ABSTRACT
Sexual asphyxia in ‚ction Long before becoming of forensic interest, erotic asphyxia had been described in ction. The Marquis de Sade depicted erotic strangulation and hanging in his book Justine, published in 1791:
He seizes my arms, binds them to my side, then he slips a black silken noose about my neck; he holds both ends of the cord and, by tightening, he can strangle and dispatch me to the other world either quickly or slowly, depending upon his pleasure. “This torture is sweeter than you may imagine, Therese,” says Roland; “you will only approach death by way of unspeakably pleasurable sensations; the pressure this noose will bring to bear upon your nervous system will set re to the organs of voluptuousness; the effect is certain. … Therese, it’s the rope that’s waiting for me. … I am as rmly persuaded as I can possibly be that this death is innitely sweeter than cruel; but as the women upon whom I have tested its initial anguishes have never really wished to tell me the truth, it is in person I wish to be made acquainted with the sensation. By way of the experience itself I want to nd out whether it is not very certain this asphyxiation impels, in the individual who undergoes it, the erectory nerve to produce an ejaculation; once convinced this death is but a game. … You will do to me everything I did to you; I’ll strip; I’ll mount the stool, you’ll adjust the rope, I’ll excite myself for a moment, then, as soon as you see things assume a certain consistency, you’ll jerk the stool free and I’ll remain hanging; you’ll leave me there until you either discern my semen’s emission or symptoms of death’s throes.” … We take our stations; Roland is stimulated by a few of his usual caresses; he climbs upon the stool, I put the halter round his neck. … I do so; his dart soon rises to menace Heaven, he himself gives me the sign to remove the stool, I obey; would you believe it, Madame? nothing more true than what Roland had conjectured: nothing but symptoms of pleasure ornament his countenance and at practically the same instant rapid jets of semen spring nigh to the vault. When ‘tis all shot out without any assistance whatsoever from me, I rush to cut him down, he falls, unconscious, but thanks to my ministrations he quickly recovers his senses. “Oh Therese!” he exclaims upon opening his eyes, “oh, those sensations are not to be described; they transcend all one can possibly say.”
