It starts in high school
In a national US survey of 14- to 17-year-olds run in 2022 and 2023, 11.9% of sexually experienced girls said a partner had choked them with their permission or consent, and 3.9% said a partner had choked them without it. Only about 80 girls answered these questions, so the true figure could be higher or lower.
In a survey of 4,254 students at a large US university, 57.6% of undergraduate women and 25.4% of undergraduate men had been choked during sex. Of the undergraduates who had been choked, 1 in 4 were first choked between the ages of 10 and 17, and another 31% at 18.
By the twenties, it’s common
In the companion national survey of 9,029 US adults, 31.9% of women aged 18 to 24 and 40.6% of women aged 25 to 29 had been choked with consent, compared with 5.1% of women in their 50s and 1.0% of women 60 and older. Another 9.5% of women aged 18 to 24 had been choked without consent. Among men, 20.4% of those aged 18 to 24 and 31.5% of those aged 25 to 29 had choked a partner.
Among women, bisexual and pansexual women reported the highest rate: 55.0% had been choked with consent, compared with 13.0% of heterosexual women. Among transgender and gender-nonbinary adults, 41.3% had been choked with consent and 20.2% without consent.
It isn’t only the US
In a survey of 4,702 Australians aged 18 to 35, 57% had been strangled during sex at least once (61% of women, 43% of men and 79% of trans or gender-diverse people), and 51% had strangled a partner. In a 2025 UK survey, 66% of 16- to 34-year-olds with sexual experience had been strangled during sex. Among 16- and 17-year-olds with sexual experience it was 43%, which was 16% of everyone surveyed in that age group.
What it means
By college, many young people have already heard about choking, seen it or been choked. Waiting until after high school to talk about the harm of sexual strangulation is too late. When young people should learn about it →
Sources
- Herbenick et al., Prevalence and Demographic Correlates of Rough Sex Behaviors Among Adolescents Ages 14 to 17, Sexuality Research and Social Policy (2026).
- Herbenick et al., Prevalence and Demographic Correlates of “Rough Sex” Behaviors: Findings from a U.S. Nationally Representative Survey of Adults Ages 18–94, Archives of Sexual Behavior 54(9) (2025).
- Herbenick et al., Archives of Sexual Behavior 51(6) (2022). 4,254 students.
- Sharman, Fitzgerald & Douglas, Archives of Sexual Behavior 54(2) (2025).
- Smailes, Munro & Tonkin, Strangulation During Sex in the UK, Institute for Addressing Strangulation (November 2025).