Picture credit: Tima Miroshnichenko
Content warning: This article discusses domestic violence and explicit content.
A growing number of cases involving non-fatal strangulation during sex is raising alarm among experts, who warn that pornography could be fuelling the trend among young people.
Research by The Institute for Addressing Strangulation shows that 35% of women aged 16 to 34 had been strangled during sex compared to 3% of those 55+.
Young people are also more likely to consume pornography, with a recent YouGov poll showing 25% of young men watch porn every day or most days.
Mary Sharpe, a lawyer and educator who founded The Reward Foundation in Edinburgh, says there is a link between pornography and risky sexual behaviour: “It’s like monkey see, monkey do – we are social animals,” she said.
“If your experience of sex is porn – which it is for most young people – and you consume extreme content, then viewers may be more likely to try extreme things.”
A lack of consent during ‘rough sex’
A study of 2,002 young women aged 18 to 39 found that 38% had experienced unwanted slapping, choking, gagging, or spitting during otherwise consensual sex.
This troubling statistic highlights how ‘rough sex’ is becoming normalised through pornographic content, often without any consideration of consent, according to researchers from Durham University and the University of Oxford, who have linked these behaviours to the increasingly aggressive nature of mainstream pornography.
It points to a study of 4,009 porn scenes from popular pornographic websites that revealed that 45% of scenes on Pornhub and 35% on Xvideos included acts of physical aggression, with choking being one of the most common. In these scenes, women were overwhelmingly the targets, often depicted as either neutral or enjoying the aggression.
A separate survey released by the Children’s Commissioner of England in 2023 reflects this. Young people who frequently viewed pornography, twice or more per week, were significantly more likely to have experienced a physically aggressive or degrading sex act.
“We don’t want to be choked unless we consent…”
– Girl, 19, survey, first saw pornography at age 10.
Overall, almost half, 47%, of respondents aged 18 to 21 had experienced a sexually violent act.
- Among young people, 35% had experienced a physically aggressive sex act with a partner.
- A further 24% had experienced a degrading sex act with a partner.
- And 9% had experience of a coercive sex act with a partner.
“People need to understand how porn is affecting the brain and how it can escalate to people looking at violent material,” Sharpe added.
The Dopamine effect
Sharpe explained that excessive porn consumption can lead users to search for more extreme content due to dopamine. The brain releases dopamine when expecting or anticipating a rewarding experience.
“If you eat the same food day in, day out, you get bored of it. When someone brings in something new, you’re more excited,” she said.
“Porn works in the same way. After a while, users may be tempted to view more extreme content to reach that initial feeling.”
The media regulator, Ofcom, estimates that approximately 14 million people watch online pornography in the UK.
Changes in the law
While experts continue to sound the alarm about the links between pornography and non-consensual sexual violence, changes in the law are taking place to address the problem.
In England and Wales, non-fatal strangulation was criminalised under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and there are calls for similar action in Scotland.
MSP Michelle Thomson, told The Herald, that the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews Bill, currently before the Scottish Parliament, could be amended to include non-fatal strangulation as a specific crime.
Currently, in Scotland, non-fatal strangulation is classified as assault, but experts say this is an increasingly pressing issue.
Leading lawyer Tony Lenehan, told The Times, up to 60% of serious sex-crime cases he handles feature allegations of non-consensual strangulation.
A spokesperson for the Scottish government previously said: “Conduct amounting to non-fatal strangulation is a criminal offence in Scotland under the common law of assault. This offence carries maximum penalties up to life imprisonment.”
