Online pornography showing strangulation or suffocation is to be made illegal, as part of government plans to tackle violence against women and girls.
It follows a review which found depictions of choking were “rife” on mainstream porn sites and had helped normalise the act among young people.
Both the possession and publication of such material will be a criminal offence, under amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill currently going through Parliament.
Jfc more conservative pearl clutching censorship laws in supposedly developed countries? What a time to be alive.
Don’t worry, it’s not the Conservatives, it’s the Labour Government implementing this!
Good thing Labour will never be anything like the Tories amirite fellow chokers?
Always great to see that politics are broadly similar everywhere. It’s always irritating to see Democrats cross the aisle when it comes to shitty pearl clutching laws like this. It’s somewhat comforting to know that your fake left wing party is also shitty in similar ways to our fake left wing party.
The morality police in the UK strike again. They’re slowly turning into Saudi Arabia the longer they keep this up.
No wonder they keep importing people with this exact moral view.
Search: How to do the Heimlich maneuver? YouTube: sorry this video has been deleted for depicting scenes of people choking.
You forgot the 5 unskippable ads before they finally show you the video was deleted.
So men don’t get choked? Why are these things always gender specific?
I like to get a little choked every now and then, during. Am I illegal?
Yes I recommend you handcuff yourself immediately, maybe tie yourself up a bit, you’ve been pretty naughty
Hhhhh okay Mami, I mean yes officer.
It’s less prevalent, but this content definitely exists too.
They do. Watch most pegging, or “Trans fucks guy” videos, and the dude will be turning fucking beetroot while getting pounded hard.
Maybe Timber is not as popular in the UK political scene.
What’s next? BDSM?
Only porn allowed will be missionary position?
Only if it’s for procreation, too.
Welcome to Britain
You know, there’s a fun observation to be made here: for every perversion you ban, the more niche ones move further up the view list. In essence, short of a complete porn ban (which is their final goal), they’re likely to make the problem worse.
In terms of boys learning violence from this kind of porn - surely the online safety act is doing that right? Of course not; that act has failed gloriously and this proposed change evidences that.
The real solution they should be considering is strong messages about “safe, sane, consensual”. Stick it up on posters, make it a mandatory banner on porn sites (who would complain, really), even take that shit into schools (it’s good practice even for vanilla). The real issue isn’t the acts themselves, it’s the way we talk about them, or more don’t!
Might be a good idea to say which government when you’re posting to world news?
I mean, I honestly think it’s pretty obvious givwn how the brits banned fisiting porn
“We’ve found a lot of videos online, and we’re going to keep watching until you stop making them!”
I am… Rather older than most of you, in all probability. My partner likes being choked; not hard, not actually cutting off air or blood, but the sensation of hands or an arm around their throat. They also like being caned, and spanked; I’m into fairly serious rope bondage (as a rope top) and CNC.
Under British law, a large percentage of the sexual activities that we both enjoy together would be criminal offenses.
For what it’s worth, in the 1920s, oral sex was considered shocking to moral sensibilities, perverted, an affront against nature, and grotesquely obscene. I suspect that the view from the year 2100–should humanity survive that long–will see choking in much the same way.
I’ve never been choked, but I like to hold my breath right as I’m about to ejaculate (cause it makes the orgasm stronger for some reason), so I could absolutely see the appeal. So long as it’s consentual, I see no issue with choking in sex.
The US and UK are in a race to see who can out-Fash the other.
It sure seems like the puritans are in charge these days. And their using kids to ram through whatever the fuck they want. As long as no one is getting hurt, I dont really see what business it is of any government what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes. I mean, even if you were choking her out, as long as it was what she wanted, its really up to you two to take on the risks.
I dont understand it, but who cares? Im not in the room. Its nothing to do with me, or anyone else. I cant help but feel this is the beginning of something a bit more sinister. Maybe someday soon, blow jobs will be looked down upon again. Or far more likely, being gay will be looked down upon again. Cos thats where these weirdos always look to when they talk about things “corrupting the youth”. A bit of slap and tickle first, attack the LGBT crowd next under the guise of protecting the children/young people. “Youre not gay, youve just seen too many blowjobs, Timmy. Youll be alright after we send you to a re-education camp.”…
Won’t be any kids to protect soon as the raging inequality continues to rise and people become completely unable to afford them.
Why do you think that sex ed is being banned, they’re trying to prevent people from having access to porn, and womens’ reproductive care is being sharply limited? They know kids are gonna fuck if they don’t have any other outlet, and kids are going to fuck unsafely. Then they’ve got the babies that they need to keep delivering Amazon packages and assembling iPhones.
To anyone celebrating this: you’re defending a fucking bad faith law!
Does any of the recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws are just to protect little Jimmy being a “little confused”, to protect him from “making life altering decisions”? Did any of the Nazi anti-Jewish laws were only made to stop predatory banking? Fuck no! And fuck you if you think we can just "undo it easily later on: no one wants to be the “pervert politician”, no one wants to be smeared by the opposition as “the real misogynist” or a “pervert being occupied with things other than the economy”, so no one will do it.
I don’t like choking in porn. The problem is a failure of both the lack of sexual education, and not holding platforms accountable for replatforming the likes of Andrew Tate, not some smut.
I think you’re also missing the part where some people are just legit into strangling.
One of my exes loved it, loved watching porn about it. Does she have to become a criminal now just to scratch her itch?
Prohibiting fantasies won’t stop actual bad people, as it never has. I’d say we would be better off with education on how to do it safely if you’re really into it, education of men on how to do this respectfully, again, of both are legit into it.
We should also makke sure it’s very clear for women facing abusive partners that they can leave, that they won’t lose everything they got, that they won’t lose their family, that they won’t face stigmatization, and we should make sure that they have all resources available to get back on their feet
Dark fantasies and dark sex acts aren’t the problem. Abusive partners are the problem
This guy chokes.
If the argument for the ban is that depiction normalizes it, then there should be a ban on violence in all media, right?
Video games too!
Comparing brain death due to strangulation to moral panic is obviously incorrect.
I suppose I would file this one under massive sex education failure, if youths are having to learn about sex from porn there’s already a problem.
I don’t disagree that it’s troubling how mainstream choking is in modern porn. It’s definitely been a huge shift. There’s nothing against it as a fetish, but it being a fetish with potential harmful consequences suggests that it should be in the same category as BDSM - something which can be problematic unless it’s done as an exercise in trust between partners with full informed consent.
And there have been plenty of seemingly not agenda-led studies which suggest that teen boys and girls are both picking up a lot of what they consider to be “normal” about sex from porn.
And not even talking to each other about it. IIRC, there was one such study which had both boys and girls engaging in a particular behaviour (I forget exactly which, maybe even choking), and neither party actively enjoyed the behaviour, they were just doing it because they thought that’s what you do and therefore what their partner wanted.
But is the solution to ban porn which features choking? Firstly, I don’t see how this could in any way be effective. How would you possibly enforce it? Are police really going to raid people’s homes based on suspicion that they’ve got a nowadays-vanilla porn video on their harddrive? The police literally don’t have enough resources to investigate and prosecute everybody creating and sharing child porn. And now they’re supposed to go after everybody who visits PornHub?
Secondly, we’re basically talking about a de-facto porn ban because, as the consultation itself noted, that describes pretty much all porn made in the last 10-15 years.
I’m not sure what the solution is. I mean, talking about the difference bewteen porn and sex is something that should be part of sex education at school. But I kind of assume it already is? It would be weird if it weren’t in 2025.
Perhaps it would be worthwhile to engage with creators themselves? I know that several porn companies used to put disclaimers before their videos saying that there’s a difference between porn sex and real sex and talking about consent. Several BDSM porn producers also have pre and post-shoot interviews with the performers and make sure they talk on camera about safe words & gestures and consent.
But then that’s something that’s probably not going to be terribly effective in any case and which would require absolutely everybody to get on board, which would have been basically impossible back when it was only really studios producing content, and 100% impossible now that OnlyFans etc are the way that most performers make and distribute porn.
I don’t think it’s an easy question to answer, TBH, but I’m pretty sure that “ban all the porn” isn’t the correct solution.
I can’t help but feeling as though the exact same pearl clutching wieners are behind this as the growing attempts at overall porn ban, as though restriction of access to the content will somehow cut the legs out from under the already widespread (albeit uncommon) practice.
