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