Erotic asphyxiation
intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal
Erotic asphyxiation (variously called asphyxiophilia, hypoxyphilia or breath control play) is the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for the purposes of sexual arousal. With a partner (or alone), the act often involves strangulation. The term autoerotic asphyxiation is used when the act is done by a person to themself. Colloquially, a person engaging in the activity is sometimes called a gasper. Erotic asphyxiation can lead to accidental death due to asphyxia.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, and internationally it may be diagnosed as a paraphilic disorder, because it involves significant risk of injury or death.
Physiology
Practitioners describe a number of physiological responses including "pleasurable sensations/euphoria (81.7%), a head rush (43.8%), feeling like they could not breathe (43.0%), difficulty swallowing (38.9%), unable to speak (37.6%), and watery eyes (37.2%). About 15% had noticed neck bruising and 3% had lost consciousness from being choked."
History
The practice of autoerotic asphyxiation has been documented since the early 17th century. It was first used as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. The idea for this most likely came from subjects who were executed by hanging.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Erotic asphyxiation” as intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q603780. The Library of Congress control number is sh85010060. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Erotic asphyxiation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.