Sexual strangulation is common among young people, with some fearful of being labelled “vanilla” and others ignorant of its lethal danger. A large university study has exposed the practice as strikingly common among young Australians, with 57% of adults aged 35 and under having engaged in strangulation during sex at least once. More than half have choked a partner in a cultural phenomenon experts say is most commonly derived from pornography, and then from movies and social circles.
“There’re increasing pressures, particularly on young women, to be adventurous and not vanilla in their sex lives,” study co-author Professor Heather Douglas said. “They need support to navigate thinking about why they’re consenting, what they’re consenting to, and how they withdraw their consent or determine not to consent.”.
