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Today (19 June 2025) the government have announced that pornography depicting any act of strangulation will be made illegal through the Crime and Policing Bill.
Rape Crisis England & Wales welcomes this news, which follows the publication of Baroness Bertin’s ‘Independent Pornography Review’.
The risks strangulation poses to health, and even life, cannot be underestimated. There is no safe way to strangle. Criminalising the depiction of strangulation in pornography is a welcome step, necessary to convey these risks.
This announcement goes some way in acknowledging the harmful role violent pornography plays in society, and how it normalises and promotes violence against women and girls. The popularity of violent pornography directly contributes to rape culture, where women are objectified, have their boundaries ignored and their experiences of sexual violence minimised.
We know that the unregulated pornography industry profits off of the sexual abuse and trauma of women and girls. We now need to see further recommendations from Baroness Bertin’s review implemented.