It could only happen in Italy.
Two new laws have been passed to try and clean up moral indecency.
Surely there are more important issues to worry about than this?
MEN
In a landmark judgment with far-reaching social implications, Italy’s highest appeals court has ruled it is a criminal offense for Italian men to touch their genitals in public.
The judges of the court of cassation stressed that the ban did not just apply to brazen crotch-scratching, but also to what might be termed superstitious pre-emption.
Anyone who has seen a hearse go past in Italy, or been part of a discussion in which some terrible illness or disaster is mentioned, will know it is traditional for men to ward off bad luck with a quick grab at what are delicately called their “attributi”.
The practice has become increasingly frowned on, but “io mi tocco i … “, which translates as “I touch my … ” is still a common phrase, roughly equivalent to “fingers crossed”.
The judges helpfully suggested that those seeking reassurance should wait till they had returned to the privacy of their own homes before letting their hands stray trouser-wards.
The court was ruling on the appeal of an unnamed 42-year-old workman from Como near Milan. In May 2006, he was convicted of indecent behavior for “ostentatiously touching his genitals through his clothing”. His lawyer said it was merely a “compulsive, involuntarily movement, probably to adjust his overalls”.
The third penal division of the Rome court was having none of it. It said that public genital-patting “has to be regarded as an act contrary to public decency, a concept including that nexus of socio-ethical behavioral rules requiring everyone to abstain from conduct potentially offensive to collectively-held feelings of decorum”.
The judges said such actions risked generating “awkwardness, disgust and disapproval in the average man”, unexpectedly perhaps failing to mention the average woman.
The workman was ordered to pay a €200 fine and €1000 costs.
MY COMMENT-Damn. Another iconic gesture bites the dust before I even got to see it.....
WOMEN
Italian women face 500 euro fine for wearing miniskirts (in the town of Castellammare di Stabia)
Women who wear miniskirts or show too much cleavage will face fines of up to 500 euros (£440) under new rules to be introduced by this Italian town.
In a move sharply at odds with a country which produced the likes of Monica Bellucci and Sophia Loren, the town of Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, intends to prohibit women from wearing provocative clothing.
The town's council also wants to ban men and women from wearing low-slung jeans as part of a list of 41 new rules that "every good citizen must respect".
The center-Right mayor, Luigi Bobbio, said it was all part of an effort to "restore urban decorum and improve coexistence" by targeting people who were "rowdy, unruly or simply badly behaved".
Playing football in parks and gardens and swearing in public will also be banned under new regulations which will be put forward for approval at a council meeting on Monday.
If the new regulations are approved, offenders will face fines of between 25 and 500 euros.
A local parish priest, Don Paolo Cecere, said he supported the crackdown.
"It's the right decision. In this way we can fight the spread of sexual molestation," he told a local newspaper, the Cronache di Napoli.
MY COMMENT-These people are off their nut. I want to know who the guy is going to be that walks around checking out the ladies breasts and legs to determine if they are showing to much skin. The Priest perhaps?
