Input to the addendum to the report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls to the HRC on the concept of consent in relation to violence against women and girls

UPDATE: Scroll down to see our response to Zerat Games (developer of No Mercy)

Earlier this week, we exposed 12+ gaming platform Steam hosting rape and incest-themed game No Mercy. In the game, players assume the persona of a man who rapes his female family members as revenge for his mother’s infidelity.

Following our complaint to the Australian Classifications Board, the game was taken down in Australia. Canada and the UK followed, and developer Zerat Games withdrew the game, while our petition hit over 70k signatures – all in less than a week!

In response to our campaign against the rape simulation game, we were subjected to harassment and abuse from gamers defending their access to it (and proving our point in the process). We respond to their arguments below.

*We have intentionally used the word ‘strangulation’ rather than the commonly used but inaccurate term ‘choking’. Choking occurs internally when there is an airway obstruction, whereas strangulation refers to the restriction of air from external pressure to the neck. 

A staple ‘sex’ act in pornography, non-fatal strangulation has now become a common act outside of porn, with a growing number of women reporting being strangled by male partners during sex. Sexual strangulation has become so normalised it is referenced (and promoted) in advertising, TV, social media, fashion magazines, popular songs, baked goods and clothing – even on baby onesies.

While we continue to expose the harms of normalising strangulation as 'sexy', some defend the practice. We’ve responded to some of the more common claims below.

Adolescents are now the most common perpetrators of child sexual abuse, according to new Australian research published in the International Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect.

As much as 90% of pornographic content online features verbal, physical and sexual violence towards women, and a significant amount of violence shown is punishable under existing laws in France, a report by the government-nominated equality watchdog has found.

The report said: “The women are real, the sexual acts and the violence is real, the suffering is often perfectly visible and at the same time eroticised.”

A significant amount of content amounted to torture. 

Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette, the head of the French equality watchdog, told France Inter radio there was “no reason in 2023 to tolerate these illegal acts of unbearable torture” which were being shown to minors. She called pornography “a school for sexual violence” which must stop.

For Rachel Thompson, it took ten years to realise what had happened to her was sexual assault. 

New research has found that pornography features prominently in accounts of women who have experienced Intimate Partner Sexual Violence.