Choking during sex is becoming ‘normalised’ among young people who are putting themselves at risk of brain injuries and even death, a new study has warned.
Almost 60 per cent of Australians under the age of 35 have been choked or strangled by a partner during sex, the survey of 4,702 people by the Universities of Melbourne and Queensland found.
Doctors warn that the act is much more dangerous than most think; aside from sudden injury or death from oxygen deprivation, there is a cumulative effect similar to concussion which causes brain injuries in the long term.
Up to 78 per cent of transgender and non-binary people said they had been strangled during sex, along with 61 per cent of all women and 43 per cent of all men.
On average, people reported being strangled six times by three partners, with 31 per cent of respondents experiencing it for the first time between the ages of 19 and 21.
The research, published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour on Tuesday, found that a growing number of Australians perceive strangulation as a normal part of sex, with 59 per cent of males performing the act on a partner compared to 49 per cent of women.
However, many respondents said they had not consented to strangling, study co-author Professor Heather Douglas from Melbourne University Law School said.
Consent given once was commonly perceived as consent for strangulation to occur in subsequent sexual encounters, the study found.
Prof Douglas said unrestricted access to pornography, and its growing extremity, is increasing pressures, especially for young women, to be adventurous and not ‘vanilla’ in the bedroom.
Almost 60 per cent of Australians under the age of 35 have been strangled by a partner during sex as the act becomes more normalised among young people (stock)
She warned that strangling a person during sex can cause brain injury, even when the person remains conscious and there is no visible injuries.
‘The risks associated with brain injury increase with each subsequent strangulation,’ Prof Douglas wrote in the report.
‘So it’s a little bit like head injury in that injuries can accumulate. Miscarriage can also result from strangulation, and can occur a week or months down the track. Strangulation can lead to stroke.
‘There can also be an incremental reduction in memory. One of the things that we really need to remember about strangulation is that, most of the time, you’re not going to get a visible injury… and yet, it could still be causing harm.’
It can take less than 10 seconds for someone to be rendered unconscious during sexual strangulation and 150 seconds for them to die, researchers said.
Sexual violence experts launched the campaign and website ‘Breathless’ on Tuesday to raise awareness of the risks involved in rough sex and strangulation.
Young Aussies shared their own experiences with the campaign.
Professor Heather Douglas said there were growing pressures on young people, young women especially, not to be vanilla in their sex lives and be more ‘adventurous’
‘There’s definitely violent practices like choking and slapping which are almost seen as vanilla now, especially choking. It’s very mainstream,’ Matilda, 18, shared.
‘Because that’s what they’re seeing in porn, [they think] ‘Okay, I see rough positions, she must like that. I see choking, she must like that,’ Lana, 22, wrote.
Amy, 19, said: ‘I’ve been in situations where I feel like I’m genuinely being murdered.’
Experts say strangulation is a cultural phenomenon most commonly derived from pornography, and then from movies and social circles.
It’s Time We Talked project director Maree Crabbe said there had been an ‘explosion’ in harmful sexual behaviour by children and young people toward their peers.
‘That’s the pointy end that tells us very clearly that something’s not OK,’ she said.
‘Pornography – (which) is a global, multibillion-dollar industry – is setting the agenda around what sexuality looks like it and how it’s experienced with enormously detrimental effects.’
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