15th Century misericord from the Church of St. Materne

Some tricks that people get up to for sexual enjoyment are quite remarkable. Some bondage and sadistic practices are cruel and hardly to be encouraged: in extreme cases people have been whipped to death, crucified on wooden beams, and burned alive. In such instances it is hard to imagine that the participants, willing or not, are unaware of the extreme hazards they run. Sometimes, however, there can be dangers that people do not realise - as, for example, with a man performing oral sex on a woman (cunnilingus). If he blows into the vagina, accidentally or on purpose, he is quite likely to kill his loved one through air embolism! Such an event is not designed to prolong a happy relationship. Death in such circumstances can be remarkably rapid, a matter of seconds. There are some such instances in the medical literature.