The Italian government doesn’t want to see you guys scratching your junk in public.
It irritates them so much that they’ve even been to court over it and a judge has officially made a
ruling citing that men need to keep their hands off their naughty bits.
Now, let’s be very clear.
In Italy, apparently men touch themselves for good luck. Not in a bad way, but when a hearse goes by or they are needing a bit of good luck, they subtly put their hands in front of their crotches. The ruling, although it does indeed sound saucy, really stifles more than just common polite practices in public.
Italian men practice this and it’s called superstitious pre-emption. There is a tradition in Italy that when bad news is discussed from death to things that might be a bad omen, Italian men have always touched their privates to “ward” off, if you will, nasty karma. In Italian, you preface the practice with “io mi tocco i … “, which means “I touch myself …” which basically means they are crossing their fingers.
The recent ruling says the this just has to go and is “an act contrary to decorum and public decency”.
This problem made it to the highest court in Italy at the Court of Appeal in Rome after a judge listened to the appeal of a 42-year-old man who had been fined 200 euros for gross indeceny at a hearing in May last year.
The court hearings focused on whether or not the accused was being vile and being disgusting or were his deeds actually an ingrained action that men do in Italy as a sign of superstition.
Regardless of the social mores or habit, the judge didn’t buy it and fined the man 200 Euros and 1000 Euros in court fines.
So, if you are in Italy, if you have an itch, don’t scratch it.
It’s against the law.
