Ban on strangulation and incest in porn to come into force this autumn
New laws to criminalise the representations in pornography, which were announced earlier this year, will be enforced in the next few months, the Ministry of Justice said.
A ban on depictions of strangulation and incest in pornography will come into force this autumn, the Government has pledged.
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New laws to criminalise the representations in pornography, which were announced earlier this year, will be enforced in the next few months, the Ministry of Justice said.
It came after cross-party pressure, including from Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, who led a review into pornography regulation, led to the Government making the changes.
She told the Press Association that depictions of young women being strangled had become “a totally normalised thing”.
Non-fatal strangulation is already an offence in its own right, but it is not illegal to show it online.
Labour MP Jess Asato (Lowestoft) had also lobbied ministers to change the Crime and Policing Bill to add the restrictions. Both cited concerns about dangers posed to women and girls.
Baroness Bertin’s report found that pornography which shows women being choked can have “devastating” real-world consequences.
Meanwhile, it highlighted “disturbing” role-play including incest and adults portraying children. Both will be banned under the new measures.
A study by the Institute for Addressing Strangulation in 2024 found more than a third of 16-34 year old adults had reported being strangled or choked at least once during consensual sex.
A survey by the same group last year found 43% of 16 to 17-year-olds, who are sexually active, said they had been subject to the behaviour.
'Long overdue'
In answer to a written question by Baroness Bertin, justice minister Lord Lemos said the law would come into force before the winter.
Baroness Bertin told PA it was a positive step, but said more action and work was needed.
She said: “It’s great that they’re confirming they’re going to commence this as a crime.
“Obviously, we’ve upgraded the criminal law to widen out what illegal porn is, which is long overdue.
“Essentially the depictions of strangulation, I mean there is absolutely no doubt that this has now gone into our kind of society, our bloodstream if you like, so many young women have been strangled so it’s just becoming a totally normalised thing.
“I’m not saying it’s going to go away overnight, but it sends that signal and people can now educate against it.
“The Department of Education has to be more involved, because I think that schools need much better guidance on how to say that there is no safe way to strangle someone.
“It’s not a safe thing, and we should be trying to wipe it out of the culture.”
The Ministry of Justice said it would announce a date in due course.
Responding to the written question, Lord Lemos had said: “We are progressing work to bring these offences into force this autumn, balancing speed with operational considerations and wider system impacts.”
She also said there needed to be more clarity on who would regulate and enforce on non-criminal pornography that still breaches rules.
In her report, published in February 2025, the Conservative peer said there had been a “total absence of government scrutiny” of the pornography industry.
“There is an argument for a very specialist body like the British Body of Film Classification (BBFC), for example, to do it,” Baroness Bertin said.
“You couldn’t obviously check every single piece of footage, but you could do spot checks, and you could put a lot more pressure on them to show paper trails that they’ve got consent, and they’ve got the age of the performer.”
Ms Asato said: “Having campaigned to ban strangulation in online pornography, it is welcome that the law will soon change. The new rules will also ban adult performers role-playing as children – which leading child protection organisations have said encourages sexual interest in children.
“It will be important that there is a strong regulatory regime to hold online pornography companies to account in the same way as the British Board of Film Classification does with offline pornography.”
'Normalisation of violence'
Deniz Ugur, deputy director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said: “We’re pleased to now see a timeframe for implementing the Government’s commitment to criminalise the depiction of strangulation in pornography.
“This ban is the result of years of campaigning by EVAW and other experts who have long warned about the normalisation of violence against women and girls in online porn and other harmful content.
“There is no such thing as safe strangulation. Women cannot consent to the long-term harm it can cause, including impaired cognitive functioning and memory, and death. We are particularly concerned about the normalisation of strangulation in society through its widespread portrayal in porn.
“This new offence is an important step in recognising the role violent pornography plays in shaping attitudes to women and girls, and regulating an industry which promotes and profits from violence against women.
“The UK’s flagship Online Safety Act must now be updated to ensure online platforms are made to remove this content.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Online abuse against women and girls has developed at a terrifying pace over the last decade, and the law needs to adapt.
“That’s why the Government is determined to tackle dangerous and degrading pornography, as part of our goal to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
“We are working to bring these offences into force this autumn and will share updates in due course.”