A weird rumor recently spread throughout the internet, claiming that Sweden had legalized sex as a sport and was planning a competition. Deep investigation was done by Gistmast.
The Times of India, one of India's most well-known and renowned publications, has a headline on its website that says, "Sweden Will Soon Host the European Sex Championship." The article claims that Sweden has recognized sex as a sport and will hold a competition where participants would have daily interactions lasting up to six hours to see who is the greatest at it.
According to reports, the competition was supposed to start in the city of Gothenburg on June 8.
The assertion has also been made by other mainstream media outlets and their social media channels. The Swedish sports organization, however, has refuted the existence of any such event.
The story was also carried by a few Pakistani websites. Even the involvement of Greek competitors in the competition was reported on this Greek portal. A Nigerian website and the prominent South African media outlet IOL both covered the story.
The well-known German media outlet RTL polled users as part of a story on the event, asking them: "What do you think about recognizing sex as a sport?"
But is the story to good to be true? Let's have a closer look.
Claim: Sweden has formally recognized sex as a sport and will hold its first-ever sex tournament this week.
Fact check: False
"All this information is false," Anna Setzman, spokesperson for the Swedish Sports Confederation, said in a written statement from Stockholm to DW. "Right now, false information is being spread in some international media about Sweden and Swedish sports," she added. "These are vigorously denied."
How did it all start?
Göteborgs-Posten, one of the major Swedish-language dailies, reported that a Swedish man named Dragan Bratic was behind the whole drama.
According to the newspaper, Bratic owns several strip clubs and wanted sex to be classified as a sport. He submitted an application to become a member of the confederation in January of this year. The Swedish Sports Confederation confirmed to DW that there was an individual who claimed there was a sex federation and applied for membership, but the application was rejected in May.
"The Swedish Sports Confederation has drawn attention to the fact that in some parts of the international media news is currently being spread that a sex federation has become member of the Swedish Sports Confederation," Setzman said in the statement. "It is false information with the aim of smearing Swedish sports and Sweden."
Another prominent Indian media house associated with CNBC published "details" on how to participate in the event, even including an email address associated with a "Swedish Sex Federation." Interestingly, a website with that name does exist, but it led to a pornography website with a different URL that is currently running a countdown for the "tournament" and claims that it will livestream the event.
The confederation categorically denied any collaboration with a sex organization. "There is no sex federation that is a member of the Swedish Sports Confederation," said Setzman.
Sex is taboo?
Sex is a taboo topic for many countries. And Nordic countries are known for hosting some unusual competitions, such as wife carrying and the World Sauna Championship (which came to an end in 2010 after the death of a participant). However, a sex competition is not one of them.
Numerous media outlets from South Asia showed interest in the topic without checking the facts, including this misguided video by the India Today group, another reputable media house.
Other outlets published misleading articles. One explained how knowledge of the Kamasutra, an ancient Sanskrit scripture on eroticism and sex, would aid participants in the event, only to reveal in the last paragraph that the championship was fake news.
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