To wit, people aren’t choking each other during sex or risking David Carradine’ing themselves while wanking because of some shit-production porn, they’re doing it because it’s enjoyable to them (choker and choke-ee). I’m not going to kinkshame except to say that there’s no method of getting a head-rush that I’d personally recommend, but based on what sex-choke enjoyers that I know have said, it makes them cum extra-hard. So… there’s that, the mega-cums.
Choking causes permanent brain damage. MRI scans prove the brain has to rewire itself due to massive cell death. Also, the majority of it is man choking women so it has serious implications of fucked up power dynamics. To top it off the vast majority of choking is non-consensual.
Even if it is consensual the long term effects are likely dementia along with other serious and progressive neurological conditions.
Are you going to volunteer taking care of hundreds of thousands of choking related dementia patients. Whose is going to pay for this considering this level of care can run hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Pilots train for hypoxia in hyperbaric chambers, repeatedly losing consciousness to train.
I question the claim that the brain needs to rewire itself because of massive cell death.
Football players take regular hits to the head repeatedly as well.
This isn’t really a claim in the way you are stating it.
Are you surprised the brain is so good at rewiring itself due to cell death? Perhaps it is so good it that it doesn’t really matter?
Unfortunately we have a lot of TBI people that seem to suggest otherwise.
You know that’s an entirely different physical process, right? CTE happens because the brain is being smashed into the inside of the brain case.
Uh yeah, but brain cell death is brain cell death whether it is caused by a concussion or lack of oxygen.
Porn is acting. Play. Or maybe you think everyone that gets shot in a movie is actually killed during recording?
There’s no point arguing that “choking is bad”. I’m pretty sure any sane person would agree.
Porn may be considered fantasy, but it is very real to the people involved. I would not minimize this myself.
People have definitely died from choking even when it is consensual. Although most deaths are from auto-asphyxiation.
When I lived in Idaho one of my girl’s classmates died from choking himself with a belt while masturbating. It was primarily a Mormon community.
After that they had “experts” come in and tell the children that porn makes people serial killers. It was pretty ridiculous.
My primary concerns in all this is safety. It is not safe to choke your partner even if it is agreed upon. It causes permanent damage, although how much damage I suppose is debatable.
I know the brain fog from getting choked out is real and can affect someone for weeks afterwards. The fact that so many young people engage in this behavior is worrisome.
Even when perfectly healthy consenting partners engage in this it is dangerous and that is rarely the situation.
What is much more common is men choking out women because they have seen it in porn. Does this make all porn bad? I don’t think so personally.
My primary concern in all this is safety. It is not safe to choke your parter even if it is agreed upon. It causes permanent damage although how much damage I suppose is debatable.
tbh I don’t care if people engage in dangerous actions as long as it’s done with informed consent.
There are major issues with people being pressured into putting up with stuff they wouldn’t otberwise but that’s a far bigger issue you don’t solve by banning media.
Hey, if you are cool with damaging your own brain sure, I draw the line when you choose to do it to someone else.
If it was SO consensual why are guys not getting choked equally? The answer is it isn’t. It is about dominance and power not a consensual act.
Furthermore, the majority of choking acts are not consensual and they also cause brain damage.
I really fail to see where you are coming from.
Edit: I reread your statement. You think banning choking depictions in porn is wrong. I see it as perpetuating abuse.
Okay this comment makes me think you don’t understand consent.
If it was SO consensual why are guys not getting choked equally?
My partner has fetishes I’m not into, but I engage in them because I want to give him the pleasure he gets from them. Is that not consentual because I’m not into the fetish?
Consent doesn’t mean only doing things you’re into, it means you’re agreeing to it free from any pressure or influence on your decision and you know everything you need to know to make your decision.
I won’t be choked and I wouldn’t choke someone because it is dangerous and I’m uncomfortable with it regardless of if the other person wants it. But as long as people consent and know the risks I don’t care what others do.
The answer is it isn’t. It is about dominance and power not a consensual act.
Dominance and power can absolutely be consentually engaged in. The bdsm community takes consent incredibly seriously.
There are larger cultural elements behind what people are into that are worth examining. Cultural influence doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t consentual though.
You seem to think because “consent” it is okay. That is your failing and that is okay. You are very wrong about this particular topic and we will have to disagree here.
