Twitter and Reddit, especially the r/KotakuInAction community[7]. During the two-day window, posters also circulated screenshots accusing Twitter of "suppressing" the hashtag through search filters, which turned the censorship claim into its own meta content[6]. Supportive coverage ran at Infowars[8], while critical write-ups appeared at The Mary Sue[1] and WeHuntedTheMammoth[2].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is #TheTriggering?
A two-day hashtag campaign on March 9th and 10th, 2016 where participants posted intentionally provocative content on Twitter as a free-speech protest against political correctness and feminist discourse[1].

### Where did #TheTriggering come from?
Canadian conservative commentator Lauren Southern first proposed the idea in a September 18th, 2015 tweet[3], then announced the March 9th, 2016 date the following day[4].

### What does #TheTriggering mean?
The name mocks the concept of "trigger warnings" by positioning the posts as deliberate "triggers" aimed at progressives, with Age of Shitlords describing participants as "shitlords" fighting "cultural Marxists"[2].

### How do you use #TheTriggering?
During the two-day event, participants attached the tag to politically incorrect statements on Twitter and other platforms, often paired with screenshots alleging that Twitter was shadowbanning or "suppressing" the hashtag[6].

### Is #TheTriggering still popular?
No. The campaign peaked over its March 9th and 10th, 2016 window and dropped out of regular use after that cycle of coverage from outlets including Infowars[8] and The Mary Sue[1].

## References
1. [https://www.themarysue.com/the-triggering-is-dumb/](<https://www.themarysue.com/the-triggering-is-dumb/>)
2. [https://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2016/03/08/internet-jerks-pledge-to-be-extra-jerky-tomorrow-during-thetriggering/](<https://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2016/03/08/internet-jerks-pledge-to-be-extra-jerky-tomorrow-during-thetriggering/>)
3. [https://twitter.com/lauren_southern/status/645060087829041152](<https://twitter.com/lauren_southern/status/645060087829041152>)
4. [https://twitter.com/lauren_southern/status/645065676361588736](<https://twitter.com/lauren_southern/status/645065676361588736>)
5. [http://ageofshitlords.com/the-triggering-2016-date-and-timeline/](<http://ageofshitlords.com/the-triggering-2016-date-and-timeline/>)
6. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thetriggering](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thetriggering>)
7. [https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/49n587/happening_thetriggering_raise_awareness_about/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/49n587/happening_thetriggering_raise_awareness_about/>)
8. [http://www.infowars.com/thetriggering-safe-space-cry-babies-bombarded-with-politically-incorrect-truths/](<http://www.infowars.com/thetriggering-safe-space-cry-babies-bombarded-with-politically-incorrect-truths/>)
9. [https://twitter.com/Eliah_R/status/707501527015948288](<https://twitter.com/Eliah_R/status/707501527015948288>)

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