Asphyxiophilia
Death by Sex
Hypoxyphilia
Latex Hood
For most of us, sex is about making love, an enjoyable part of everyday life. But, for some it's about chasing a bigger, brighter, more explosive orgasm through a practice that is potentially lethal. Restricting the supply of oxygen or blood to the body during sex may lead to a heightened orgasmic rush, but the price is high. Hundreds die, worldwide, every year.
The author Jay Wiseman explains: "Probably, the risk model is most akin to Russian Roulette. Every time you pull the trigger you're rolling the dice, you're engaging in an exercise in probabilities".
Breath control play or erotic strangulation is not just enjoyed by people wearing studs and leather in a dungeon. It's a secret thrill for thousands of ordinary couples, many of them ignorant of the risks involved. Victims die in an instant. Their killer lovers face a lifetime of remorse and prison.
Erotic strangulation takes lovers to a secret world where love and death meet. Until now, experienced practitioners have refused to discuss their games for fear of persecution. Now, some of those who have loved and lost the breath control game break the silence in the hope of saving lives.
Erotic strangulation involves two practices. Fans of breath play enjoy the physical sensation and psychological impact of cutting off a lover's air supply during sex. Others prefer the light-headedness and eventual unconsciousness that result when the blood supply to the brain is suppressed as pressure is placed on the carotid arteries in the neck. Clearly, some practitioners find that erotic asphyxia delivers the bigger sexual experience they seek, but they also feel a powerful psychological compulsion.
Professor Milton Diamond of the University of Hawaii offers an explanation "The French word for orgasm is petit mort - the little death. Obviously death is not what they seek, but its the relationship of coming close to death that some find exciting and arousing".
Sex and death are the stuff of gothic literature but, in the real world, people are dying.
Joey Micale
Joey Micale and his wife were an ordinary, loving couple who regularly enjoyed breath play as part of their love making. Their marriage was based on complete trust and understanding.
The Micales marked their third wedding anniversary with an intimate celebration at home. They were in love and inseparable, at least that's what they thought. That evening as the couple made love, Joey was, at first, unconcerned when his wife became unconscious. It was what they were used to, what they worked towards, but now for the first and last time it had gone wrong.
Jay Wiseman an author on the subject comments "In the moment they go unconscious you cannot know whether they went unconscious because their brain is low on oxygen or because they've just gone into cardiac arrest".
Paramedics rushed to the scene but, to no avail. When the police reached the apartment, Joey made his second big mistake of the evening "I panicked and told them that she'd hung herself, which was the dumbest thing I could have done. Two days later, I told the truth, they arrested me for manslaughter".
Fortunately for Joey, there was evidence that the couple had frequently enjoyed breath play; they had kept videos. Joey was given five years probation but, he must live with the knowledge that he killed the woman he loved, ignorant of the science behind their love play.
