Violence
ChokeMeDaddy: A Content Analysis of Memes Related to Choking/Strangulation During Sex.
Open Access: No.
Abstract
Recent research indicates that some young people initially learn about sexual choking through Internet memes. Thus, a qualitative content analysis was performed on 316 visual and textual memes collected from various social media websites and online searches to assess salient categories related to choking during sex. We identified nine main categories: communication, gendered dynamics, choking as dangerous, choking as sexy, sexualization of the nonsexual, shame and worry, romance/rough sex juxtaposition, choking and religious references, instructional/informational. Given that memes, through their humor, can make difficult topics more palatable and minimize potential harm in the phenomenon they depict, more concerted, synergistic effort that integrates media literacy into sexuality education programming on the potential risks that may ensue for those engaging in sexual choking is warranted.
Relevance
The meme “overwhelmingly depicted or described circumstances where a woman was choked by a man.”
Some of the memes “minimized (or even seemed to mock) the need for verbal consent for choking.”
Another meme underscored “the potential for blurred lines between sexual choking and intimate partner violence, and suggesting that women who want to be sexually choked don’t have a right to seek help when choked/strangled as part of violence.”
Shame was used in some memes “to mock people who chose not to choke others, and specifically to mock men as too vanilla, too weak, or not masculine enough if they did not choke their (usually female) partner or did not do so with enough force or intensity” – which may contribute to misogyny.
The “memes that we coded here could have the potential to normalize sexual choking by using humor and depicting assumptions that the behavior is common and enjoyed and that the potential for harm or death (especially for women) is acceptable. Many of the memes may also mislead viewers into thinking that there is a “safe” way to choke a partner.” They also “seemed to minimize the seriousness of death from sexual choking.”
Citation
