SHARE
COPY LINK

OFFBEAT

‘Nothing wrong’ with naked Swedish farm student video

An internet video featuring naked Swedish high school students frolicking with farm animals and riding tractors on school property is nothing out of the ordinary for Sweden, according to the school’s principal.

“This kind of thing happens all the time,” the school’s principal, Peter Gustavsson told The Local.

“There’s nothing wrong with being naked. That’s still allowed.”

The eight-minute-long video, entitled “farmers daughters”, opens with a shot of a young man in bed with two young women. As the scene unfolds, it becomes apparent that all three students are naked.

“Damn, do you know what I just realised?,” says one of the girls.

“It’s our student cabaret night tonight. We forgot again!”

The two girls then run out of the room and proceed to let two other naked girls, both of whom are bound and gagged, out of the back of a truck.

Gustavsson explained that students at the school, the Natural Resource Use Programme high school (Naturbruksgymnasiet) in Strömma in western Sweden, periodically organise cabaret nights in which they perform satirical skits.

“These nights are a way for the students to poke fun at themselves and be creative,” he said.

Other scenes in the film feature half-naked young men sitting in a pig pen, a bare-bottomed young woman laying bareback on a horse, as well as a trio of young ladies who appear to be showing their breasts to a cow.

Nevertheless, the tone of the film is light and humourous, rather than erotic, and the students take great pains to keep their sex organs and nipples covered.

“I think the film is rather nice, actually. No one is drunk; there is no alcohol, no drugs. It’s just a bunch of naked kids having fun,” said Gustavsson.

In one sequence, two naked girls summon a third girl who is sawing down a tree with a chainsaw wearing only a protective helmet and lumberjack’s harness, while another scene shows a surprised young lady covering her nipples with a pair of rodents as she is called to follow to other nude co-eds.

As the video progresses, more and more bare-skinned students gather on the back of a tractor which eventually ends up at the door of one of the school’s buildings, at which point all of the students disembark and run inside the building.

In the closing scene, the students are seen slamming on a door.

The film was shown for the first time at one of the school cabaret nights in front of an audience of about 30 people, according to the Aftonbladet daily.

When the film ended, the door to the auditorium opened and the stars of the film dashed into the room naked, adding yet another creative twist to the project.

According to Gustavsson, the students in the film all graduated in 2009 and thus would have been 18 or 19 at the time the movie is believed to have been filmed.

He suspected the video was made while the students were still attending the school, however because “otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to get access to the buildings and the equipment”.

Despite the school’s farm theme, the video indicates there may be a number of budding cinematographers within the school’s ranks, prompting Gustavsson to think about offering classes on making movies.

“I’m actually considering it. These students have something they want to say, so we might look at adding an elective class on film making,” he said.

While Gustavsson remained relaxed about the film, there were a couple of aspects of the cinematic work which bothered him, in particular the discrepancy between the amount of skin shown by the young women relative to the young men.

“From a gender perspective, the film is out of balance. These girls are good students, capable students – they don’t need to be running around naked to prove anything,” he said.

He also regretted that the school’s efforts to educate students about the risks of putting compromising material on the internet appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

“They’ve now lost control of their film, and I find that problematic,” said Gustavsson.

He also explained that, had he known about the students’ plans for their cabaret show, he wouldn’t have approved it.

“We require that they tell us ahead of time what they plan to do. However in this case, the students pulled a fast one on us and showed something that we hadn’t agreed upon,” said Gustavsson.

Editors Note: The video and related screenshots have been removed at the request of the copyright holder

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

OFFBEAT

Is Switzerland’s male-only mandatory military service ‘discriminatory’?

Under Swiss law, all men must serve at least one year in compulsory national service. But is this discriminatory?

Swiss military members walk across a road carrying guns
A new lawsuit seeks to challenge Switzerland's male-only military service requirement. Is this discriminatory? FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

All men aged between the ages of 18 and 30 are required to complete compulsory military service in Switzerland. 

