“Much of our highly valued cultural heritage has been acquired at the cost of sexuality” -Sigmund Freud
Two weeks ago I had the privilege of giving a presentation in my Psychology class for roughly twenty minutes about any topic regarding human behavior. My colleague and I tinkered with the notion of covering suicide but realized it’s such a broad topic as we were partnered into groups of two. I suggested to my instructor, Mr. Gomez, that we were going to change our topic to autoerotic asphyxiation in a serious tone but meant it as a joke trying to see what kind of a response I would get. He smirked and said, “That’s a good topic, you’ll have everyone’s attention.” With that one comment, our choice was made. My partner for this assignment, Eddie Villarreal, hadn’t heard of autoerotic asphyxiation and was interested after reading about it. If you’ve ever seen Kill Bill or Kung Fu and remember David Carradine or remember Michael Hutchence from INXS, you’ll know they died from this.
Autoerotic asphyxiation (AEA) is a disorder that is centered on depriving your brain of oxygen during self gratification. This is usually done while masturbating but not always limited to it. The deprivation of oxygen to the brain causes a lightheaded or euphoric effect, which are actually brain cells dying. The slight miscalculation of just a few seconds can lead to death by going unconscious and suffocating. When death occurs it is called an autoerotic fatality. Most practitioners of this highly dangerous act are not suicidal. They put some make shift exit strategy in place, like using a towel between the noose and their neck or by poking a hole in the plastic bag they are wearing. Many people who are aware of this believe it only happens to teenage boys. This notion is not accurate. Gender and age do not discriminate when someone is trying to get off. Victims have included men in their 70’s and women of all ethnicities. However, the last statistic is less than 2% of female victims. This practice goes back to the 1600’s when it was discovered that men who were hanged developed an erection and some actually ejaculated. This is also what they used to treat erectile dysfunction and impotence (now you can take a little blue pill).
Studying for this presentation was the easy part. Presenting this media to a classroom of approximately 30 of my colleagues whom I don’t know well was the hard part. Mr. Villarreal lent information on the history, effects, and criteria. We alternated how the info was presented. I gave four extensive detailed examples of victims that were found dead from AEA. They ranged from the most graphic depiction of a 26 year old male bound by leather wrist restraints, sex toys, nipple clips and discipline mask to a lonely farmer who died using AEA with his tractor to hang himself with no sexual indications. Two other accounts included an 18 year old boy, (discovered by his mother), in a bra, slip, red panties and a plastic bag over his head with holes repaired with masking tape. The other was a little girl awoken by a humming sound; her 35 year old mother had strangled herself with a nylon rope; she found her laying face down with an electric vibrator connected to an extension cord still running.
We did not use any visual aids but made a noble attempt to “paint a picture” of these examples in my fellow students’ imagination. This was a jaw dropping presentation left for later discussion amongst their friends and family about something they heard in class. The reason someone would do this is very simple… self gratification. You should’ve seen everyone’s startling reaction to my question, “show of hands, who in here masturbates?” No one in class raised their hand. Now, I’m sure people masturbate more than they do dishes, but this cultural taboo will probably always be in place because people are still very ashamed of their sexuality. Most people out there will not publicly admit to masturbating. It’s a touchy subject. It seems everybody wants to attain orgasm but need someone present to validate it. Otherwise, you’re just playing with yourself and fear embarrassment if anybody found out what you just did regardless of how therapeutic it might be.
AEA should not be practiced, but I was observing that due to the word erotic, most people turn away and never educate themselves on what it is. They might say that it sounds dirty. Maybe it does, but does that mean you shouldn’t learn what can happen and be aware how lethal it really is? Let me state one more time, this is very dangerous and can lead to death. Leaving that lasting impression on whoever finds you would be so traumatizing to them. Think about it. Aside from the shame of your loved ones, you’re dead and didn’t even want to die. Please, do not practice this at home or anywhere for that matter.
TEXT: BOBBY D’VILLE