Autoerotic asphyxiation - Encyclopedia

Autoerotic asphyxiation, or AEA, is the practice of self-strangulation, typically by the use of a ligature, while masturbating. The decrease of blood to the brain is said to heighten the sexual pleasure as more endorphines are produced when the body reaches the near state of asphyxia. AEA is an extremely dangerous practice that results in many deaths each year, most of them accidental. A small number of people doing AEA use a plastic bag over their head. But most prefer the strangulation method. 99% of those practising AEA or showing an interest to do so are said to be men. AEA is virtually unknown as a sexual stimulation in which women are interested.

Deaths often occur when the loss of consciousness caused by partial asphyxia leads to loss of control over the means of strangulation, resulting in continued asphyxia and death. Victims are often found to have rigged some sort of "rescue mechanism" which has not worked in the way they anticipated as they lost consciousness.

It has also been speculated that in some cases autoerotic asphyxiation may have triggered the little-known phenomenon of carotid sinus reflex death.

It is a popular subject in tabloids and celebrity gossip magazines, particularly when a celebrity dies as a result of suicide or other mysterious circumstances. Such was reputedly the case with the deaths of Jerzy Kosiński (in 1991) and Michael Hutchence (in 1997), though no evidence to support the claim was produced in either case.

The death in 1994 of Stephen Milligan, the British Conservative MP for Eastleigh, was a case of auto-erotic asphyxiation combined with self-bondage. This combination is particularly lethal.

A more recent case is the death in 2004 of BNP and National Front member Kristian Etchells. [1][2]

Recent court cases have come to varied results as to whether the unintentional death resulting from autoerotic asphyxiation falls under the "self-induced injury" clause of standard life insurance policies, which prevents payouts for suicide. In June of 2003, one US court said the intent was not death and therefore the case was an accident [3], while another in August 2003 said it does technically fall within the terms since death is the logical result of asphyxiation [4].

Autoerotic asphyxiation is key to the plots of many books, movies, and tv shows. Included is an accidental death in the film The Ruling Class (1972), starring Peter O'Toole, as well as the movies Ken Park and Full Frontal, the Thomas Harris novel Hannibal, the P. D. James novel An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, the Erika Barr book Acquisition of Power (ISBN 1591293073), a 2002 episode of the HBO television series Six Feet Under, the US version of Queer as Folk, a 2005 episode of the CBS television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and is mentioned and talked about in the 2005 George Carlin HBO Special Life is Worth Losing.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Autoerotic asphyxiation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page