Skyrocketing Sex Strangulation Rates: The Alert

Dr. Chapa’s Clinical Pearls.

First off, let’s all agree that everyone has a different STYLE of sexual intimacy, and that’s OK. Yep, we all understand that there's always been a lot of sexual act “diversity” in the world… and throughout history. But there is a more recent trend that has increased in popularity, some surveys attribute it to its representation in pornography, that may be dangerous. This was in recent print as of July 3, 2024! This is "sexual choking”. But this term is not accurate because it actually is a form of strangulation. The increase in practice is mostly seen in teenagers and young adults. In this episode, we will discuss a real-world scenario that one of our podcast family members asked me about just the other day. This OBGYN physician was on call and one of her patients, a 21-year-old, non-pregnant, otherwise healthy, and THIN (yes, that was a factor in this case, and we will discuss why) presented with LOC during sex whose partner stated “she had a seizure” during sex. But this was no ordinary seizure. She had no history of epilepsy and was not on any medications. The “seizure” happened after sexual choking. Sexual choking is a big concern as it exposes the brain to recurrent episodes of hypoxia. We now have data showing there are real negative effects from this activity. Plus, we need to discuss this as it may also be a normalization, inappropriately, of sexual violence. In this episode, we will take a look at this alarming data and discuss why we need to ask about these sexual practices in a compassionate, empathic, and open way.