By Siegfried Heydrich

First, you need to understand one thing right up front.

NOOSEPLAY / BREATHPLAY IS NOT, REPEAT, NOT SAFE. IT CAN KILL YOU. DEAD. SNUFFERS. GIVE YOU A ONE WAY TRIP ON THE STYGIAN CRUISE LINE. CROAKED. JOINING THE CHOIR ANGELIC. MAKE YOU AN EX-HUMAN BEING. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!!!!!!!!!!

DO NOT PLAY ALONE. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH IS ONLY ONE MISTAKE, AND YOU WON’T GET ANOTHER.

AM I VERY, VERY CLEAR?

I’m serious here. This is edge play. You’re flirting with death, and hoping you don’t mess up. If you do, please understand the ramifications. If you’re playing alone, and you screw up and kill yourself, you’ll be known as ‘that idiot who killed him/herself masturbating with a rope around their neck’.

Your family will have to deal with and live that down, and believe me, your death will be not be regarded as something tragic, but rather an act of incredible stupidity. Even if you don’t die, you can wind up brain damaged forever. The margin between an incredible orgasm and a body bag is razor thin.

If you are playing with someone else and kill them, you’re liable for negligent homicide, aggravated manslaughter, or even murder charges. More than that, you will have to live with the knowledge that you killed someone you were having sex with because YOU fucked up. YOUR negligence killed your lover. No matter how you try to rationalize it, it’s NOT their fault. Except for placing trust in you . . .

This will follow you all of your life, even if you manage to escape prison. You will have to deal with the nightmares and recriminations forever. And losing the resulting wrongful death civil lawsuit will have you handing your paycheck over to someone else for the rest of your life as well.

IF YOU’RE GOING TO PLAY, BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL. YOU ARE LITERALLY HOLDING A LIFE, NOT JUST THEIRS, IN YOUR HANDS. SORRY WILL NOT SUFFICE. REGRETS ARE IRRELEVANT. DEAD IS DEAD.

Now, having said that, here are some words of wisdom that, I hope, will keep you out of trouble.

First and foremost, take a CPR lifesaving class from your local Red Cross. If you screw up, this knowledge may be the ONLY thing that can save your lovers life. There’s no guarantee that it will, but at least you MAY have a fighting chance.

Lacking this training is stupidity of the highest order. If you’re silly enough to hang / strangle someone without knowing how to at least try to snatch them back from beyond if you make a mistake, you deserve whatever penalty is inflicted upon you.

You need to understand the risks you’re running. The greatest risk of death or injury isn’t suffocation, it’s anoxia caused by cutting off the blood flow to the brain.

  The jugular vein and carotid artery lie just below the skin on either side of the neck. Pressure on those poses the greatest danger, followed by a possible fracture of the Hyoid bone, or crushed trachea. Actual strangulation takes much longer, and if you succeed in strangling someone to death, you went WAY over the line . . .

Stopping that blood flow to the brain will result in unconsciousness in a matter of seconds, with brain injury and death in a very few more seconds. Ever watch someone get knocked out by a chokehold? Did you see how little time it took? People are killed by those holds with great regularity, and those holds are generally only maintained until the subject stops struggling.

  Also, be aware that since the jugular and carotid lie so close to the skin, they can be ruptured or torn by either a drop or struggling against the noose. If any of those blood vessels are torn or traumatized, the victim will bleed out internally in a matter of seconds, and there’s NOTHING you can do to save them. Death is immediate. Proper placement of the noose is critical; those blood vessels MUST be avoided, or serious unpleasantness will ensue.

Do NOT be under the influence of ANYTHING when you play. When you’re playing with a human life, drink or drugs is RIGHT OUT!! Killing someone because you were messed up is not an excuse, it’s a reason to give you a longer prison sentence. And prosecutors are not known for their sweet and understanding natures, no matter how good your lawyer is.

