About 10 years ago two men were prosecuted, in the UK I think, for nailing each other’s scrotum to a plank of wood. They appealed against the decision to the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that they had granted each other permission to do the act; that the wood, the nails, the hammer and, of course, the scrota all belonged to them and they could do what they like.
What happened to their appeal? Where do we stand on this vexed question? Is it the case that I can nail my own scrotum to whatever I choose but that I might be prosecuted for assault if I should take the hammer and nail to your own appendages even with your permission?
Yours
DIY-er, Cambridge, England.
They were convicted of assault in the UK courts, appealed and lost their appeals. They then sued the UK before the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that the UK was in breach of its obligations under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees respect for private life. They lost.
The text of the EHCR judgment is here: http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/Hudoc2doc/HEJUD/sift/607.txt
Still doesn’t answer the question of whether i can nail my own scrotum to an object of my choosing.
I would presume so. However, the legal system would have ample evidence to lock you up for mental treatment.
Well, no. Depending obviously on where you live, it may not be possible to lock you up simply because you are harming yourself. (Otherwise we could lock up smokers, couldn’t we?) Generally you have to be harming yourself due to a mental illness, and sadism and masochism are not in themselves mental illnesses.
Harming yourself would not be an assault. So I say go ahead and nail your scrotum to anything you like, provided (a) you nail it to something inanimate, and (b) you nail it to something you own.
And don’t do it in public. That earned Steve-O from MTV’s Jackass some criminal charges.
Steve-O nailed his nutsack to a board?
No one appears to have read this decision carefully. The critical issue is that of consent; while consent is normally a defense in assault cases, minors cannot give consent. In this case, the entirety of the activities (not just the nailing) was homosexual activity, British law makes 21 years the age of consent for homosexuals, and the alleged victims were under 21. Q.E.D. The victims/assailants could not give each other consent, and were liable for assault.
So, yes, you can nail your scrotum and that of another consenting adult without criminal prosecution in any jurisdiction where scrotum-nailing is otherwise legal.
Well, it’s good that we’ve got that cleared up.
If you are under 21 surely you can nail your own scrotum to a plank of wood since there is no consent issue.
I believe the age of homosexual consent has fallen somewhat since that ruling.
Does this mean that if you were straight that 16 year olds could get thier girlfriends to do the thing with the hammer?
Please don’t noise this about where the producers of Survivor et. al. can see/hear it.
That’s one reality show I really don’t want to see.
I suppose we should conduct a poll about whether or not this represents an unwarranted infringement of human rights or an appropriate exercise of the state’s parens patriae powers.
That would not necessarily solve much, but then we could say that we have a scrotum poll.
Yes - it’s 16 for everyone in England/Wales; 17 in Northern Ireland. The AoC for gay men was 21 when the case was originally brought to court though.
The age of consent, I’ve heard of. The age of reason I’ve heard of. But the age on homosexuality?! Come on? And while we are at it how in the name of The Importance of Being Ernest does nailing somebody’s scrotum to a board count as a homosexual act?
[public service announcement]
Hello, boys. Today, we’re going to learn about idioms.
An idiom is a figure of speech whose literal meaning is not the same as its actual meaning.
Boys, “nailing your boyfriend” is an idiom.
[/public service announcement]
Nobody but you has mentioned such a phrase S G. Maybe you misread a couple of posts? Don’t you agree that there are lots of places where the age of consent is applied differently to heterosexuals and homosexuals though? Complain the usual authorities.
Nailing my scrotum to a plank wouldn’t be a sexual act thanks very much (anymore than gelding you would), but the people involved in the case were sado-masochists and they did what they did for sexual kicks. Takes all sorts.
Imagine having to explain to the doctor why you need a tetanus shot!
:eek:
Excuse me, but how do you remove such a nail without extensive bleeding?
Was a ball-peen hammer used?
[sub]Oh, I slay me[/sub]
I suppose I’ll wince when I hear the phrase “sporting a woody” from now on.
Really, though, I don’t see much distinction between scrotum-nailing and certain other piercings