Public Masturbation Is Now Legal In Sweden

Public masturbation is now legal in Sweden after a court ruled in favor of a man who was caught pleasing himself on a beach.

A 65-year-old man was acquitted of sexual assault because he didn’t direct his penis at anyone in particular. The individual’s case was brought to a judge in the European country after he was spotted masturbating on a beach.

He allegedly lowered his shorts while on a beach in Drevviken, Stockholm. He then started to masturbate, and, after he was caught committing the deed, he was then immediately charged with sexual assault.

However, the Sodertorn District Court decided that the man was innocent of sexual assault. A judgement remarked that even though it “may be proven that the man exposed himself and masturbated on this occasion,” it also added that no actual offence had been committed by the individual.

The Local, a Swedish English language news website, confirmed that he was found guilty because he wasn’t actually aiming his penis towards a person.

Prosecutors agreed with the ruling, which means that the law now states that those caught masturbating need to actually be directing it at someone in order for it to be considered a crime.

Olof Vrethammar, the public prosecutor, has admitted that they don’t plan to appeal the ruling. He remarked, “For this to be a criminal offence it’s required that the sexual molestation was directed towards one or more people. I think the court’s judgement is reasonable.”

He then added, “The district court has made a judgement on this case. With that we can conclude that it is okay to masturbate on the beach. The act may be considered to be disorderly conduct.”

This decision raises the risk that public masturbation will now become the norm in Sweden as long as it isn’t directed at someone.

[Image via Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock]