Police in Sydney are investigating the death of a 16-year-old girl in a suspected case of choking during sex, according to local media reports.
On Sunday about 17:45 local time, emergency services were called to a home in Elanora Heights in Sydney’s Northern Beaches where the girl was found unconscious.
Police confirmed she was treated at the scene before being airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital in a critical condition but died on Tuesday night. It is understood she passed out after being choked during sex.
Experts say sexual strangulation has become more prevalent among young people in Australia despite the impacts including headaches, memory loss, brain damage and in rare cases, death.
Police have not disclosed how the girl died or what her injuries were but police sources have told several local news outlets – including the national broadcaster ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald – that she was believed to have been choked during sex.
Sexual consent advocate Chanel Contos said the girl’s death was “likely preventable” and that pornography companies “have blood on their hands”.
“Mainstream pornography routinely depicts violence against women – slapping, strangling, and other abuse – while showing women as enjoying or accepting it,” she said.
“This is not the first tragedy of its kind and it won’t be the last”.
Contos, 28, founded the Teach Us Consent organisation in 2021 after she prompted a nationwide conversation about consent when hundreds of young people said they had been sexually assaulted during their school years.
She said there’s no safe way to engage in choking during sex, despite recent research showing some young people believe the act is risky but safe.
“Even when young people believe they are consenting, they’re often uninformed about its potential consequences, which are fatal at worst, and can cause permanent brain injury even when there are no visible signs of harm.”
A 2024 report by the University of Melbourne and University of Queensland found that more than half (57%) of Australians aged between 18 and 35 had been strangled during sex at least once.
The survey of 4,700 young people also found that one third of those who had been choked during sex were between 19 and 21 year old when they first experienced it.
