Sunday, June 07, 2009

Celebrity Autoerotic Asphyxiation

Product Description [from Wheatmark Book Publishers]

Of the various types of abnormal sexual behavior, the most dangerous and bizarre is autoerotic asphyxiation, also known as asphyxiophilia, sexual hanging, sexual asphyxia, scarfing, breath control play, and terminal sex. Though at least one autoerotic asphyxiation death occurs in the United States each day, it is almost unknown as a distinctive psychopathological entity in forensic medicine and psychology.

Dr. Sergey Sheleg and Dr. med. Edwin Ehrlich draw from their own research, as well as the work of others, to provide a comprehensive review of this problem. Bringing together information from a variety of disciplines, Autoerotic Asphyxiation: Forensic, Medical, and Social Aspects is a valuable resource for pathologists, criminal investigators, criminologists, coroners, physicians, attorneys, life insurance experts, and funeral directors, as well as parents and living AEA practitioners.
I thought this book might be of interest in light of reports on the death of actor David Carradine:
David Carradine may have died from sex act, say Thai police

“There was a rope tied around his neck and another rope tied at his sex organ, and the two ropes were tied together and hung in the closet,'' Lieutenant General Worapong Siewpreecha told reporters.

“Under these circumstances we cannot be sure that he committed suicide but he may have died from masturbation,” he said.
Stephen J. Hucker, MB, BS, FRCP(C), FRCPsych (Consulting Forensic Psychiatrist) relays several distinguishing features of hypoxyphilic fatality scenes:

First and foremost, it should always be possible to determine how the individual would have intended to control the degree of hypoxia [lack of oxygen] and to escape from the situation. The intention is to survive the ritual not die from it, as might appear at first glance. When death occurs it is almost always due to the failure of a strategy intended to ensure recovery. Many authorities have insisted that a “fail-safe” device is invariably found but in my experience the strategy may often have been simply reliance on subjective judgment, as by releasing hold on a ligature or pulling off a plastic bag, presumably when a feeling of giddiness supervenes.

Second, there must be evidence of sexual activity. Often the body may be found either nude, partially nude, or ... _________.
A number of unusual case reports have been published in the forensic literature. As described in Mind Hacks, these unfortunate deaths have included Autoerotic fatalities with power hydraulics, Complex autoerotic death with full body wrapping in a plastic body bag, and the painful pun Aqua-eroticum: an unusual autoerotic fatality in a lake involving a home-made diving apparatus.

On his website, Dr. Hucker describes his research on 15 living practitioners of autoerotic asphyxiation (AEA). In his experience,

...living practitioners of hypoxyphilia tend to be articulate and willing to discuss their thoughts, fantasies and motivations in great detail. Surprisingly, perhaps, half of them describe sadistic fantasies. They report that their activities are part of a more elaborate, usually masochistic, fantasy in which they are forced into painful, uncomfortable or humiliating situations. Some individuals have cross gender fantasies and some clearly describe being sexually aroused by being in physical danger and of struggling against physical restraints.
What do we know about David Carradine? The Smoking Gun has uncovered divorce papers filed by his ex-wife, Marina Anderson, who alleged that Carradine engaged in "deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly" (and worse, including incest and physical abuse).



Marina Anderson was contacted by TSG, and she stands by her statements.

Also of note in the divorce papers is reference to "his gal pal and Scientologist Annie Bierman" who eventually became his fifth wife. Gossip site GlossLip details Carradine's involvement in the dangerous cult of Hollywood celebrities:

Not surprisingly, another HUGE part missing from this story was David Carradine’s family being steeped in Scientology. Although David had denied being a Scientologist, he was however, quite the Scientology sympathizer, including multiple performances at at the Scientology Celebrity Center.

[NOTE: Also see this post by "Kung Fool" at alt.religion.scientology]
. . .

Where did Carradine’s involvement originate?