Make damned sure you know what you’re doing before you start doing anything risky. And that goes for both you and your partner. Just making it up as you go will almost certainly result in disaster. You both need to know what you’re going to do, how you’re going to do it, and what you’re going to do if something goes wrong.

     You need safe words, and since your partner will probably be incapable of speech, you need MORE than a safe word. Any kind of active signal is not a good idea, as a person losing consciousness generally can’t give them. You can’t snap your fingers three times if you’re passed out.

Use a squeak toy. The kind that you can squeeze and will make a noise, and even more importantly, make a noise when dropped on the floor. If your partner is passing out, you need to know it IMMEDIATELY. Seconds count. Seriously, the difference between a groggy wakeup and a never wakeup is frighteningly short. Your safe signal should be something triggered passively. Dropping something works well.

  Check your equipment ahead of time. If you’re going to hang someone, make sure that your hoist point will bear the weight. Make sure that the rope can’t bind, trap, or fail to release. Make sure your pulleys (or wherever the rope passes over the horizontal support) are free running and will not catch on anything.

Make sure the rope itself will bear the weight. If you’re using a quick release knot, make sure it damned well works. Have a cutter with you for cutting the rope quickly – a carpet cutter with a curved blade is best, when moving quickly it will cut a rope around the neck without cutting the neck under it.

  Do NOT use a running noose. Use some kind of stop to prevent the body’s weight from closing the noose completely. A knot in the rope will work, or you can use a hose clamp with a nylon or rubber bushing to keep the knot open. You do not, under any circumstances, want to cut off the blood flow on both sides of the neck. Impeding them by reducing blood flow is part of the turn on, but cutting it off completely can result in quick death.

Use a thick rope. 1” is acceptable, 1 ½” or 1 ¾” is better. You have more surface area, so stress is reduced, as is bruising and edema. A thick rope is less likely to totally cut off blood flow to the brain, and it facilitates gasping . . . which is the name of the game. Also, it looks much . . . sexier.

Thin ropes are far more likely to tear blood vessels or shut off blood flow to the brain. The Nazis didn’t hang people using piano wire because it took longer, they did it because unconsciousness occurred within seconds of dropping. Contrary to popular belief, their methods of execution were rather humane . . . if only because longer forms tended to be inefficient. And messy. They weren’t into either inefficient or messy.

Proper noose placement is critical – placing it below the trachea may/will result in fracture when the noose tightens below it and pushes it upwards. Also, the skin may tear as it is stretched when the noose pulls upward as well. This is NOT erotic. Place it high, tucking the knot under and behind the jaw, and take up pressure before even thinking about removing support.

Avoid long drops. In fact, avoid drops of any kind. It is far better to apply slow upward pressure, making your sub raise up on tiptoes, and engage in prolonged gasping. This gives them the anoxia that induces the euphoric state, and allows you to control the rate at which the strangulation process occurs. When (at your discretion) the support is kicked away, the drop trauma is minimized. Airdancing should be the culmination of the process, not the beginning.

Actual suspension should not exceed 30 seconds. Do NOT get carried away with the experience. You are the responsible party, here. Waiting for them to pass out sounds kinky and hot, but in actual practice, this is hard to discern. Waiting for them to stop kicking is NOT a good idea. By the time they’re limp, they may be too far gone to bring back. You can’t tell just by looking at them.

Ending the hanging is not as easy as it sounds; you can’t just drop them on the floor; that’s a good way to break bones or dislocate joints. Support them as you release the rope, and don’t drop them. Having a horse or table to lower them onto is a very good idea. GET THE NOOSE OFF OR LOOSEN IT, AND ELEVATE THE LOWER EXTREMETIES IMMEDIATELY. Get the head below the heart level. Check for breathing and heartbeat. If either are missing, see below.

You need to think out ahead of time what to do if something goes wrong.

Having your gasper lose bladder or bowel control may sound erotic, but those indicate that you have gone beyond safe levels. If that happens, odds are you’re in VERY serious trouble already.

