From: spencer@der.Princeton.EDU (S. Spencer Sun)
Subject: Death by cunnilingus!
Originator: news@nimaster
Reply-To: spencer@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (S. Spencer Sun)
Organization: Society for Promotion of Entropy in the Universe (SPEU)
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 03:08:53 GMT

Given the recent discussions on the riskiness (relative or absolute) of
oral sex, I thought I would insert a random thread mutation and pass on
this tidbit from _More of the Straight Dope_, by Cecil Adams, the same
wise-ass dude who had that column listing the various items which have
been discovered in people's rear ends.  No, all his columns do not deal
with questions of a sexual nature, but those tend to be more intriguing.

--- begin excerpt ---

Q: My boyfriend and I need some answers.  You're the only one we can
turn to.  Please don't think we're weird.  (1) Does taking a hot bath
(120 degrees) kill sperm?  He says he'll be sterile for a month.  (2)
Can blowing air into the vagina during oral sex really cause an air
embolism and sudden death, as per _Joy of Sex_?   -- Francine M.,
Chicago

A: I don't think _you're_ weird, sweetie, but you might want to keep an
eye on that boyfriend of yours.  The mobility of sperm is reduced at
tempratures above 104 degrees or so, and "spermatogenisis" -- the
creation of new sperm -- is slowed.  But the effect is brief -- maybe
half an hour, a researcher at the Masters and Johnson Institute guesses
-- and it certainly doesn't affect all the sperm.  Remmeber, it only
takes one to get your pregnant.  Hot baths are not recommended as a
method of contraception, and they certainly wont' make a male sterile
for a month.
     The bathtub _can_ be an effective birth-control device when used
properly, however.  It can be used for cold showers, for example, and it
has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that conception can be prevented
when one of the partners lies completely motionless in the tub while the
other stays in the bedroom.
    This business about blowing air into the vagina is a lot more
seriuos.  It definitely can cause embolism and death, particularly if
the woman is pregnant.  Ten fatalities and one near-miss had been
reported in the medical literature as of 1983.  During pregnancy the
vagina is distended, allowing dangerously large quantitites of air to be
introduced.  The air enters the bloodstream via the vein sinuses of the
intrauterine wall and from there finds its way to the heart and the
brain.  Collapse is usually immediate, and death can occur within
minutes.  In the one nonfatal case, proper treatment was delayed in part
because the victim's male partner didn't tell doctors what had happened
until two hours after she was admitted to the hospital.  The woman
miscarried and, depiste treatment in a hyperbaric (high-pressure)
chamber, suffered permanent brain damage.  How likely such things are if
the woman is _not_ pregnant is not clear, but if I were you I wouldn't
try it under any circumstances.

--- end of excerpt ---

Amazing, the stuff they don't tell you in sex ed...

-----
sss / Princeton University Class of 1994 / Department of Computer Science
Life *is* pain, Highness.  Anyone who says differently is selling something.
[_The Princess Bride_]

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