Perhaps when Carradine met Milton Katselas at an audition in October 1960. Katselas was a producer and acting coach at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and was renown for ruthlessly indoctrinating his students into Scientology by using a lot of pressure. Katselas told his students that they would improve their careers and make more money if they got into Scientology, when in fact the only one getting richer was Katselas, who was surely compensated by Scientology for every celebrity cash cow he delivered.
GlossLip confirms that
Carradine’s FIFTH wife, Ann Bierman, (since 2004) is an OTV in Scientology. She has a Scientology Web page set up, (set up by Scientology that is) where she states that Scientology has made her drug free.
Back to his death. Was it really an AEA accident, or was it suicide, or ...murder?
'David Carradine was murdered' claims agent, as the Kill Bill star's family ask the FBI to probe his death
The Mail Online article printed a rumor that "a footprint on the bed did not match his shoes."

In addition, none of the interviewees believe that Carradine could have possibly committed suicide. Then again, the same tabloid news outlet claims that Brad and Angelina are now sleeping in separate houses [worth a click to see Ms. Jolie's dress]...

So $cientology, celebrity, and autoerotic asphyxiation all come together in death.
"To suppress a truth is to give it force beyond endurance."
Master Kan
David Carradine in Kung Fu

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6 Comments:

At June 07, 2009 11:03 AM, Blogger daedalus2u said...

My understanding of autoerotic asphyxiation is that evokes the euphoria of the near death experience. Physiology invokes that euphoria to allow organisms to run themselves to death while trying to escape from a predator.

I think this is the same euphoria as is from stimulant drugs of abuse, solvent huffing, the runner's high, and mania.

 
At June 07, 2009 11:57 PM, Blogger The Neurocritic said...

Cerebral hypoxia produces a number of uniquely bad neurotoxic effects that distinguishes it from drugs of abuse, runner's high, and mania. [I don't know much about solvent huffing, but it apparently "increases dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens by directly stimulating ventral tegmental area neurons" (Riegel et al., 2007)]. Instead of primary effects on dopamine and endogenous opioid systems, in acute hypoxic-ischemic events (Hossmann, 1999):

"first the most complex functions such as protein synthesis or the spontaneous electrical activity are suppressed, followed at much lower flow values by the breakdown of energy state and the depolarisation of cell membranes... Besides its immediate effects, hypoxia causes delayed functional and metabolic disturbances which may even progress to cell death."

The hippocampus (critical for encoding new memories) is one brain region especially sensitive to hypoxia, so I wonder if frequent practitioners of AEA have some degree of memory impairment.

 
At June 08, 2009 12:24 PM, Blogger Phoenixkidd said...

I am sure he must've had some kind of accomplice, surely no one would dare try this on their own, unless they were an idiot, which he very may have been. I know our gay friend likes for my boyfriend to do this to him while wrestling, he gets a real kick out of it, however he did it once jokingly to our other friend in the bar, after percieving flirtatious moves, and in an instant the other friend blacked out and collapsed while everyone tried to revive him. He did indeed revive but to see someone so quickly fall into this state is very scary and unadvisable while consuming alcohol.

 
At July 02, 2009 5:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i am a thrill seeker. i have played the 'choking game' only once. stupid, yes. interesting, yes. i had a very vivid alien-abduction-like experience. the moment was nearly timeless (subjectively long, intricate, not like sleeping) yet from a standing position i was only unconscious long enough to lose my balance. it was intricate, and alien. that was before i ever experimented with any psychedelic type drugs, and while strangely paradoxical, the 'choking game' was the most vivid and lucid 'near death/out of body experience' i have ever had. however, i would not recommend it. there is a significant risk of death and there is no 'revelation'. it is only 'bizarre'. lucid and alien. combining this with masturbation, i cannot say for sure, but for those interested i would expect that it is probably like a 'big bang'. an orgasm in a void. a self-induced wet dream, or better. once discovered, it is probably quite appealing, at least as much as your typical masturbatory practices.

 
At January 15, 2012 12:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've read that Michael Hutchense, front-man for INXS, died from this and not suicide, but that it was covered up.

 
At June 08, 2013 10:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm a practitoner of AEA and love this thing!
Andrew

 

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