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Original poster

To not find the Bethany grooming storyline realistic?

108 replies

Soyamilkisniceintea · 01/05/2017 17:39

I guess because she has a concerned family worried about her?

I can't help but think a girl who was the victim of grooming would be more likely to be very isolated.

OP posts:
Thingsthatmakeugoummmm · 01/05/2017 20:41

Excellent point deleteordecay. I am really pleased this is being covered by Corrie. This can happen to children of all backgrounds. I had hoped that people realised this. Parents can call police but this will just lead the groomer to report that 'they don't understand us'. Sarah is acting the right way. Bethany almost spoke to her earlier. Such a difficult situation for all. Instead of criticising the programme we should be pleased that awareness is being increased. I have had conversations with parents and adolescence using Corrie as an example.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 01/05/2017 20:50

OP I found this old link of how she met him. Nathan is the one that rescued her from the ginnel.

www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/news/a816082/coronation-street-christmas-spoilers-bethany-nathan-big-new-story/

CanaryFish · 01/05/2017 21:04

You have to remember as well when Sarah was Bethany's age she was pregnant with her second child, living with her boyfriend and had fallen out with Gail who wasn't speaking to her.
She knows trying to call the shots doesn't work, well it didn't work with her anyway

highinthesky · 01/05/2017 21:04

Prime manipulator! He's screwing with her inexperienced young head and being very subtle about it. Behind it lies the whole concept of consent and he's instigating confusion.

I cannot believe that the uneducated Pakistani men that were behind the Rochdale and Oxford rings operated in the same way. I'm inclined to think that the threat of force, or getting their victims hooked on alcohol and drugs were a more likely modus, introduced early on after material gifts.

The whole thing makes me sick. And very, very angry.

Jellycatspyjamas · 01/05/2017 21:22

The thing that distinguishes grooming is the relationship is begun with the intent of exploiting or abusing the child and the law in relation grooming extends to 16 abd 17 year olds. The grooming part is about breaking down the natural defences of children (and the adults around them) to make sexual contact possible through manipulation, threats and coercion. The adult uses the power imbalance to gain the child/young persons trust before abusing them.

It's not about nice girls from nice homes, it's about adults who chose to abuse.

Original poster
Soyamilkisniceintea · 01/05/2017 21:31

I have never once said 'nice girls from nice homes' - just saying :)

OP posts:
Mumoftwoyoungkids · 01/05/2017 21:33

I don't watch Corrie but from seeing the odd headline on Digital Spy I know:-

Born to a 13 year old mum
Large number of mum's boyfriends / step fathers
Father of mum's new baby murdered (and mum and uncle were suspects and aunt did it)
Aunt murdered on street outside home
Bullied
Mum had new baby recently (and had post partum psychosis)
(And according to a post up the thread) something happened with her mum's new boyfriend

It's not exactly a normal upbringing.......

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 01/05/2017 21:38

It's a very realistic storyline, as people who've worked with these cases have already told you.

Sparklingbrook · 01/05/2017 22:01

The acting IMO is atrocious making it all less believable in that sense. The actress that plays Bethany is 21 too.
Plus as far as soap goes the whole Platt family are not a particularly likeable bunch lurching from one murder/marriage to the next.

Original poster
Soyamilkisniceintea · 01/05/2017 22:15

None of that stuff is realistic though Mum, it's soap land!

WhatTo but I don't personally find it realistic. As I said, I expected it to be hard to watch and I didn't find it so.

OP posts:
Viviennemary · 01/05/2017 22:21

At first I didn't think it was very realistic. But I have no knowledge of grooming or how it happens. So I suppose that's the problem. That people have a preconceived idea of what grooming is then they won't recognise what's happening. But the problem is that some 16 year olds do have relationships with much older men. I would tend to disapprove of such a relationship but sometimes it ends well.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 01/05/2017 22:33

Soyamilkisniceintea I don't get affected by a lot of things, but watching this is very upsetting and difficult, so the fact that you don't find it hard to watch is quite worrying, imo.

