Overview
- A new Institute for Addressing Strangulation survey of more than 4,000 people aged 16–34 reports 51% have experienced strangulation during sex, including 43% of sexually active 16- and 17-year-olds.
- Reported harms were common, with 21% experiencing physical symptoms such as neck pain, dizziness or coughing, while about 1 in 50 lost consciousness and similar proportions reported bladder or bowel incontinence.
- A consent gap emerged: 36% of recipients felt scared, 27% said there was no prior discussion the last time it happened, and perpetrators were more likely than recipients to believe consent had been given; 5% of those who had strangled someone had done so more than 50 times.
- Respondents frequently cited media influences, with 40% learning about the practice from pornography, 38% from social media and 29% from TV or film, while many said they engaged because a partner wanted it.
- The UK plans to criminalise possession and publication of pornography showing strangulation by year-end with duties on platforms to block such content, building on the 2021 non-fatal strangulation offence as medical experts warn even brief pressure can lead to brain injury, stroke or death.