This isn’t about a kink, this is about misogyny, brain damage, and perpetuating abuse. I swear kink culture is a cancer if it produces the kind of callousness and willful ignorance you display.
It is not safe to choke your partner even if it is agreed upon
I agree on that point. My point is that this is what should be discussed, and not banning acting.
Oh okay, I get that. I would agree with you, but the problem here is the coercive nature of paid acting. We have to have safeguards in place to protect actors.
Choking, as I mentioned, causes permanent brain cell death every single time it is done. Not to mention issues like PTSD as well. In this scenario the government has the overwhelming burden to protect actors from being paid to harm themselves.
I think there is another argument about protecting the welfare of the public as well. This is where you could argue it becomes about a questionable moral decision. I tend to agree with people who have concerns about the state exceeding it’s authority and the possible slippery slop of censorship.
This is why it is important to weigh these things carefully. You may disagree, but I fall back to the the concept of specific and narrowly defined speech that poses the direct risk of harm. I think filming actual or even simulated choking can meet this definition.
The burden of proof must be on the government and it must prove its case empirically . With the large amount of non-consensual choking, along with the reality that a lot of men abuse women it can be seen as an extremely negative societal trend. Statistics point to the reality that only a small fraction of these instances could be considered truly consensual.
Monkey see and monkey do is a very real phenomenon. Our brains literally work by mirroring actions. I know this harkens back to a lot of truly negative censorship though. We can see all kinds of censorship that could be justified with this logic.
I suppose depicting sexual violence in normal sexual encounters is where I draw the line. When it is no longer fantasy and people see what they think is normal behavior without any pushback.
This is why so many young men that watch pornography with male dominated choking go on to repeat these actions as if they are normal, safe, or acceptable.
You talk like actors are actually choked. I’m pretty sure there are already regulations against that.
You talk about protecting actors; sure. That’s not what’s discussed though.
You think people that are actually willing to choke someone, sometimes even against their will, need a porn flick to think about it? Or that they would not do it without someone having filmed it somewhere? Some people are lower than beasts, and they’ll do what they want. Trying to chase after every possible outside justification will not change them, and will not protect anyone. If a couple is getting it on and the man won’t listen to a “no, don’t do that”, there’s no amount of censorship, regulation, and ban, that will make them abide. The only thing it will do is increase censorship, regulation, and bans.
The sane approach for that is, surprise surprise, education, and maybe properly labeling stuff. It’s not putting in place another framework to ban things on a whim, which will subsequently be abused for much more than the arguably “fair” initial point.
This discussion is repeated ad nauseam everytime there’s plan for banning something. The argument that choking is bad is true, there’s no point repeating it. The argument that “monkey do what monkey see”? Sure, go for that. Let’s ban every media then, because boy oh boy I have a bad news about the movie industry of the past 50 years.
Actors do actually get choked so that takes care of the first part of your premise. Here is a story of it happening. There is no safe way to restrict breathing period.
https://laist.com/news/holly-deen-accusations
To the last part. It should be illegal to actually harm people on camera which is what is happening. If you think this is a over reaction you are wrong. We should not be allowing this to happen.
There is direct correlation between people watching people get choked out in porn and doing it in real life. This is not violent video games.
Please save your moral panic nonsense for cases were it is applicable. It is not here. This is simply a public health issue and the UK is doing the right thing.
Boo, “pro censorship” arguments presented as concern for others.
Ehh. I don’t think its fair to assume that. It could just be “pro censorship arguments out of concern for others”
Sexual violence portrayed as a kink. There are many sides to every discussion.
To top it off the vast majority of choking is non-consensual.
Do you have a source for that? I don’t believe you.
There is a huge societal factor here with the popularity and depictions of strangulation. “I am vanilla baby, I will choke you, but I ain’t no killer”.
Coercion and wanting to please your partner is often confused with consent especially when it is a dangerous activity like strangulation.
Depriving the mind of oxygen can produce euphoric feelings in people. This is extremely concerning considering that this also causes brain cell death. Reinforcing orgasm with such a destructive practice is very problematic.
I already don’t like that kind of shit, it’s an immediate turn-off for me.
But - I also know there’s a whole kink around it, and as long as it’s consensual…who tf cares?
