Streaking and mooning are now crimes in one Australian state

A streaker in Australia is tackled by security guards.
(Image credit: Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

Before you decide to streak your way through the Australian state of Victoria, ask yourself this: Is it worth spending two to six months in prison?

Under new legislation overhauling sexual offense laws, streaking and mooning are banned, with first-time offenders facing up to two months in jail and repeat offenders six months, the BBC reports. The acts were once punishable under other laws, but are now banned under the new legislation, which was designed to differentiate between pranks done in the nude and acts of sexual exposure.

Both mooning and streaking are considered under the Summary Offenses Act to be "behavior that is indecent, offensive, or insulting that involves a person exposing (to any extent) the person's anal or genital region." The act also puts the kibosh on singing "an obscene song or ballad" and behaving in a "riotous, indecent, offensive, or insulting manner."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.