A warning sign of homicide
A US study compared 506 women who had been killed or nearly killed by a partner with 427 abused women who had not. Women who had previously been strangled by the partner had 6.70 times the odds of an attempted homicide and 7.48 times the odds of being killed. Strangulation had happened to 10% of the abused women in the comparison group, 45% of the women in attempted homicides and 43% of the women who were killed.
How often it happens
Among 1,008 women referred to services by police after partner violence, 79.66% had experienced strangulation or attempted strangulation. Across 11 national surveys, 3.0% to 9.7% of women said a partner had strangled them at some point. At a sexual assault referral center in Manchester, England, 9.28% of adults reported strangulation during the assault; 15.7% of them lost consciousness, and 36.6% thought they were going to die.
When abuse is called sex
In the UK, the campaign group We Can’t Consent To This counted 60 UK women killed by men who claimed the death happened during consensual rough sex, up to 2020. The group’s founder said two-thirds of those women were strangled, and in 45% of the cases the claim led to a lesser charge, a lighter sentence, an acquittal or no criminal investigation of the death. In 2021, England and Wales passed a law stating that consent to serious harm for sexual gratification is not a defense.
In a US campus survey, sexual choking was linked to a history of partner violence.
What it means
A partner choking you to scare or control you is abuse, whether it happens during sex or not, and it is not your fault. Support is free and confidential. If a partner uses choking to control you →
Sources
- Glass et al., Non-fatal strangulation is an important risk factor for homicide of women, Journal of Emergency Medicine 35(3) (2008).
- Messing et al., Women’s Health Issues 28(1) (2018).
- Sorenson, Joshi & Sivitz, American Journal of Public Health 104(11) (2014).
- White et al., Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine 79 (2021).
- We Can’t Consent To This, Consent Defences and the Criminal Justice System (2020).
- Domestic Abuse Act 2021, s.71 (England and Wales).
- Herbenick et al., Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 51(2) (2025).