Safe space
The term safe space refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations", according to Merriam-Webster.
The term originated in LGBTQ culture,[3] but has since expanded to include any place where a marginalized minority (e.g., gender, racial, religious, ethnic) can come together to communicate regarding their shared experiences.
[18][19][20] In early 2015, the increasing adoption of safe spaces in UK universities aroused controversy due to accusations that they were used to stifle free speech and differing political views.
[23] In September 2016, the then-Prime Minister, Theresa May, criticized universities for implementing "safe space" policies amid concerns that self-censorship was curtailing freedom of speech on campuses.
"[27] Advocates for Youth states on their website that a safe-space is "A place where anyone can relax and be fully self-expressed, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome or challenged on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, age, or physical or mental ability; a place where the rules guard each person's self-respect, dignity and feelings and strongly encourage everyone to respect others.
The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets, soothers and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma.
According to Friedersdorf, such uses reverse the intent of safe spaces: "This behavior is a kind of safe-baiting: using intimidation or initiating physical aggression to violate someone's rights, then acting like your target is making you unsafe.
[39]In 2016, British actor and writer Stephen Fry criticized safe spaces and trigger warnings as infantilizing students and possibly eroding free speech.
[44] In 2016, the University of Chicago sent a letter welcoming new undergraduates, affirming its commitment to diversity, civility, and respect and informing them the college does not support trigger warnings, does not cancel controversial speakers, and does not "condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from thoughts and ideas at odds with their own".
Chris Waugh, a PhD student at the University of Manchester, draws on the work of Jurgen Habermas and Nancy Fraser to argue that safe spaces have been consistently misrepresented in the media, describing most discourse around them as superficial.
Waugh describes the conflict between the use of safe spaces as one between a perspective that focuses on adapting oneself to a single public sphere, with an emphasis on resilience as a virtue, vulnerability as something to be stamped out, and harm as something that is answered solely by toughening yourself as a form of self-reliance; and a perspective that focuses on creating multiple smaller interlocking social spheres, where such spaces serve as a forum for students to produce strategies and language intended to help them to actively resist harm in other parts of society.
