A local council in the UK has been caught in the middle of a raging controversy after it showed a sex education PowerPoint presentation to teenagers, talking about choking a partner and how consent was necessary for the said 'sexual' act. According to a report in The Times, the material, funded by Bridgend County Borough Council in south Wales was intended for PSHE (Personal, Social, and Health Education) lessons at secondary schools.
"Consent should also happen every time sexual choking is an option, not just the first time," the presentation provided by Assia, the council's domestic abuse service, stated.
"It is never OK to start choking someone without asking them first and giving them space to say no. Make it clear that they have a right to say no if they don't want to be choked, and their no should be respected and if it's not respected that is sexual assault," it added.
As the controversy snowballed, the council denied that they had funded education which "taught children to consent to damaging sexual behaviour".
"The suggestion that children are being taught to consent to damaging sexual behaviour is simply not true," said a spokesperson.
"All pastoral advice used by local schools is carefully designed to be age-appropriate, and to encourage teenagers who are maturing into young adults to develop healthy, respectful relationships where there is no abuse of any kind."
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'Deeply concerning'
While the material was intended as educational, Claire Waxman, London's victims' commissioner, described it as "deeply concerning".
"It is deeply concerning to hear the normalisation of choking and strangulation, which need to be called out as dangerous behaviours. The Domestic Abuse Act has even recognised this, making non-fatal strangulation a specific criminal offence in 2021," said Ms Waxman.
She added that children were being exposed to dangerous content "far too young" and that schools needed to ensure that they were delivering the right information using "reputable organisations and experts".
Michael Conroy, the founder of Men at Work told the publication that teaching choking to impressionable students was not sex education but "advocacy for porn industry".
"Imagine you are a 14-year-old girl and you have told your boyfriend you don't want to be choked but then an authority figure comes into school and tells you it is OK," said Mr Conroy.
