It will soon be a criminal offence to own or publish porn that depicts strangulation or ‘choking’, the government has confirmed. In addition, survivors of image-based abuse will now have at least three years after the offence has taken place to report it to the police; significantly longer than the current six-month limit.
“We are making all explicit and realistic depictions of strangulation pornography illegal to both possess and publish,” says Alex Davies-Jones, Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls. She tells Glamour, “These are images that are extremely dangerous, they are explicit, and they are causing real-world harm to women and girls.”
“A vital step towards recognising the role violent pornography plays in shaping attitudes to women.”
Why have the new laws been introduced?
The Institute for Addressing Strangulation [IFAS] defines strangulation as the “obstruction or compression of blood vessels and/or airways by external pressure to the neck impeding normal breathing or circulation of the blood.”
There is evidence to suggest that strangulation is now the second most common cause of stroke in women under 40, with one piece of research indicating that it's more dangerous than the torture method of waterboarding, as it restricts blood flow as well as airflow.
Research by IFAS found that 16% of people of all ages had been strangled once or more during sex, and 17% of them had not given consent for it to happen. And in 2019, a BBC survey found that in a study of 2,000 young women aged 18–39, 38% had experienced unwanted slapping, choking, gagging or spitting during otherwise consensual sex.
The new legislation follows a recommendation from Baroness Bertin’s Independent Porn Review, which found pornography has contributed to establishing strangulation as a ‘sexual norm’, particularly among young people who may be unaware of its long-term harms.
Why are BDSM and ‘rough sex’ used as an excuse for rape and sexual violence against women?
Annie*, a survivor supported by the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, said, “For too long, pornography has portrayed strangulation as something safe or even normal. It is not safe. Strangulation causes serious and lasting harm, both physically and mentally, and it must never be trivialised or eroticised.
"No one should have to live questioning why they survived while others' lives have been stolen as a result of such harm. The lifelong impact of this violence cannot be understated — it changes who we are, how we see ourselves, and how safe we feel in the world" (via The Ministry of Justice).
The news has been tentatively welcomed by experts, including Professor Clare McGlynn, an academic at Durham University specialising in pornography, sexual violence and online abuse, who describes it as “a bold move by the government.”
She tells Glamour, “The new law could be truly transformative. All eyes are now on Ofcom to enforce the law and make platforms take down this content.”
The End Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition (EVAW) has also welcomed the news. Rebecca Hitchen, Head of Policy & Campaigns, says, "This reflects years of campaigning by EVAW and other experts who have long warned about the harms of online abuse and the normalisation of violence against women and girls in online content.
“There is no such thing as safe strangulation; women cannot consent to the long-term harm it can cause, including impaired cognitive functioning and memory. Its widespread portrayal in porn is fuelling dangerous behaviours, particularly among young people.”
Labour has announced plans to ban choking in porn, but this is only the first step to addressing misogyny in porn.
What do the new laws on strangulation, or ‘choking’, in porn actually mean?
The new laws mean that it will be a criminal offence to “possess or publish” any explicit and realistic depictions of strangulation pornography.
It does not mean you cannot consensually choke or be choked by another person in your private life. Nor does it mean you cannot own or share a depiction of strangulation, provided the depiction was created with consent, did not cause serious harm to the other person, and is only shared with the other person depicted.
If you are sent an image or video of someone being choked without requesting it in advance, you will have a defence, provided you deleted the image within a reasonable time period.
If you watch it on your phone, it's unlikely to affect you, as you're not technically in possession of the material – although the rules may vary if you watch it on a desktop, as many computers store images within the cache.
The onus appears to be on tech companies to avoid hosting and publishing depictions of strangulation pornography, rather than policing individuals watching it in private. Under the new law, tech companies will be required to take proactive steps to prevent users from seeing illegal strangulation and suffocation content, which Ofcom will regulate.
If the legislation works – and tech companies do stop hosting this content – you will see far less strangulation in mainstream porn. The idea is to encourage a cultural shift away from pornography that normalises strangulation and choking during sex, with the result that fewer women are choked without their consent during sex.
How will the new laws on strangulation in porn impact sex workers and adult content creators?
Banning strangulation and choking in porn will have affect sex workers and adult content creators in various ways, some of which won't become clear until after the ban is enforced. Theoretically, it could mean that sex workers are safer, as they will no longer have to risk injury by performing choking during sex. However, it may also mean that they're pushed towards creating other forms of less-regulated, and potentially dangerous, content to keep up with consumer demand for extreme pornography.
I spoke to Adrienne*, a sex worker, about the proposed legislation. She points out that “Pornography is not an ever intended to be education. It's always intended to be fantasy, rather than a lifestyle choice.”
“It's not [sex workers'] jobs to be the moral path in people's life,” Adrienne continues. “But without a really shameless education, we become education by default.”
“When people learn from imitation – because that's the only source of seeing sex they have – combine that with a world that is obsessed by clicks, views and extreme… the most violent, the most degrading. It's a recipe for disaster, isn't it?”
*Names have been changed.
GLAMOUR is campaigning for the government to introduce an Image-Based Abuse Bill in partnership with Jodie Campaigns, the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Not Your Porn, and Professor Clare McGlynn.
For more from Glamour UK's Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.
