What Britain’s ban on strangulation porn really means and why campaigners say it could backfire

Highlights:

• Government to criminalise porn that shows strangulation or suffocation during sex.
• Part of wider plan to fight violence against women and online harm.
• Tech firms will be forced to block such content or face heavy Ofcom fines.
• Experts say the ban responds to medical evidence and years of campaigning.

You see it everywhere now. In mainstream pornography, a man’s hands around a woman’s neck. It has become so common that for many, especially the young, it just seems like part of sex, a normal step. The UK government has decided it should not be, and soon, it will be a crime.

The plan is to make possessing or distributing pornographic material that shows sexual strangulation, often called ‘choking’, illegal. This is a specific amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill. Ministers are acting on the back of a stark, independent review. That report found this kind of violence is not just available online, but it is rampant. It has quietly, steadily, become normalised.

Britain moves to ban porn showing sexual strangulation AI Generated Gemini

How did this ban come about?

This did not appear overnight. Women’s groups, medics, and MPs have been pressing the government since before the pandemic. They warned that “choking” scenes in porn were not just fantasy; they were teaching behaviour. The real catalyst was a review ordered by the former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and led by Tory peer Baroness Gabby Bertin. The report described a "total absence of government scrutiny" of the porn industry.

Bertin found that violent acts like choking had become standard fare on major sites. This creates a dangerous illusion. It makes something risky look safe, even expected. Labour MP Jess Asato was among those who campaigned hard for a change, arguing that the law needed to catch up with what was happening on screens, and then in bedrooms.

UK plans crackdown on violent porn under new safety lawAI Generated Gemini

Dangers of sexual strangulation

This is the core of it. The medical evidence is clear, and it is frightening. There is no such thing as safe strangulation. When you press on the neck, you are cutting off oxygen to the brain. This can cause damage within seconds. It does not need to leave a bruise to be harmful.

A 2022 neuroimaging study on young women shows repeated sexual choking can alter the brain itself. MRI and blood tests on young women who were frequently choked during sex showed markers associated with brain injury. Medical studies also link repeated strangulation with higher rates of depression and anxiety. That risk helped make non-fatal strangulation a specific criminal offence in domestic abuse law in 2021.

Then there is the behavioural side. For a lot of young people, porn is their primary sex education. When they see strangulation depicted as a routine part of sex, they assume it is. One survey, the BBC survey on 'rough sex', found a staggering 58% of teenagers had encountered it in porn, though very few had actually searched for it.

And it is not rare. Surveys have found that nearly four in ten women aged 18–39 have been choked during sex. Many said they never asked for it. That is what alarms campaigners; how online habits slip into real bedrooms without people realising where the idea came from.

Porn sites face heavy fines under Britain’s new safety rulesAI Generated Gemini

How will the new law actually work?

This is where it gets practical. The ban will treat strangulation porn as a "priority offence" under the Online Safety Act. That is a crucial designation. It means the responsibility is placed squarely on the tech companies.

They will not be able to just wait for users to report this content. They will have a legal duty to proactively stop UK users from seeing it. In practice this will force porn sites and social platforms to use a mix of automatic filters and human moderators to spot and block such material before UK users can see it.

Companies that fail to act could face heavy penalties including fines up to £18 million (about ₹190 crore) or 10 percent of global turnover. Ofcom will be the one watching. It will have the power to fine or even restrict access to repeat offenders.

Why Britain is outlawing sexual choking in online pornAI Generated Gemini

Support for this move

Overwhelmingly, from those who work with the consequences. The End Violence Against Women Coalition has long argued that this kind of content "fuels dangerous behaviours." Bernie Ryan from the Institute for Addressing Strangulation welcomed the ban, saying it helps break an online "culture of violence" that sends "confusing and harmful messages."

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall did not mince words, calling the material "vile and dangerous" and stating platforms must be "held to account." The British Board of Film Classification has also signalled it is ready to step in and formally audit adult websites if given the power.

Of course, there are sceptics. Some campaigners point out that existing obscenity laws were meant to cover this but were rarely enforced. The real test, they say, will not be passing the law, but seeing it actively used against global porn giants.

Britain’s latest online safety move sparks a fierce debateAI Generated Gemini

So, what now?

The proposal is now moving through the House of Lords. If passed, it could come into force later in 2025 in an attempt to shift culture. To draw a line in the sand and say that what has been presented as a common sexual practice is, in fact, a depiction of violence. The government is betting that by removing it from the mainstream online landscape, it can change the message for a generation.