Curiosità

Earliest Voyeur

It began when the vainglorious king of Lydia, Candaules, believing his wife to be the most beautiful woman in the world, boasts of her sex appeal to one of his bodyguards, a man named Gyges. Sensing his disbelief, he felt the only way to prove himself right was for Gyges to see his wife nude. The bodyguard demurred, saying such an act would dishonor the queen and that "one should mind one's own business." More likely he was afraid of the horrific punishment awaiting him if he were caught. But Candaules was adamant. He arranges for him to hide behind the door of their nuptial chamber. When his queen enters and undresses for the evening, Gyges gets a good look at her exquisite physique, and sneaks out of the room when her back is turned.

Unfortunately, "the woman glimpsed him as he went out, and perceived what her husband had done. But though shamed, she did not cry out or let it be seen that she had perceived anything, for she meant to punish Candaules." She prepared those of her household that was most faithful, and summoned Gyges. When he came, the lady addressed him, "Now, Gyges, you have two ways before you; decide which you will follow. You must either kill Candaules and take me and the throne of Lydia for your own, or be killed yourself now without more ado; that will prevent you from obeying all Candaules' commands in the future and seeing what you should not see. One of you must die: either he, the contriver of this plot, or you, who have outraged all custom by looking on me uncovered." (Herodotus, Histories 1.8-11)

He reluctantly agrees to her demands and ambushes Candaules in the bedchamber. She keeps up her end of the deal, and thus married to the very woman he ogled, he rules Lydia for 28 years.

Earliest Cross dresser

Largest Orgy

One other lecherous religion is Khlysty, a 19^th century Russian flagellant order whose perverted doctrines where advocated by Rasputin. I don't know of any modern day counterparts that still use mass fornication, but there are bound to be a few open to new members. Good news, I suppose, for people who say they aren't getting enough sects in their life.

Streaking

Greatest Gathering
In the spirit of upholding fine academic traditions, the University of Michigan hosts an annual streaking event, the Naked Mile Run, which occurs on the last school day of the spring semester. On April 21, 1998 it attracted its largest crowd ever, which Ann Arbor police estimate as 1,500 people, though the U-M Department of Public Safety put the figure at a more conservative 500-800. Starting out at 10:40 p.m., the mob of runners, mostly students, gamboled gracefully in the nude on campus grounds—this in spite of the fact that it was 17 degrees outside.

A real damper to the fervor wasn't so much the weather but the prospect of having one's mug appear in some deve's video collection. 10,000 spectators lined the route, a good portion of them sporting photographic equipment, no doubt to immortalize the some 200+ females that joined the run. As a result participants have started deploying counter-measures: masks, squirt guns, and in some cases, brute force against anyone holding a camera. For a free look at the event—censored, though—visit The Naked Mile: An Ann Arbor Tradition.

Deadliest Sadist

Male
Gilles de Rais, a fifteenth century French nobleman and war hero, was also one of medieval Europe's worst sadistic killers. An ally of Joan of Arc during the Hundred Year War, he was later named Marshal of France by King Charles VII. Afterward he settled in his estates in Brittany, where his heroic nature gave way to his murderous impulse. He enjoyed killing his victims, mostly young boys, whom he would sodomize before and after decapitation. Sometimes he would watch as his servants butchered the children and later would masturbate over their entrails.

Because he was a baron, he was able to avoid suspicion for a long time while the death toll rose steadily. His reign of terror came to an end when the Duke of Brittany dug up the mutilated remains of 50 boys in his castle. He confessed to 140 killings; conjecture puts the toll as high as 800. On October 26, 1440, as a macabre example of overkill, Gilles was simultaneously hanged and burned alive.

Female
A Hungarian countess named Elisabeth Bathory (1560-1614) murdered as many as 610 young women in order, as tradition has it, to bathe in their blood. Aided by her haggish servants and a network of procuresses to keep up a steady supply, Elisabeth amused herself by torturing girls with knives, red-hot pokers, pincers, needles, and other gruesome tools. Some were frozen in icy streams; others were left starving to death in her various dungeons. She installed an "Iron Virgin," a cage fitted with blades that would embrace its victims and stab them to death.

This continued for a number of years, until finally, in 1610, one Count Thurzo arrived on the scene. He arrested and executed the servants, and ordered Elisabeth imprisoned in her castle for the remainder of her life. She died three and a half years later.

