Erotic asphyxiation has become mainstream among under-35s. How did we get here?

Erotic asphyxiation is nothing new. Mention the term to anyone over the age of 30 and they’re likely to bring up Michael Hutchence’s 1997 death (which was ultimately determined to be a suicide) or Tim Winton’s 2008 novel Breath, which depicts a teenage boy getting drawn into sexual asphyxiation with an older friend’s wife. Various types of “breath play”, as it’s often referred to in BDSM communities, have been practised since at least the 1700s – it even appears in the Marquis de Sade’s 1791 novel Justine.

But historically representations of sexual strangulation have typically involved doing it to oneself, and erotic asphyxiation has been an uncommon act even in the BDSM communities with which it’s commonly associated.

In July researchers from Melbourne and Queensland universities published a study on the prevalence of sexual strangulation among 18- to 35-year-olds in Australia and found that over half of the more than 4,700 surveyed had choked or been choked by a sexual partner. Among young people, sexual choking has become mainstream.

  • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPMAEnglish
    25·
    2 months ago

    I may be showing my age, but back in my day even a quick choke-wank was the preserve of rock stars and movie actors. A bit like cocaine.

        • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
          12·
          2 months ago

          Porn has a plot still; a member of your family that you may or may not be related to by blood is either stuck in an appliance or furniture, is pretending to be your significant other, is going to teach you how to perform various sexual acts, or you fuck the service worker.

          We don’t have the same attention span, so we can’t have the complex and well written telenovela erotica that was featured in the back room of a movie rental place you visited when your wife was going out of town for the weekend and the kids were at camp.

          The next generation’s porn will be 7 seconds long, all cumshot close ups. They will call it “swipe stroking” and there will be challenges to last 10 swipes.

  • Zip2
    3·
    2 months ago

    If you need to be told that choking is potentially dangerous, maybe just let evolution take its course?

    And why did my internal monologue say that in Lynn Faulds Woods voice? I too must be of a certain age.

    Edit: I too thought this was more about autoerotic asphyxiation, not one person choking another so I’ll take that comment back.