'Choking Game' Turned Deadly for 82 Youths
Fri, 2008-02-15 04:56 - Kerry
CDC report found surge in fatalities from strangulation game in 2005-2006
By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Feb. 14 (HealthDay News) -- At least 82 youths have died from playing the "choking game" since 1995, a new government report shows.
Also known as the "blackout game," "pass out game," "scarf game," "space monkey" and other monikers, the activity involves intentionally trying to strangle oneself or another with hands or some sort of noose to briefly achieve an euphoric state.
Youth apparently hope to get a "cool and dreamy feeling" from the activity, explained Robin L. Toblin, of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Nearly all parents whose children died were not aware of, or familiar with, this activity before the child's death, therefore it's important that parents, educators and health-care providers become aware of the choking game and learn to recognize the warning signs," Toblin said. "If parents believe their child is playing, they should speak to them about the life-threatening dangers and seek additional help if necessary."
Similar games have probably been played for generations, according to Toblin, whose report is published in the Feb. 15 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a CDC publication. "What is new is that youth are playing alone and using ligatures which are risk factors that make them more likely to die from this activity," she said.
Almost 96 percent of deaths for which sufficient detail was available occurred while the youth was alone, and 93 percent of parents said they were not aware of the game until their child died.
Ligatures can include T-shirts, scarves, bungee cords, dog leashes and more, said Toblin, who spoke during a Thursday teleconference.
This report is the first attempt to measure the magnitude of the problem nationally. The only prior information on the prevalence of the game came from an Ohio youth survey, which found that 11 percent of youths aged 12 to 18 and 19 percent of youths aged 17 to 18 reported ever playing the game.
Because the choking game is not listed on death certificates or in any public health database, the CDC researchers relied on media reports since the 1970s, as well as information from two Web sites devoted to awareness of the issue. Deaths listed on a Web site were only included in the report if they were also addressed in news reports.
The earliest choking-game death was reported in the news in 1995. From 1995 to 2004, three or fewer such deaths were reported.
However, that number surged to 22 in 2005 and to 35 in 2006. For the first 10 months of 2007, the number declined again, to nine deaths. "It's not known whether fewer children are undertaking the activity or fewer media are reporting," Toblin said.
More than 86 percent of the deaths involved males, with most fatalities occurring in the 11 to 16 age range (the age range overall was 6 to 19 years, with a median age of 13).
By contrast, suicide deaths attributed to hanging/suffocation tend to increase every year and peak at the age of 19. The report did not include suicide attempts or autoerotic activity, which is considered a different behavior. It also did not include injuries from the choking game, which can include loss of consciousness, concussion, fractures, hemorrhages of the eyes, as well as permanent neurological disabilities such as seizures.
Deaths were identified in 31 states, with no geographic concentration. The report also included case studies of two individuals who had died.
The first was of a 13-year-old boy who died at a hospital one hour after his mother found him in the corner of his bedroom with a belt around his neck. After his death, teens told the director of a local counseling agency that the game had been played at local parties. The second case was that of a 13-year-old girl whose brother found her dead one morning, hanging from a belt and shoelace fashioned into a noose on the door of her bedroom closet. She had died the night before. Prior to her death, the girl had told a cousin that she had played the choking game at her school's locker room and that another group of girls at her school had been suspended for playing the game.
The warning signs that your child might be playing this game include:
- discussion of the game, including other terms for it;
- bloodshot eyes;
- marks on the neck;
- severe headaches;
- disorientation after spending time alone;
- ropes, scarves and belts tied to bedroom furniture or doorknobs or found knotted on the floor;
- unexplained presence of things like dog leashes, choke collars and bungee cords;
For more on the choking game, visit Games Adolescents Shouldn't Play.
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SOURCE: Feb. 14, 2008, teleconference with Robin L. Toblin, Ph.D., National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Feb. 15, 2008, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Sex Games Gone Bad
from: crimelibrary.com
Sharon’s death and the publicity surrounding the case led to an increased interest in understanding deviant sexual behaviors, especially sadism, masochism and the use of asphyxia during sexual intercourse. Psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing first coined the terms “sadist” and “masochist” to describe behavior in which sexual arousal was achieved through the infliction or reception of pain.
According to Reber’s Dictionary of Psychology, sadism is the association of sexual pleasure with the inflicting of physical and psychic pain upon another, including humiliation, exploitation and debasement. Masochism refers to “any tendency to direct that which is destructive, painful or humiliating against oneself.” Psychologist Sigmund Freud was the first to combine the two terms into “sadomasochism” in an attempt to emphasize the reciprocity of the use of pain during sexual intercourse (Des de Moor, 1997).
