Jane Austen novel given ‘gender stereotyping’ trigger warning
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University of Greenwich warns students of ‘sexism’ and ‘toxic relationships’ in Northanger Abbey, without mentioning its subtle ironies.
By Craig Simpson
Reading too many novels causes a great deal of anguish for the naive heroine of Northanger Abbey, and students studying the book could be similarly troubled.
This is according to academics who have issued a trigger warning for Jane Austen’s work because it depicts ‘gender stereotypes’.
The 1817 novel about a callow young woman’s coming of age in Regency Britain has been deemed potentially upsetting by academics at the University of Greenwich.
English literature students at the university are alerted to the ‘sexism’ in Northanger Abbey, according to content notes seen by The Telegraph, and warned that the 19th-century satire contains ‘toxic relationships and friendships’.
The claims are made in the content warning for Austen’s work, despite the author (1775 to 1817) being widely regarded as an early feminist who rebelled against ge...
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