It starts, and ends, with education

During a short break at work today I took a look at a leading Australian newspaper and it led me to two stories that piqué my interest.

The first was about the death of a 15 year old while she was playing ‘The Choking Game’. According to the article she and her friends had been texting each other about the natural high that it gives. I have a confession to make. I was due to give a talk to a group n Montreal in September, but due to financial issues (they plague me) I was unable to attend. The subject of the talk was ‘Breath Play’; this is where two consenting adults play with the oxygen supply, or lack of. It’s a sexual kink. Autoerotic asphyxiation (playing solo) is responsible for a remarkably high volume of accidental hanging deaths around the world, but often written down as suicide. More often than not, it’s boys or young men looking for the sexual high caused by the deprivation of oxygen to the brain during, self-pleasuring. No one wants to die at this time, but sometimes the complex rigging systems put in place in the case of ‘passing out’ fail.

It's not just teenagers - David Carradine, who died in a Thailand hotel room in 2007 was a well known player of 'the choking game'

While I’m sure the girl in the story wasn’t doing this for a sexual high, it’s never advisable to play these ‘games’ alone. Kids experiment. It’s a matter of fact. Accept it. We’ve all done things alone, that maybe we shouldn’t have. I know I have, many times, (although not recently). The important thing has to be stopping tragedy befalling others. This is one of those things that needs to be spoken about and not brushed under the carpet. When a parent, friend, sibling, or other unfortunate soul finds a loved one hanging, they should never touch the victim or scene and should immediately call the police. When these ‘games’ are being played, schools need to be aware in order to put a stop to them happening. Her parents, bless them, are, in this time of grieving and mourning choosing to send this message. They are to be commended for doing this at such a difficult time.

My thoughts are with her family at this time.

The other story was a resurrection of an old piece of trash talking from a politician, well there’s a surprise!?. This one is about a Queenslander Fiona Simpson saying you can ‘grow out of being gay’. Now she said this in 2002, but now refuses to confirm or deny her current sentiments on the issue. I’m guessing when I say, she’s still a fan of the Exodus Ministries and she still believes what she said nine years ago. The issue here is that she is now a frontbencher and should her party be elected in the next state elections she will have the Community Services portfolio. Not an ideal fit, I would say. But that’s my opinion. You can have your own. I’m glad I don’t live in Queensland, but to be fair NSW has its own twits in power. Equal rights are a right, not a privilege.

And this is why I don’t generally read the newspapers.