Autoerotic asphyxiation is the potentially lethal practice of intentionally reducing the amount of oxygen to one's brain during sexual self-stimulation in order to heighten the pleasure of orgasm. Deaths often occur when the loss of consciousness caused by partial asphyxia leads to loss of control over the means of strangulation, resulting in continued asphyxia and death.

In 1995, psychic Clyde Bruckman implied that FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder would ultimately die of autoerotic asphyxiation. (TXF: "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose")