Sexual Choking Is On The Rise Among Young Adults And Teens
This Dangerous Sexual Fetish Is On The Rise With Gen-Z — Have You Tried It?
Sexual choking, also known as sexual asphyxiation, is becoming an increasingly popular form of sexual pleasure among both young adults and teens in the U.S. While some may find it pleasurable, health experts are raising serious concerns about the risks associated with this kinky practice.
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Sexual choking involves restricting a partner’s airflow, typically through choking or strangulation, during sexual activity. This can lead to an intense sense of pleasure due to reduced oxygen supply, both for the person being choked and the one engaging in the act. However, experts warn that this sexual act can be extremely dangerous.
According to WebMD, individuals who experience sexual choking may face several serious health issues, such as trouble breathing, loss of consciousness, and memory problems. More alarmingly, cutting off air supply to the brain can result in brain damage or even death. The pressure exerted on the neck during strangulation can damage blood vessels, reducing the oxygen reaching the brain, leading to irreversible brain damage or fatality. Choking during masturbation, referred to as autoerotic asphyxiation, is a dangerous practice that results in an estimated 250 to 1,000 deaths each year. According to WebMD, white men make up the majority of these cases.
Despite the heightened sensation some may experience during the act, health experts like Dr. Debby Herbenick say the potential risks of sexual choking make it a highly dangerous practice that should not be taken lightly.
“There is no zero-risk way of engaging in choking,” Dr. Debby Herbenick, a public health professor at Indiana University told the New York Post. “Though deaths from consensual choking are rare, they do happen.”
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Despite the risks, many young adults and teens, particularly Gen Z, are practicing this dangerous kink.
A 2021 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine examined sexual behaviors among undergraduate university students through a random sample survey. The study aimed to assess the frequency of both solo and partnered sexual activities and how often participants engaged in certain rough sex behaviors, such as light and hard spanking, choking, and slapping.
Among participants with any partnered sexual experience, the study found that 43% had choked a partner, while 47.3% had experienced being choked. Going back a few years earlier, a 2016 U.S. probability survey found that 21% of women and 11% of men aged 18 to 60 had experienced choking during sex, while 12% of women and 20% of men reported having choked a partner. The prevalence of being choked during sex was nearly twice as high among adults under 40, highlighting a generational trend.
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Sexual choking has become popular among college women, according to a 2021 study published in the National Journal of Public Medicine.
The survey found that choking and strangulation during sex were particularly common among young women between the ages of 18 to 33, revealing that 58% of college women had experienced choking during sex. The findings revealed that women learned about choking from a variety of sources, including pornography, erotic stories, magazines, social media, friends, and partners. Some found engaging in the act “exciting.”
Fun aside, Herbenick told the New York Post, that health experts should be talking to young people about the risks associated with sexual asphyxiation.
“Sexual choking used to be extremely rare and now many young adults have engaged in it,” the doctor said. “In contrast, very few adults over 50 have ever been choked during sex.”
She added, “Parents need to step into these conversations because choking is unlikely to be addressed in high school sex education, even though many teenagers are already engaging in it or may soon.”
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