Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 09:40:45 +0000

From: Jim Rader jrader[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]M-W.COM

Subject: Re: autoerotic asphyxiation



The earliest cite I can find for this is New York Times, March 31,

1984. In 1981 Hustler magazine published a how-to article on this

practice which led to some lawsuits by parents whose kids died trying

it out; the article was entitled "Orgasm of Death." Ann Landers'

column produced a letter from a parent about the practice in the late

'80's. Auto(-)erotic asphyxiation and autoerotic asphyxia got a

lot of press in Britain in Feb. 1994 when a Conservative MP

accidentally killed himself trying it.



I can only find gasper used for someone who practices this in

reference to the Michael Crichton novel/movie; however, the databases

turn up too much static on gasper (a common colloquialism for

"cigarette" in Britain) to make searching for this practical (given my

only motive was morbid curiosity). One slang term offered for the

practice is scarfing .



Jim Rader