Last week, a 16-year-old girl was found unresponsive in a home on Sydney’s northern beaches. She was airlifted to hospital and died two days later. New South Wales police are investigating her death as the result of a sexual strangulation act. Sources told the ABC the deceased may have experienced a seizure following asphyxiation, and that officers were told the sex was consensual.

While that investigation has yet to run its course, speaking generally, strangulation during sex is not a new phenomenon or conversation. Just a few years ago it was relatively taboo to criticise this normalisation of violence in sex – it was often framed as “anti-kink” to raise concern about this dangerous act that is increasingly depicted in mainstream pornography.

In 2024, Australian research affirmed the prevalence of sexual strangulation. The Archives of Sexual Behaviour published data revealing that 57% of Australians aged 18 to 35 had been strangled at least once during sex, and 51% said they had strangled a sexual partner.

Not only are reports of this act increasing, so are the reports of health impacts. Denele Crozier, the CEO of Women’s Health NSW, stated that since 2023 there had been a 123% increase in women presenting with concerns of a possible brain injury linked to strangulation.

I was previously ashamed to........

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