Are you a read-before-watching kind of TV and movie viewer, or do you like to plunge in with both feet unaware? If you’re the latter, and you happened to tune into Netflix’s ‘Baby Reindeer’ before the major buzz, you may have astounded by powerful storytelling that allows ugly and harrowing truths to sneak up on you between moments of laughter and discomfort — not unlike life, sometimes. You may also have felt profoundly unsettled or even ill because of the show’s troubling depictions of rape, assault and exploitation.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Jacob DesRochers of Queen’s University writes about how the show highlights critical issues including sexual violence against men. But, he writes, while the show flags mature themes for viewers, and offers a link to a crisis resource, it’s far from clear that these measures prevent or mitigate secondary trauma in the audience.

“We should rethink how content advisories are used, and whether they truly inform viewers or absolve creators of deeper ethical responsibilities,” he writes. “At the very least, networks might understand that content advisories are an essential accessibility measure in film and television, and also consider how shaping a narrative and editing scenes may partly mitigate potentially harmful depictions.”

Also today:

• Pharmacare’s design could further fragment and politicize Canada’s health system
• How the nursing shortage is affecting the health-care system, patients and nurses themselves
• AI products for kids promising friendship and learning? 3 things to consider