THE GUARDIAN: Highest appeals court rules it a crime to use phrase after case in which JP questioned existence of lawyer's testicles
It took a trial and two appeals. But now Italians know where they stand.
They may think it. They may mutter it. But, on pain of a hefty fine, they must not say it.
With all the solemnity on which it can draw, Italy's highest appeals court has ruled it is a crime to utter the words: "You don't have the balls." And for reasons that are potentially as controversial as the judgment itself.
The court decided the phrase should be outlawed, not so much because it cast doubt on the offended party's virility, but because it implied a "lack of determination, competence and consistency – virtues which, rightly or wrongly, continue to be regarded as suggestive of the male sex'. » | John Hooper in Rome | Thursday, August 02, 2012