A controversial form of deviant sexual “play” practiced by some sadomasochists involves the use of strangulation. Sexual strangulation is referred to by the psychological community as a form of asphyxiophilia. Asphyxiophilia refers to the general practice of controlling or restricting oxygen to the brain by “interfering with the breath directly or through pressure on the carotid arteries” in order to achieve sexual gratification (The Deviants’ Dictionary, 1997). Often, the hands or a tourniquet of some sort is tied around the throat during sexual intercourse or masturbation to achieve a feeling of euphoria and elation, which accompanies a lack of oxygen to the brain. Supposedly, this can increase the intensity of an orgasm.
According to The Deviants’ Dictionary, sexual strangulation practiced with a partner is a form of “edge play,” in which one’s life is literally in the hands of another. Supposedly, the thrill lay in the danger and vulnerability associated with the activity. However, there have been cases in which such edge play had resulted in an unintentional death. According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 250 deaths occur every year in the United States involving strangulation or chokeholds during sexual activity. A large majority of these deaths have occurred during auto-erotic asphyxiation, in which one restricts one’s own oxygen during masturbation or “solo play.” Jay Wiseman of the Society for Human Sexuality says that only a few of those cases resulting in a death, due to strangulation or chokeholds, have involved sexual play with a partner.
There are many theories to explain why some people participate in deviant sexual behavior such as sexual strangulation. One theory suggests that deprivation of normal social sexual contact or childhood trauma cause such behaviors (Nathan, Gorman and Salkind, 1999). There are also theories based on physiological causes of deviant sexual behavior that focus on the relationship between sexual hormones and the central nervous system (Psychology Today, 1999). Currently, there is no evidence that suggests that either Sharon or Bobby suffered from early childhood trauma, abnormal sexual experiences or hormonal dysfunction.
What makes their case exceptional is that Sharon ventured into the relationship with one apparent intention -- to die. Thus, Sharon was a suicidal masochist. However, she was not the first in history to seek out a willing participant who would fulfill a request to be strangled to death for sexual gratification.
Knud R. Joergensen wrote in 1995 about the 1791 case of composer Franz Kotzwara who enlisted the help of a London prostitute, Susannah Hill, to assist him with his bizarre wish. After paying Hill two shillings, Kotzwara asked her to cut off his genitalia – a request the prostitute refused. Yet, Hill did agree to fulfill Kotzwara’s sexual wish of strangling himself with a rope. It was the first documented case of death by sexual strangulation. Hill was eventually arrested for Kotzwara’s murder, but later acquitted when authorities learned that she was more or less an innocent bystander, unlike Bobby Glass, who more than 200 years later faced first-degree murder charges for the sexual strangulation death of Sharon Lopatka. The charge was eventually reduced to voluntary manslaughter.
The case against Bobby Glass stretched on for three years following several lengthy delays. On January 27, 2000, Bobby pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, as well as six counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. The latter charges resulted from the pornographic material found on Bobby’s computer. Bobby was sentenced to 36 to 53 months in prison for the manslaughter of Sharon Lopatka and 21 to 26 months for the possession of child pornography.
He was sent to Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institution in North Carolina. On February 20, 2002, two weeks before his release, Bobby Glass had a heart attack. He was pronounced dead at 1:30 a.m. at Spruce Pine Community Hospital in North Carolina.
secrets & confessions
I think there's a lot of people who do stuff like this, either alone or with a partner, and I don't think it's a coincidence a lot of these people hook-up through the internet. It's all about keeping secrets and feeling either good or bad about yourself.
On the computer, it's easy to assume a different identity and confess crap you wouldn't necessarily share with those closest to you. That's how networks and porn works; grouping people with similar wants and desires together, so no one has to work alone. Finding acceptance, no matter how freaky it feels.
I grew up where sex was never done by my parents, but it was done to me. It wasn't until I started sharing that story with close friends that I realized I wasn't alone. It's not so bad talking about freaky shit with people who can beat you with really horrible stories. Maybe being adopted has it's advantages in that sense, because I've always been trying to see where I fit-in (wishing I knew my real family). I'd like to think my real parents would have taken better care of me, and protected me, but there's no guarantee that sexual abuse would or could have been avoided.
Anyway, I think parents in general need to know sex needs to be discussed so kids don't do crazy shit that will harm themselves or others. Obviously, crap like that comes back and reveals itself in the bedroom, with or without a witness.
"Safe Sex"
Isn't it crazy how parents are so afraid to discuss sex because "it will lead a child into wanting sex", yet the truth of the matter is, most discover masturbation for themselves, anyway. In fact, I wonder how many parents won't discuss sex because they themselves are so unhappy with their own sex-lives!