Untitled, London

Bruises?, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

Here is the image as it appeared in the original RAW capture. The light subject against the dark wall gave a high-key effect.

The discolorations on the woman's neck are especially apparent before correcting the exposure, as I did in the image below.

Comments

[Count Zero]

Birthmark maybe? Hickey? Seems a wierd spot for a bruise. Given they're both around the Adam's apple.

[Megan]

Thumbprints, no? Hold your hands up to see.

I hope not.

(Entirely separate: she is arrestingly beautiful.)

[mudkitty]

Erotic-asphyxiation of the non-auto variety.

[Amanda Marcotte]

DV is very common, strangling is a favorite method of abusers. I'd say Occam's Razor---we're looking at someone who had a boyfriend attack her after a few drinks last night.

[Amanda Marcotte]

I flashed on this thought: "Lindsay will win the Pulitzer one day."

[cfrost]

She looks like she could be Roman Polanski's kid sister.

The marks? Vampire.

[cfrost]

I should add that it's an arrestingly great shot.

[Bruce]

The marks on the trachea look like thumbs to me.

[Rose]

Haunting picture.

[mudkitty]

No question. Thumbs.

[Dave]

DV is very common, strangling is a favorite method of abusers. I'd say Occam's Razor---we're looking at someone who had a boyfriend attack her after a few drinks last night.
_____________________________

Nice assumption there, however did anyone bother to ask even though it might be considered rather rude?

No you didn't.

It has to be the boyfriend doesn't it? Couldn't be a girlfriend. She couldn't possibly be into some out of the ordinary bedroom behavior could she? I am no CSI mind you, but could that be the result of a fall?

It's always the boyfriend!

[Bruce]

Dave, I do notta think that you know whatta "Occam's Razor" means.

[Dave]

No I did not until now, but damn you anyway, I had a pretty good rant there!

Thanks.

[mudkitty]

Those thumbs marks were voluntarily submitted to. It's as clear as day.

[Amanda Marcotte]

It could be a girlfriend or someone else. Odds are that it was a man, of course. I didn't say definitely, just that the odds are that the story you're imagining is the most likely one.

[Count Zero]

Those thumbs marks were voluntarily submitted to. It's as clear as day.

I've never understood that type of SM.

[mudkitty]

There was no struggle. She seems proud and defiant. Why shouldn't she enhance her orgasms as she sees fit?

So LB, where do you come down on mutually erotic, non-lethal asphyxiation?

Personally, I thinks it's too dangerous to mess with.

CZero - it's not S&M, per se.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

As long as it's mutually consensual and non-lethal, I don't care what people do in bed.

As a practical matter, I have serious doubts about how safe this kind of sex could be. Anything that compresses your airway or interferes with the blood supply to your brain is potentially deadly.

If you're leaving bruises like that on someone's neck for any reason, you're taking their life in your hands. Now, if adults really understand the risks and want to take it that far out, that's up to them.

[mudkitty]

It's a high wire act without a net.

But hey, I remember some of the crazy things I used to do for a thrill, when I was a kid.

Here's a trick...you can get much the same effect if you deliberately hyperventilate, then hold your breath. Basically what it's all about is fainting, just at the moment past orgasm. Don't try this at home. Try it in a hotel room.

[cfrost]

Watch the scary 1976 Japanese film “In the Realm of the Senses” if you feel the need for some insight into throttling sex. You’d better really want some understanding though; it’s not the kind of film you’ll want to watch with your mom, or just about anyone for that matter. Way strange, way disturbing, and way Japanese.

I’m not entirely convinced the woman's marks are bruises. Too brown. Bruises are more blue.

[Cass]

"...strangling is favorite method of abusers."

And its a kind of violence that, in studies, is often displayed by abusers that show themselves capable of murder (by strangulation or other means).

[Cass]

"Those thumb marks were voluntarily submitted to. Its as clear as day."

I'm not up on the statistics for sexual deviancy, but really, I think non-consensual strangulation is quite a bit more common than the other kind. And I saw, and Polaroided, many similar bruises during my days at the shelter; I don't think many people would carry their perversions that far.

"She seems proud and defiant."

And what possible reason would a person beaten down in private look proud and defiant in public?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Here's an interesting forensics page on the ageing of bruises.

Bruises tend to go from purple to yellow as they age.

[cfrost]

Surprisingly -to me anyway- it seems that determining the age of a bruise visually isn’t at all reliable. A bit of searching yields this sort of thing: “Conclusion: A bruise cannot accurately be aged from clinical assessment in vivo or on a photograph. At this point in time the practice of estimating the age of a bruise from its colour has no scientific basis and should be avoided in child protection proceedings.” (.Maguire, Mann, Sibert, & Kemp. 2005. Can you age bruises accurately in children? A systematic review. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 90:187-189)

I crushed a big toe a couple years ago. At about the second day it looked like a large, dark purple Santa Rosa plum. A sight as spectacular as the pain it indicated.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Color isn't a precise way to pinpoint the moment when a particular bruise was formed--but bruises do tend to change color serially. Different components break down at different rates--but the timeframe varies with the injury, the person's skin color, etc.