לחנוק עד עלפון

Hi BENT,

[world-weary sigh] As I may have said, if I had known
what the result would be when I first opened my mouth
on this subject....

The risk model for breath control play, be it
suffocation or strangulation, and some related
practices, is different from the risk model of many
other BDSM-type practices.

For activities such as spanking, about the worst risk
that one encounters is that something like "more of
what was expected will occur" -- for example, a
spanking might leave more marks than either person
wanted.

OTOH, for things like breath control play, the risk
model is more along the lines of shifting the
probability that an all-or-nothing catastrophic event,
such as the sudden death of the bottom, will occur.
In other words, the risk model is similar to that of
Russian Roulette, and you can't make Russian Roulette
safer by pulling the trigger more slowly.

For breath control play, unlike many other
practices...

1. There is always (repeat, always) a risk that
sudden death will occur. Some people think otherwise.
They are plain and simply wrong.

2. There are no medically sound precautionary
measures that can be taken to meaningfully reduce the
risk of sudden death. (I have seen so much
dangerously false folklore on this point that I'm
ready to...)

3. Exactly when in the process such a sudden death
will occur cannot be known ahead of time. (There is
lots of dangerously false folklore on this point as
well.) Worse yet, there are no medically sound
landmarks, no minimum time, for which the risk is
zero. Lower? Yes. But how much lower? That simply
cannot be known. Certainly, in worst-case situation,
there are scenarios where as little as five seconds of
either strangulation or suffocation can cause a
cardiac arrest.

4. If the worst does happen (sudden cardiac arrest)
there are no measures that are highly likely to
reverse this process. (Lots more dangerous folklore
here as well.) Certainly manual CPR, unless combined
with immediate access to advanced life support
equipment and techniques, is very unlikely to restart
the heart.

5. In the aftermath, the bottom is dead, the top is
looking at a major prison term (and, in America,
possibly even at the death penalty; I've been involved
as an expert witness in such cases), and the families
and friends of both parties are among those severely
damaged.

So where does this leave us?

1. There is always the risk of a catastrophic
outcome.

2. The risk of such an outcome cannot be
significantly reduced.

3. When such an outcome will happen cannot be
predicted, but it is known that it sometimes occurs
_very_ early in the process.

4. Once things start to go wrong, it's very unlikely
that the process can be stopped or reversed. The
strong probability is that it will progress until the
bottom is dead.

5. The result is a truly major tragedy for all those
directly involved and all those who care for them.

Given the above, how, exactly, does one take a
RACK-based approach?

Bottom line here: If you decide to engage in this
stuff, you had damned well better stare right into the
face of the fact that you just may kill your partner
no matter how "careful" you think you are being. It's
very much like skydiving in this regard -- if you
can't accept the various risks (medical, legal,
personal, and social) associated with a fatal outcome,
then don't engage in the activity, because such risks
_always_ accompany engaging in the activity.

The basic conclusion seems to be that if people are
willing to assume these risks, then they should do so
in private, because taking these risks at a play party
exposes everybody else at the party to substantial
risks. If someone dies, then the entire party gets
treated as a homicide scene, with all the numerous
difficulties associated with that, starting with the
fact that the guest list now becomes a witness list --
that the authorities are likely under no obligation at
all to keep private.

I have written five essays on this subject, which can
be found under the "Some of My SM-related Essays" link
of my "Submissive Women Kvetch" website:
http://members.aol.com/oldrope/ Please consult them
for more detailed information.