SINGAPORE — While mental health professional debate the next update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Singapore is taking a proactive – and violent – posture when it comes to non-consensual behavior of a fetish sort. According to the Straits Times, a 36-year-old man deemed to be “mentally unstable” was sentenced to 14 years in jail – and 18 strokes of a cane – for sniffing the armpits of unwilling women.
All told, 23 women found the man’s nose in their armpits during a 15 month period, primarily in elevators, staircases, and inside of their homes. A call to police by an assaulted homemaker resulted in his arrest, and the latest in a series of drug and sex-related offenses.
Because the man has a history of non-consensually touching and sniffing others, the court determined that the jail term, which is usually reserved for more dangerous criminals, was appropriate, given the likelihood that he would return to the behavior.
According to Reuters, caning of the buttock is administered to male criminals in Singapore who engage in illegal behavior including vandalism, rape, and possession of illegal drugs.