You first need to relieve pressure on the airway and blood vessels to the brain. Cut the damned rope. Rope is cheap. Life isn’t. Lawyers fees aren’t. That’s why you want a carpet cutter or vine knife - cutting the rope does you no good if you cut her throat at the same time. Do it NOW. Don’t panic. Don’t freak out.

Elevate the feet and legs IMMEDIATELY. Get the head low. Now. Get blood flowing back to the brain. Check for pulse and respiration. If either are absent, start administering CPR, heart massage and mouth to mouth respiration.

CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY. The paramedics aren’t judgmental. Their job is to save life. Yes, they will tell the cops what they found, but it’s better if they find you trying to save your partner, not having hysterics. If you delay, and your partner dies, any delay will weigh against you.

  Do not even think you can hide what you’ve done. Forensic science has improved to a point that concealment will just get you in more trouble than you are already.. If you’re trying to save your partners life after a lamentable lapse in judgment, you will get hammered less than if you try to cover it all up. Remember the lesson of Richard Nixon – it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup.

Now, some advice for you gaspers out there . . .before you let someone put you in a position where you can wind up dead, you need to ask yourself one very basic question. Do you trust this person? NOT ‘do you love them?’. NOT ‘are you willing to do anything for them?’. NOT ‘I know he won’t do anything to hurt me.’. The question is more along the lines of ‘can I trust this person not to make a mistake and kill me, even by accident?’.

  Do you trust their judgment? Their internal control? Do you trust them to keep a level head and not get carried away or panic if things go wrong? Not to get so fixated in the scene that it doesn’t stop until it’s too late? Are you willing to place yourself totally and completely in their hands, knowing that any mistake can result in your death . . . or worse? If you have ANY doubts or hesitation, DON’T DO IT! Dead people can’t play any more.

If you’re going to do a scene with a potentially fatal outcome, you need to cover yourself. I strongly suggest writing down what you intend to do, AND WITH WHOM YOU INTEND TO DO IT, then leaving it with someone who will take it to the authorities if you suddenly turn up missing. E-mail it to yourself – the cops are guaranteed to find it, and the message CANNOT be destroyed.

Then make sure your partner is aware that if you turn up dead or missing, the police will be looking for them personally. There’s nothing like knowing that their actions are accountable to induce a strong sense of responsibility.

Make sure you know what’s going to happen, and satisfy yourself that all precautions that CAN be taken HAVE been taken. Make sure that you both understand limits, safe words, safe signals, and the conditions that will end the scene. It’s your life on the line.

The ultimate responsibility is yours – you put yourself into a position where someone else can kill you. If they do, realize that they couldn’t have done it if you hadn’t allowed them to. Please, do not let your dying thoughts be ‘but . . . I trusted him . . .’.

Go slow. A hanging scene is something to be savored, not rushed. Up and down, slow strangulation with momentary respites, a chance to recover before beginning again, that’s how you want to proceed. They don’t call it ‘gasping’ for nothing. Don’t rush, let the scene build to a logical, inevitable climax.

You will both know when it’s time to swing. Just don’t get swept up in the moment, don’t get locked into the experience. Bear in mind that you’ll both want to do this again, and if your choke chick is dead, she can’t. And if you’re in prison, well . . .

Slow strangulation will result in edema in both the face and the eyes; one characteristic of gaspers are ruptured blood vessels in the eyes and cheeks. There will also be chafe marks on the neck itself due to the ligature pressure, though these can be reduced by using vaseline or some other lubricant on the neck. Neck bruises are common, and are often very difficult to conceal. Gasping isn’t something you want to advertise . . .

Hanging can be incredibly erotic. It is the ultimate expression of trust and faith. You’re playing a game of chicken with the Grim Reaper, and making it through that experience is just one hell of a turn on. Cumming when you’re kicking in the air is an unbelievable experience. Just make sure it isn’t your last one.

So, be safe. As safe as you can when dancing in the air.
Don’t be swept away by the moment, or you won’t have any more moments to sweep you away . . .