Choking Autoerotic Asphyxiation: For a Reconfiguration of Discourses Around Breath Play

With this commentary, I wish to address a 2-fold issue around the topic of autoerotic asphyxiation (AeA): (i) that the historical trend towards the pathologization of kink and other forms of sexuality considered ‘Other’ is particularly salient in the case of AeA and is potentially harmful for AeA practitioners; (ii) that the medicalizing terms used to describe the phenomenon (including, precisely, “autoerotic asphyxiation”, can be seen as both cause of, and caused by, a disconnect between research on the topic and the community within which the practice exists. As a caveat, though that are references to partnered practices, I will focus on non-partnered practices in order to keep the focus on the auto- aspect of AeA.