Romania’s Eurovision entry ‘Choke Me’ has been described by anti-sexual violence campaigners as “dangerous” and “reckless” for appearing to glamorise sexual strangulation.
The nu metal-inspired song was recorded and performed by Alexandra Căpitănescu, a former winner of the Romanian version of The Voice.
It features the phrase “choke me” repeated 30 times across its three-minute runtime. In its chorus, she sings: “All I need is your love/I want it to choke me, choke me, choke me/Born for you to control, I want you to choke me.”
Clare McGlynn, a professor of law at Durham University and the author of Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back, told The Guardian that the lyrics of Căpitănescu’s song demonstrate “an alarming disregard for young women’s health and wellbeing”.
“The song – and its choice by Romania/Eurovision, and promotion by those organisations – represents a reckless normalisation of a dangerous practice,” she said. “It’s playing fast and loose with young women’s lives. The emerging medical evidence is that frequent sexual strangulation is giving young women brain damage.”
Research commissioned last year by the Institute for Addressing Strangulation (IfAS) found that over a third of people aged 18-34 had experienced choking or strangling at least once during consensual sex. Just over a quarter said they had been choked without their consent. It carries the risk of brain damage or even death.
“What this shows is the desperate need for better education and awareness-raising as to the harms of women,” said McGlynn/
“But what also bothers me so much is that many young women do not want to engage in strangulation/choking, but its normalisation makes them feel like they have to despite their own inner sense that it’s not right and, for some, their knowledge of the harms. But it’s promotion in this way makes it just harder for young women to resist. And not resisting is putting their own health and lives at risk.
“Why do we seem to care so little about the health and wellbeing of young women?”
By contrast, the YouTube description of ‘Choke Me’ positions the references to choking as a metaphor, saying it “captures the emotional pressure, doubts and inner struggles many young artists face while trying to find their voice and place in the world.”
There have been calls online for the song to be disqualified or for its lyrics to be changed. According to The Guardian, the BBC has not lodged a complaint about the song itself.
NME has contacted the EBU for comment.
Last year, Malta had to change the title of their song ‘Kant’ – meaning ‘singing’ in Maltese – to ‘Serving’ after the BBC allegedly complained about the entry due to the title’s similarity to a British swear word.
The UK unveiled its entry last week, with YouTuber, electronic musician and tech creator Look Mum No Computer representing the country with ‘Eins Zwei Drei’.