# Public masturbation ruled legal in Sweden **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 17, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073 "2013-09-17T17:57:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/21 "2013-09-17T22:32:11Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Note To Self: > Do not, _under any circumstances_, **do not** shake hands with any Swedes _whatsoever_, from now on. Staying out of the surf on Swedish beaches might also be prudent. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/22 "2013-09-17T22:50:23Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > I finally know where I truly belong. Since when did wok become a euphemism for semen? Goddamn, I m getting old. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/23 "2013-09-18T00:32:02Z")
Interesting; does this ruling apply to sexual intercourse (between consenting adults) in public as well? ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/24 "2013-09-18T00:45:50Z")
So squeezing the weasel is legal in Sweden. At least on a beach in the Drevviken region. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/25 "2013-09-18T00:52:47Z")
Hey Buster, it’s Norway or the shore way. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/26 "2013-09-18T05:26:30Z")
If you need some new euphemisms: According to [Swedish news sources](http://www.mitti.se/?p=52753), the man stated during questioning that he was simply “sitting by the water, philosophizing and watching the ducks.” I guess he \*really \*likes ducks. Apparently, he swiftly pulled up his pants and attempted to run off when spotted, but was tackled and restrained by passers-by until police arrived. The legal implications of publicly “watching the ducks” in Sweden (see? it works) seems to depend a lot on the details. In this case, the man was hidden behind some rocks, until he was spotted. I suspect it would be pretty blatant “outrage-causing behavior” if you tried it in a public square, or on the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/27 "2013-09-18T05:44:40Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Interesting; does this ruling apply to sexual intercourse (between consenting adults) in public as well? Well, boinking outside in nature isn’t exactly unheard of in the Scandinavian countries (I had one particular girlfriend once who was rather partial to it). I’ve never really looked into the legal details of it, and it seems to be a bit of a murky area (as this ruling confirms, I guess) but my understanding has always been that as long as you’re not doing it in a place where you can expect to be spotted, you’ll get away with it. In other words: In the woods away from people = OK, on public transportation = not OK. Anything in between is a matter for the legal experts, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/28 "2013-09-18T06:08:00Z")
Old Viking _kōan_: If a Swede watches ducks behind the rocks, and no one sees it… Does it still cause outrage? (Also: Something something sound of one hand clapping.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/29 "2013-09-18T08:56:00Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Old Viking _kōan_: If a Swede watches ducks behind the rocks, and no one sees it… Does it still cause outrage? > > (Also: Something something sound of one hand clapping.) something something one hand fapping? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/30 "2013-09-18T09:01:43Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I would guess that Sweden doesn’t have anything like a public indecency law, or at least, one that would apply to flipping your willy. Thus the “sexual assault” charge, which did not hold up. We do have laws against public indecency. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > He was clearly Violating the Ocean. It’s a lake, not the sea as if that would make any difference, > [@Steken](#): > > I am not a lawyer, but I would have assumed that public masturbation would fall under “förargelseväckande beteende.”\* > > Very, very surprised this isn’t the case, actually. > > Public urination, for example, often falls under “förargelseväckande beteende”, and I’d wager that public masturbation tends to cause a heckuva lot more outrage than that. > > - The term literally means “outrage-causing behavior.” “förargelseväckande beteende” is best translated as “public indecency”. What happened here was that the prosecutor, for some reason, only wanted him tried for sexual assault and never mentioned public indecency, so the court could do noting but acquit him. I have no doubts whatsoever that this case will be taken to the court of appeal and the prosecutor will then change the charges and give some options to the court to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/31 "2013-09-18T09:17:17Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > “förargelseväckande beteende” is best translated as “public indecency”. No, that’s not right at all. The Swedish-language Wikipedia entry on “förargelseväckande beteende” ([here](http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%B6rargelsev%C3%A4ckande_beteende)) states that “lagen, brottsbalken 16 kap, innehåller enbart följande mening om brottet”: > [@](#): > > Den som för oljud på allmän plats eller annars offentligen beter sig på ett sätt som är ägnat att väcka förargelse hos allmänheten, döms för förargelseväckande beteende till penningböter. So, the only example given is “noise in a public place” – hardly an example of “public indecency.” ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/32 "2013-09-18T10:48:33Z")
“public nuisance”, then? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/33 "2013-09-18T10:56:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Who would you say he was sexually assaulting? Johnson. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/34 "2013-09-18T11:45:23Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > “public nuisance”, then? Perhaps. All I can say is that a literal, direct, word-by-word Swedish-to-English translation of the phrase would give something akin to “outrage-causing behavior.” “Förargelse” (related to “arg”, angry) meaning outrage, indignation, offence, anger, etc.; “väckande” literally meaning “waking”, i.e. causing; “beteende” meaning behavior. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/35 "2013-09-18T13:47:17Z")
The Phrase “pleasuring himself towards a specific person” makes me imagine a Swede mounting a laser sight on his unit before rubbing one out. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/36 "2013-09-18T14:21:52Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > The Phrase “pleasuring himself towards a specific person” makes me imagine a Swede mounting a laser sight on his unit before rubbing one out. The low-tech version is just a straw. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/37 "2013-09-18T16:09:59Z")
This can’t be good for anybody. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/38 "2013-09-18T16:54:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > “He was just trying to restrain that monkey, Your Honor, but it kept leaping up and down until [del]he[/del]it was exhausted.” I wasn’t playing with it – I was cleaning it and it accidentally went off. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/39 "2013-09-18T16:57:16Z")
Well, to be fair, it is dark up there six months out of the year…and in dark of night, well - the male mind does tend to wander. And after putting together furniture from IKEA, using that little tool all day, I can imagine one might want to feel a larger tool in one’s hand. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073/40 "2013-09-18T20:00:25Z")
As Mrs Patrick Campbell so well said, I don’t care what these people do as long as they don’t do it on the beach and frighten the sea-horses. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-masturbation-ruled-legal-in-sweden/669073.md?page=3)