The UK has drawn a hard line in the digital bedroom: from next year, possessing or publishing porn showing strangulation or suffocation will be a criminal offence. Platforms have to block access for UK users, and slip-ups come with serious fines. At first glance, it sounds like a legal footnote – but it’s really about sex, safety, and how we navigate desire in a world run by algorithms that think they know what you want. Spoiler: they don’t.

This isn’t about banning kink. It’s about a culture that’s normalising violent sexual acts—especially among young men—and putting women at real risk. Choking in porn isn’t just “hot fantasy”: it shapes expectations, behaviour, and understanding of consent. Teachers and sexual health professionals report young people asking how to replicate these acts safely. The problem isn’t curiosity – it’s the message it sends: “Aggression is acceptable. Safety? Optional.” Even without marks, strangulation carries real physical risk. And history has a grim footnote: serial killers like Ted Bundy noted that violent porn could act as a behavioural script, turning fantasy into real-life crime.