A lawsuit which worked its way through the Swiss courts has now ended up in the European Court of Human Rights, where the judges will decide if Switzerland’s male-only conscription requirement violates anti-discrimination rules. 

Switzerland’s NZZ newspaper wrote on Monday the case has “explosive potential” and has “what it takes to cause a tremor” to a policy which was first laid out in Switzerland’s 1848 and 1874 Federal Constitutions. 

What is Switzerland’s compulsory military service? 

Article 59 of the Federal Constitution of Switzerland says “Every man with Swiss citizenship is liable for military service. Alternative civilian service shall be provided for by law.”

Recruits must generally do 18 weeks of boot camp (longer in some cases). 

They are then required to spend several weeks in the army every year until they have completed a minimum 245 days of service.

Military service is compulsory for Swiss men aged 18 and over. Women can chose to do military service but this is rare.

What about national rather than military service? 

Introduced in 1996, this is an alternative to the army, originally intended for those who objected to military service on moral grounds. 

READ MORE: The Swiss army’s growing problem with civilian service

Service is longer there than in the army, from the age of 20 to 40. 

This must be for 340 days in total, longer than the military service requirement. 

What about foreigners and dual nationals? 

Once you become a Swiss citizen and are between the ages of 18 and 30, you can expect to be conscripted. 

READ MORE: Do naturalised Swiss citizens have to do military service?

In general, having another citizenship in addition to the Swiss one is not going to exempt you from military service in Switzerland.

However, there is one exception: the obligation to serve will be waved, provided you can show that you have fulfilled your military duties in your other home country.

If you are a Swiss (naturalised or not) who lives abroad, you are not required to serve in the military in Switzerland, though you can voluntarily enlist. 

How do Swiss people feel about military and national service? 

Generally, the obligation is viewed relatively positively, both by the general public and by those who take part in compulsory service. 

While several other European countries have gotten rid of mandatory service, a 2013 referendum which attempted to abolish conscription was rejected by 73 percent of Swiss voters. 

What is the court case and what does it say? 

Martin D. Küng, the lawyer from the Swiss canton of Bern who has driven the case through the courts, has a personal interest in its success. 

He was found unfit for service but is still required to pay an annual bill to the Swiss government, which was 1662CHF for the last year he was required to pay it. 

While the 36-year-old no longer has to pay the amount – the obligation only lasts between the ages of 18 and 30 – Küng is bring the case on principle. 

So far, Küng has had little success in the Swiss courts, with his appeal rejected by the cantonal administrative court and later by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. 

Previous Supreme Court cases, when hearing objections to men-only military service, said that women are less suitable for conscription due to “physiological and biological differences”.

In Küng’s case, the judges avoided this justification, saying instead that the matter was a constitutional issue. 

‘No objective reason why only men have to do military service’

He has now appealed the decision to the European level. 

While men have previously tried and failed when taking their case to the Supreme Court, no Swiss man has ever brought the matter to the European Court of Human Rights. 

Küng told the NZZ that he considered the rule to be unjust and said the Supreme Court’s decision is based on political considerations. 

“I would have expected the Federal Supreme Court to have the courage to clearly state the obvious in my case and not to decide on political grounds,” Küng said. 

“There is no objective reason why only men have to do military service or pay replacement taxes. On average, women may not be as physically productive as men, but that is not a criterion for excluding them from compulsory military service. 

There are quite a few men who cannot keep up with women in terms of stamina. Gender is simply the wrong demarcation criterion for deciding on compulsory service. If so, then one would have to focus on physical performance.”

Is it likely to pass? 

Küng is optimistic that the Strasbourg court will find in his favour, pointing to a successful appeal by a German man who complained about a fire brigade tax, which was only imposed on men. 

“This question has not yet been conclusively answered by the court” Küng said. 

The impact of a decision in his favour could be considerable, with European law technically taking precedence over Swiss law.

It would set Switzerland on a collision course with the bloc, particularly given the popularity of the conscription provision. 

Küng clarified that political outcomes and repercussions don’t concern him. 

“My only concern is for a court to determine that the current regulation is legally wrong.”

SHOW COMMENTS