For the sake of my own Chinese studies, I spend a little time each day doing some free-form study. Sometimes I review old textbooks, other times I read from a kid's newspaper I've subscribed to, read the big kid's news online or just browse the web for an hour or so. It's this sort of thing that keeps me interested in learning without the pressure of rote-style memorization and copying the school system in Taiwan too often relies on. For an hour or so, I get to learn about whatever I'm interested in at the moment. That way, I can maintain my own personal interest in learning Chinese or learn new characters and phrases I might not have ever thought about learning on my own. While cruising the headlines of Taiwan's United Daily News website this morning, I quite accidentally came across a piece of news that gave me the opportunity to do both.
According to the article by journalist 曹敏吉, last year in June, a 20 year-old man was found dead in his Kaohsiung residence, a victim of his own sexual urges. He was found wrapped head to toe in woman's scarves, a flowered woman's shower cap atop his head, and with a thin cotton string tied around his neck, the end of which was attached to his right hand for purposes of controlling the tightness. In all, he used seven scarves to wrap his head, cutting two holes for his eyes and one for his nose for the purposes of seeing and breathing. Investigators concluded that he had accidentally choked himself to death while masturbating.
It's sensational, like much of the rest of what passes for news day to day in Taiwan, but what may have made this story worth printing for the UDN is that the Kaohsiung man had taken out a personal life insurance policy, worth NT$200,000 (roughly US$6,250) in case of accidental death, just two months prior to the accident. The insurance company, upon reviewing the facts, has concluded that his actions were "analogous to suicide" (類似自殺) and has refused to pay the NT$200,000 claim brought up by the man's family. Meanwhile, police officials have maintained that the man's death was clearly not intentional, citing the nose hole and the man's prior sexual history, and has said that the insurance company ought to pay the claim.
As for the man's family, they have acknowledged that they have known him to like dressing in woman's clothing since middle school. They also stated that he had engaged in sex play in this way before, always dismantling the get-up after coming to climax.
In the spirit of open discourse, I'll simply play the translator, then put forth the question I'm still asking myself: Is death from autoerotic asphyxiation analogous to suicide as the insurance company claims, or should it be considered accidental? Tell me what you think.
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Posted by: MF | October 07, 2010 at 07:42 PM
No. The insurance company is being a d-bag. Big surprise.
I've heard asphyxiation is a lot like love. They both can make sex better.
Until they kill you.
Posted by: Hops11 | November 06, 2010 at 10:17 AM