What are sex roulette and other crazy social challenges?

To take part in an absurd social challenge, sex roulette, a 14 year old girl got pregnant: it was reported by theAdnkronosthrough the lawyer of the victim’s family, Marina Condoleo.

According to the rules of the “game”, the 14-year-old has lost: whoever gets pregnant loses. Sex roulette consists of consensually participate in sexual encounters with your face covered and, more seriously, without any protection. This challenge, invented in Belgrade, has spread quite quickly in Spain and the United Kingdom and, recently, also in Italy, and includes many variations. To increase the risk, in some versions, one of the participants is HIV positive.but the cardinal rule is that no one knows the identity of the other participants, so no one can know who is positive. The name itself recalls “Russian roulette”, where the risk to life is real and immediate.

Taking on such challenges not only signals the search for strong emotions, but often denotes a lack of awareness of one’s body and of the long-term consequences of one’s actions: the sex roulette exposes participants to irreversible risks. The spread of such dangerous challenges raises profound questions about the emotional and psychological state of today’s youth: although the sex roulette is one of the most extreme and dangerous challenges, Generation Z is witnessing a long series of viral trends that put their physical and mental health at risk of those who participate.

Other sexual challenges

Other very dangerous challenges, launched on social media, invite you to have sexual intercourse with complete strangers. For example, the Calippo tour and the Chinotto tour: Girls travel around Italy to have oral sex with strangerswhich they film on video and publish on various platforms.

There Blue Whale Challenge

Originating in Russia, it consists of a series of 50 tasks to be completed in 50 days, which are assigned to participants, via social media or messaging apps, by an “administrator”. It starts off relatively harmlessly, but as the game progresses the challenges are becoming increasingly risky (self-mutilation, sleep deprivation, watching psychedelic and horror videos, climbing very tall buildings and standing on the edge) culminating in an invitation to suicide.

Black out, Chocking game, Pass-out game

There are several names used to indicate this challenge, which invites participants to compress their carotid artery until to voluntarily cause suffocation and lose consciousness. The goal is to experience a sort of high, but the risks of this practice include permanent brain damage or even death.

Skullbreaker Challenge

Having gone viral on TikTok, the Skullbreaker Challenge sees three people involved: two of them intentionally make the third one fall, causing a backward fall that often causes serious head injuries (hence the name «skull breaker» (skullbreaker).

Tide Pod Challenge

Among the most absurd challenges that have circulated in recent years there is also the Tide Pod Challengewhich consists of theingesting washing machine detergent capsules. This type of detergent is highly toxic if ingested, and can cause serious internal injuries, damaging the respiratory and digestive systems.

Benadryl Challenge

Another challenge that has gained popularity involves participants ingesting large amounts of the antihistamine drug Benadryl to experience hallucinations. But an overdose of this medicine can cause heart problems, seizures, and in extreme cases, lead to death.