Friends, porn and partners
In a 2021 survey of 973 undergraduates at a large US university, students had first heard about sexual choking at age 15, on average. In a survey at the same university, the most common first sources were friends (35.1%), pornography (34.5%) and sexual partners (30.1%).
Porn
In England, the Children’s Commissioner surveyed 1,020 young people aged 16 to 21 in 2025. Of those aged 18 to 21, 58% had seen pornography showing strangulation before they turned 18, and 6% had ever searched for it.
In Australia, 61.3% of 18- to 35-year-olds surveyed had seen choking in pornography. An analysis of 255 popular Pornhub videos posted between 2000 and 2024 found that aggression nearly tripled between the first and last decades, with significant increases in hitting and choking.
Surveys of college students by Indiana University researchers found that heterosexual women who watched more pornography saw more choking in it, and that those who saw more choking were more likely to have been choked by men. Among heterosexual men, pornography use was linked to choking partners through the belief that choking is pleasurable and safe. These surveys show a link. They can’t show that pornography caused the choking.
Feeds, memes and advice online
In the Australian survey, 31.3% had seen choking on social media and 40.3% in movies. Researchers collected 316 choking memes from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Reddit and sorted them into nine themes, including choking as sexy and choking as dangerous.
A 2026 study of 96 TikTok videos tagged #chokekink found that all six videos that claimed to teach something contained misinformation, such as the idea that there is a right place to press or that staying conscious means staying safe. A study of 27 internet articles found that most described choking in positive terms and said it could be done safely.
Books, TV and music
It shows up in bestselling romance novels, in TV shows and films, and in a song that spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. SafeBAE rates how each one shows it, from the ones that make choking look harmless to the ones that show the harm. See the ratings →
What it means
Much of what young people see tells them choking is exciting, normal or safe. It isn’t safe. Choking is strangulation, and there is no safe way to do it. What you’ve heard, and what’s actually true →
Sources
- Herbenick et al., Exploring Educational Messages About Sexual Choking, Sexuality Research and Social Policy (2025). 973 undergraduates.
- Herbenick, Fu, Miller et al., Sources of Learning about Sexual Choking, Sexuality Research and Social Policy 22(3) (2025).
- Sharman, Fitzgerald & Douglas, Archives of Sexual Behavior 54(2) (2025).
- Children’s Commissioner for England, ‘Sex is kind of broken now’: children and pornography (2025).
- Shor & Liu, Journal of Sex Research 63(4) (2026).
- Wright, Herbenick & Tokunaga, Journal of Health Communication 27(3) (2022); Health Communication 38(6) (2023).
- Herbenick et al., #ChokeMeDaddy, Archives of Sexual Behavior 52 (2023).
- Balle et al., Choking on TikTok, Journal of Sex Research 63(3) (2026).
- Herbenick et al., Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 49(1) (2023).
- Billboard Hot 100, “Lovin On Me,” Jack Harlow (2023–24).