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Erotic asphyxiation, asphyxiophilia, breath control play or scarfing is the sexual practice of partial asphyxiation by strangulation or suffocation of one person by another while engaging in sexual intercourse. The decrease of oxygen to the brain is said to heighten sexual pleasure.
Breath control play is often done in conjunction with other fetish activities, such as rubber fetishism.
Dangers
It can be dangerous and result in brain damage through loss of oxygenation to the brain, or in death through sudden cardiac arrest. It has also been speculated that in some cases erotic asphyxiation may have triggered the little-known phenomenon of carotid sinus reflex death. Most practitioners, however, have carried out this consensual practice with no problems. Because of the safety issues, those considering this sort of sexual activity are advised to be fully aware of the medical issues and risks involved before they choose to participate.
In extreme cases, asphyxiophiles may desire to be strangled to death. The most publicized case is that of Sharon Lopatka, who used the Internet to find a man willing to torture and kill her.
Fictional accounts
One of the first mainstream fictional works to tackle the practice was Showtime's American version of Queer as Folk. In the first-season finale, Brian Kinney (Gale Harold) turns 30, an event looked upon by many in the gay community (jokingly and otherwise) as the year one "dies". Kinney decides to experience scarfing, but his best friend Michael (Hal Sparks) discovers and stops him. Kinney claims he wanted to experience "the best fucking orgasm of my life", but Novotny counters that it would have been "the last fucking orgasm of your life". When it aired, the episode featured a disclaimer about the dangers of the practice and discouraged viewers from attempting it.
This practice was also depicted as leading to the death of a character in Rising Sun, a movie based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It appears in the less publicized 2003 movie Young and Seductive, starring Julian Wells, Alana Evans, and Robert Donovan. The practice was central to Nagisa Oshima's highly controversial 1976 movie In the Realm of the Senses. Crime Scene Investigation issued an episode where a victim also died through this method (Season 6, episode 2). Breath play also figures in the Six Feet Under episode "Back to the Garden" (Season 2, Episode 20), in which a man accidentally strangulates himself with a belt while masturbating.
See also
External links
"Erotic asphyxiation"