Longest Daisy Chain

Most Dangerous Sex Technique

Singular
Undoubtedly the most dangerous singular activity would be autoerotic asphyxiation. Usually performed by adolescent males, this technique is the deliberate constriction of blood flowing to the brain while, uh, masturbating. The lack of oxygen produces lightheadedness, supposedly enhancing the sexual experience.

As you can imagine, squeezing the blood out of your brain isn’t the healthiest of activities. On occasion the carotid artery collapses, producing unconsciousness in seconds, and eventually death. One researcher estimates 500 to 1000 deaths annually nationwide, so this is not something you should approach offhandedly. Also, not only do you run the risk of dying, you also risk looking incredibly stupid when they find you.

Want to know more? Check out The Breathless Orgasm: A Love map Biography of Asphyxiophilia by John Money et. al (1991).

Couple
In his book The Sex Chronicles Lance Rancier outlines an extremely dangerous act once practiced by Asian prostitutes:

[Japanese prostitutes working] in the Hong Kong harbor offered the ultimate pleasure to a man. The service was expensive to the man and dangerous to the woman. The Sampan girl, working in a boat, leaned over the side of the boat and ducked her head into the water. The customer entered her from behind, experiencing exquisite vaginal spasms around his penis as the woman reacted to her near drowning. She pulled herself out of the water just before she lost consciousness, usually after the client had experienced an intense orgasm.

Needless to say, you shouldn't try this at home.

Rape

Highest National Rate
Much to their chagrin, South Africa has the highest incidence of rape in the known world.  Figures released by the South African Police Service show 64,000 incidences of sexual assault in the country in 1999, for a rape rate of 116 per 100,000 people.  Unbelievably, this is thought to be the lowest estimate—officials believe the actual number to be 20 times higher.

Things have gotten so bad that some companies have begun to offer—I kid you not—rape insurance.  The plan will offer a toll-free hotline, counseling, support groups and assistance filing charges against the attacker. The policy also covers anti-retroviral treatment, prophylactic treatment and HIV testing (Africa also has the highest incidence of AIDS in the world). 

Most Rapes Committed
In what may be one of the most heinous examples of police corruption and cover-up, Haj Muhammad Mustapha Tabet, a 54-year-old police chief of Morocco, was charged with rape, deflowering virgins, inciting debauchery, abduction, and assault of 518 women in his flat over a seven-year period. Tabet secretly recorded the encounters on some 118 videotapes, said to be "not only pornographic but also horror films." His supervisor and ten other senior police officers were also charged with obstruction of justice and destroying evidence.

At his trial Tabet, who was married with two wives and five children, claimed that the women were willing sexual partners. He suffered from sexual obsessions, he said, and claimed to have had sex with 1,600 women in the past three years. The court didn't buy it. On March 15, 1993 he was found guilty on all charges, and sentenced to death. Five months later he was executed before a firing squad. Tabet got off relatively easy: had he been tried under Islamic law, as many were calling for in the predominately Muslim country, he would have faced either crucifixion or being stoned to death.

Most Rapes Endured
During World War II, the Japanese procured numerous jugun ianfu ("comfort women"), females imported from Korea, the Philippines, Burma, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Netherlands to cool the jets of the rank and file. Not that the women had much choice in the matter. More than 200,000 girls and women were forcibly inducted in the program, half of them dying as a direct result of the treatment they endured. Many were detained in the program 3 to 5 years, and were raped 5-20 times a day. At an average of 10 rapes a day, 5 days every week, each girl was violated at least 7,500 times during their 3 years of service.

Longest Sentence
Charles Scott Robinson, 30, was sentenced by an Oklahoma City judge to 30,000 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl. An eight-time felon previously convicted of burglary and possession of a stolen vehicle, he was found guilty of one count of rape by instrumentation, two counts of forcible oral sodomy and three counts of indecent or lewd acts with a child under 16. The jury recommended 5,000 years for each count, stating, "We don't want him to have a chance of ever getting out again." Despite the extreme measure, Robinson could be up for parole in as little as 15 years. The Department of Corrections considers any sentence over 45 years to be the equivalent of a life sentence, and state law requires that a person be considered for parole after serving one-third of a sentence.