This is not an area of expertise for me at all, but with the recent news of David Carradine’s death, it seems it may be appropriate to put some information out about Breath Play.

I’ve included a passage from Paul Joannides’ book Guide to Getting It On.

* If you are a parent, please view this as another reason why it is crucial that you talk to your kids (in an open, honest, and ongoing manner) about making wise sexual choices.

A reader recently reported that he puts his hands around his partner’s neck and squeezes tightly when they are having sex—at her request. She says it makes the experience feel more intense. He is now concerned because she wants him to use a leather belt from one of her coats to get a better grip.

This kind of sex is called breath play or erotic asphyxiation. It’s also referred to as scarfing or terminal sex. The side effects include death and brain damage. There are two groups of people who enjoy their sex this way. One groups is made up of boys and young men who put plastic bags over their heads or tight ropes around their necks while they masturbate. They are known as baggers or gaspers. Baggers are often white, straight and middle-class. They fit in well socially. They keep their sexual secrets well hidden. Up to a quarter of them wear women’s underwear while they masturbate on death’s doorstep.

It is thought that several boy baggers die each year in this country. Their deaths are often reported as suicides, but people who are trying to kill themselves don’t hang from door knobs and they don’t design safety releases into their death devices. Boy baggers fully intend to free themselves after squeezing out their blurry-eyed orgasms.

Horrified parents will often spruce up the death scene before the ambulance arrives. Instead of being reported as masturbation gone awry, the coroner thinks it’s a suicide and none of Johnny’s friends can understand why a kid who seemed so well-adjusted would want to off himself.

The other group of people who are into breath play are normal-appearing couples. They have no fear of the boy-bagger’s fate. They assume that the person who is applying the pressure is like a designated driver who can put the brakes on before it’s too late. “Not so!” says Jay Wiseman, the Tiger Woods of BDSM and author of S/M 101:
“As a person with years of medical education and experience, I know of no way whatsoever that either suffocation or strangulation can be done in a way that does not intrinsically put the recipient at
risk of cardiac arrest…. If the recipient does arrest, the probability of resuscitating them, even with optimal CPR, is distinctly small.”

You could be hooked up to state-of-the-art heart monitors and have a partner who is a board-certified cardiologist, breath play would still be Russian roulette in your birthday suit. Another thing that has healtcare providers concerned is the risk of brain damage. Those like Charles Moser, a physician who is highly respected in the world of kink, worry about the long-term consequences of breath play. There’s also the matter of those pesky murder charges. “Honest, your Honor, she asked me to choke her when we were having sex.”

From the Guide To Getting It On —Sixth Edition (2009)
author: Paul Joannides, Psy.D.