Original poster
Soyamilkisniceintea · 01/05/2017 22:40

I'm sure that there are some things you wouldn't find hard to watch that I do :) it's no criticism of you or anyone else that I haven't taken to this storyline and please don't take it as such Flowers

OP posts:
WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 01/05/2017 22:47

Soyamilkisniceintea Oh no, I wasn't taking it as a criticism. I'm sorry if my last post appeared harsh! Smile You're probably right there.

UntilTheCowsComeHome · 01/05/2017 23:50

I've found it very hard to watch because it's bought home to me that I was groomed at the age of 16.

I used to think of the time as 'the time I slept with an older guy for money' I was a bit ashamed of it but thought that I had some control over the situation and that I was actually using him.

When I look back I see that actually I was groomed. He carefully manipulated me and my then boyfriend to his own ends.

I was a 'good girl', intelligent and from a good family, with a nice boyfriend. It shouldn't have happened to someone like me but it did.

I didn't even realise what it was until about a year ago when it hit me like a train.

It wasn't my fault. I wasn't a slag. He was in his 30s and knew full well what he was doing to me.

It's had a massive effect on me.

Original poster
Soyamilkisniceintea · 01/05/2017 23:54

No, not your fault Flowers

OP posts:
ajandjjmum · 02/05/2017 17:55

I actually think the acting by 'Bethany' and 'Nathan' is excellent. But I've been watching for several months, as the situation has developed - maybe that makes it more 'real' to me?

Sparklingbrook · 02/05/2017 18:01

Possibly. I just can't believe in them and the whole portrayal of the situation.

I can imagine the storyline having people switching off TBH.

Original poster
Soyamilkisniceintea · 02/05/2017 18:02

Same sparkling.

OP posts:
BillSykesDog · 02/05/2017 18:24

I know the family of one of the Rotherham victims very well and agree with other posters that it's a myth that all girls involved are from fractured uncaring homes. One of the reasons why Rotherham was such a big scandal was that often there were very involved caring parents who were doing exactly what they should have been doing to protect them but not getting anywhere because the authorities who were supposed to be stopping it too weren't interested.

I haven't watched the show, but it's correct that older girls who have previously been groomed are often used to recruit 'new blood' and the girls being groomed often see themselves as being grown up and sophisticated.

AskBasil · 05/05/2017 00:39

"My parents would have gone totally mental if this was me at 16 and probably have got the police involved "

That's exactly what the parents of some of the Rotherham girls did.

The police told them to fuck off in slightly more polite terms. They told them the girls were making a lifestyle choice and made it very clear to them, that they were not interested in their complaints.

What would your parents have done then?

Birdsgottaf1y · 05/05/2017 01:16

Nathan is connected to Shona (Clayton, Kylie's killer Mum), that's why he was in the street. He spotted Bethany crying and started chatting to her. It was his interest in her that then kept him around. He only made contact with her because he exploits young Women, that is why it would be considered grooming and not a relationship that turned abusive.

It's pointing to him being Clayton's Dad.

I and my DDs are finding it boring, because of how long it's gone on, but they've needed to develop the story.

I've known 16/17 year olds that have been groomed/coerced and funny enough, it's been by drug dealers etc who have sun bed shops, as their legit business.

Bethany is very vulnerable, that was shown by her willingness to lie for Callum (Max's Dad), her Mum's then boyfriend. Then her use of slimming tablets, on top of the severe bullying. Sarah often forgets that she has a daughter and Gail and David don't appear to even like her.

She was an easy target.

BertieBotts · 05/05/2017 01:44

Bethany is 16? Shock

(Sorry! Ahem.)

Yes grooming can absolutely happen to DC with concerned families. I also know someone who it happened to and yes it was a drug dealer with a business as their "day job". It just takes a crack of insecurity that most teenagers have and the person can worm their way in. FWIW the person who I knew of was a boy. Though it is more common to happen to girls.

DoesAnyoneReadTheseThings · 05/05/2017 02:53

She's not 16 in real life, they hd to use an older actress due to the nature of the storyline.

Sparklingbrook · 05/05/2017 06:04

She's been in CS a while. Did they give her the part knowing this storyline was coming?
I still wonder how she never picked up an accent living in Milan all that time...

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