Public Masturbation Declared Legal in Sweden After Landmark Trial

Sweden is now "okay" with public masturbation. On June 6, a 65-year-old man took off his shorts at a beach near Stockholm and began masturbating into the ocean. The man was charged with sexual assault, but was acquitted last week after a judge ruled he was not targeting a specific person.

Even though the Södertörn District Court's judgment stated it “may be proven that the man exposed himself and masturbated on this occasion,” the court decided the man had not committed a crime, a decision the public prosecutor agreed with, though he said in the future public masturbation might be considered disorderly conduct.

"For this to be a criminal offence it's required that the sexual molestation was directed towards one or more people," Olof Vrethammar said. "I think the court's judgement is reasonable. With that we can conclude that it is okay to masturbate on the beach."

The ruling in the case comes just three months after Sweden's last major sex scandal, when police in Stockholm announced that a man who fucks bicycles was on the loose.