In this chapter Perry discusses the mainstreaming of sexual violence through popular depictions of BDSM, which stands for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism.
Let me jump right into one of the more alarming treads we are observing among young people: the rising frequency of choking your partner during sex.
For example, choking a partner during sex is now twice as common among younger generations when compared to older cohorts. Not surprisingly, women are more frequently choked than men. And when men are choked, it's often by another man. One study found that 58% of women on a college campus had been choked during sex. Ponder that. The majority of young women having sex today are now being choked. Research has also shown that allowing yourself to be choked is associated with poorer mental health.
Why has choking become mainstream? The research is also clear: Pornography.
A generation has now been raised with online pornography, where violence, overwhelmingly toward women, has become normalized and eroticized. This is the fruit of the sexual revolution: We are a culture that now chokes women during sex. This is now the norm. A great advance for female liberation. Congratulations, sexual revolution.
And since young women also have also been raised by porn, she assumes it is normal for her boyfriend to put his hand over her throat during sex. What other vision of sex does she have except what she's seen on PornHub?
Finally, that being choked during sex is negatively affecting the mental health of young women should be a surprise to no one.
