AIBU to think everyone does what Betsy and Dylan did?

I have to add that the young actor who plays Betsy has an incredible acting career ahead of her. What a star.

I'm pleased you've asked this op because I said that exact same thing to dh last night. Over the years, CS has covered quite a few storylines that have been really helpful in opening up discussions with our teenage son. Things like rape, consent and alcohol etc. But I find this storyline to be dark/ niche even by CS standards and when they said "everyone is doing it", I asked dh if he thought we needed to have a conversation with ds. We've spoken with him about pornography being on a different, much more extreme, level these days and not a true depiction of what loving relationships between consenting adults really look like. But the whole choking thing - I mean, why?! And is it as common as CS portrays?

I agree - and the other message which I wasn’t aware of until I watched it - that even if it’s done with consent it’s still against the law.

It’s far more rare in younger people and I just never even considered it being linked to a sex act.

I think the storyline is good in the fact it highlights the dangers of strangulation/choking.

I dont like the narrative that everyone is doing it or the characters just got unlucky. I still think that normalises the practice, perhaps teaches the audience there's a way it could be done safely if they'd been more experienced. I do think that there's a bit of sympathy being given to Dylan, when ultimately he strangled his partner. I don't think most people are doing it, even in younger age groups but probably enough are or at least enough are considering it "normal practice"

I’m not sure really. I think people with adult dc have far more explicit and frank conversations than we ever used to have with our own parents. My dd is 22 and we’ve talked about everything from her friends using butt plugs (!!) to one of them shitting on a transparent glass table whilst her boyfriend watches underneath (I kid you not) so I don’t see why when she says none of them would ever tolerate or even entertain someone choking them, why that’s so hard to believe. I am not naive enough to think people don’t do it, but young women in particular are becoming very anti it. It’s not a “normal” thing by any means.

I think they are handling it very well. The actress did lots of research and some tests they have done on people (who have done it - female) are really scary. Apparently you can always see effects in the brain even if nothing bad happens. And she quoted a medical expert who said that you need to use more force to open a can of coke than to harm someone when you're 'choking' them.

I was thinking the same! It’s not a conversation that they are going to answer truthfully 😂

This is a weird thing to say.

People have strokes at all ages. Children have strokes.

I think you've misunderstood my post, which is to point out that no, most people aren't strangling each other during sex, and one of the reasons people think they are is because there are other sexual practices that some people mistakenly believe are strangulation because they get called 'choking' - which in most cases isn't what is actually happening.

Some people like their neck being touched. Having your neck touched with no pressure applied at all doesn't 'easily go wrong'. It's just a hand resting there, not pressing or squeezing. Simply touching someone's neck is not something that accidentally cuts off an air supply, much like holding someone's hand as you walk down the street with them isn't something that can accidentally break their fingers, or giving your boyfriend a playful pat on the bum isn't something that can accidentally leave a bruise.

Applying pressure to someone's neck absolutely does easily go wrong and nobody should be doing that in bed, ever. To even come close to cutting off someone's air supply, you'd definitely have to be very, very deliberately applying pressure in the first place, which is what was supposed to be happening in the Coronation Street storyline - and what happens in the horrific cases where the 'rough sex defence' (which, of course, shouldn't even be a defence in the first place because it's utterly fucking grotesque) is put forward in court. It's not at all easy to strangle someone by accident - lots of people aren't even physically strong enough to do it. When someone dies like this, it's because their partner was actively trying to restrict their airway for sexual purposes. That is what can very easily go wrong.

Most people aren't doing that, thank god. But I still think it's very important for people to know that it's an appallingly dangerous thing to do and that anyone who actively wants to risk doing that to their partner is almost certainly a complete fucking headcase who belongs in prison.

Funny you should say that, a couple of days ago something just popped up on Facebook with clips of old Cororanation Street (it was something like the Doris Speed Fans) and it was really rather endearing...
Annie Walker with her monogramed AW carpet,
Hilda Ogdon showing off her 'muriel' wallpaper,
Annie Walker stopping Hilda Ogden from using the pub piano...

I can't wait for the next clip!

Stunned everyone thinks this is a young people thing IRL. The worst culprits when I was stuck in sex work were the silver haired brigade. That was 10 years ago though so maybe the demographic has changed but they were absolute bastards for it. I don’t know if the attribution of this behaviour to young men is more “Not my Derek” nonsense. Because I can assure you that Derek can and probably has. Wish it was illegal.

Yeah…… cos they definitely wouldn’t lie to their mum about something like this!

That’s not what they’re doing at all

Missing the point but I know a woman age 42 who had a stroke… now I’m wondering if this was what she was doing 😆🙈 (thankfully she’s okay whatever the cause).

I think it’s good though because it’s also highlighting not everything you see online should be done or is ok. They are saying everyone is doing it because it’s seen online, so of course everyone thinks they should do it…. Which in the real world young people do tend to copy things they see. So hopefully it gets that’s message across

I thought that scene with Sally and the girl they foster was really good. The awkwardness of Sally having to have the conversation and it getting broken to down to a boy in class saying he does it all the time but actually he does stupid stuff (like gluing his hand to his face) so probably isn’t someone to listen to was good

The storyline is pulled from the idea that porn is being “normalised” and young teens are believing that what they see in porn and online is what “normal sex” looks like.

I think they’re trying to show that something Dylan and Betsy thought was “normal”, and consensual can still go wrong and the repercussions of that.

Saying 'everyone is doing it' is a really dangerous narrative IMO if that's what Corrie are saying. Having lots of characters saying they've done it also encourages the idea that it's mainstream and normal. Talking about being 'lucky' could also imply that Betsy has just been unlucky so no big deal.

Tackling the issue is one thing, but this doesn't sound like they're doing it very responsibly. It's been a good 25 years since I was even vaguely interested in soaps though so I haven't actually seen it, just going on what others have said here.

I know someone who did breath play with an ex. The ex convinced him that there were safe ways to do it. Newsflash - there is no safe way to so breath play. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Exposure to extreme porn is not doing young people any favors.

Thinking the same!

True, the only things they had to worry about was if the Rovers ran out of mild, and is Elsie Tanner's current squeeze another wrong'un 🤣

😂

Things have obviously moved on in Corrie since Annie Walker and Ena Sharples....

Oh dear!
The point off the storyline is how easily it can go wrong. You might do well to watch it.