That’s what the disgusting videos are all about

The Munich Oktoberfest attracts millions of revelers every year, but it also has its downsides. There are currently humiliating videos circulating online of women whose dirndls fly up on the devil’s wheel – often with no consequences for the perpetrators.

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Several hundred people gather on Munich’s Theresienwiese every day to celebrate, eat and drink. For many people, Oktoberfest is the highlight of the year. But the folk festival is not a blast for everyone. Because where there is a lot of alcohol, the boundaries of what is appropriate often disappear.

There are currently more and more videos circulating on social media that are more than inappropriate. You can see photos of the so-called Devil’s Wheel, where visitors try to stay seated on the ever-faster rotating disk for as long as possible. It is clear that dirndl skirts will fly up. What is problematic, however, is that some viewers use this as an opportunity to capture the view under the skirt on film. In slow motion, zoomed in, sometimes even with special action cameras.

The videos on YouTube have hair-raising titles such as “Stunning, hot girls in the devil’s wheel,” as the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reports. Some of them have been viewed millions of times and borderline commented on. One user writes that he watched the video countless times and paused at a certain point. Hundreds sign him up.

A 33-year-old woman who can be seen in one of the videos told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper:

“Upskirting” has been a punishable offense in Germany since 2021.

Not only inappropriate, but punishable

However, what some would probably dismiss as harmless jokes is a punishable offense in Germany. Since 2021, so-called “upskirting” has been considered a sexual offense and is punished with a fine or imprisonment of up to two years.

Proving the criminal offense at the popular attraction is not that easy, as the Munich police told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. You have to be able to prove that not the entire situation was filmed, but explicitly only the intimate area. That is not the case with the videos from the devil’s wheel.

Even a prohibition sign in front of the ride doesn’t seem to help much. The ban is difficult to control, says the operator Elisabeth Polaczy to the SZ. If a man in the audience made a particularly conspicuous film, their employees approached him and, if necessary, called the police.

So far only one person has been arrested for “upskirting” at this year’s Oktoberfest, according to press releases from the Munich police. Accordingly, a man deliberately took photos under the skirt of a 32-year-old in a festival tent.

Safe space for women at the Oktoberfest

Sexually assaultive behavior occurs again and again at the Oktoberfest. For example, the “Safe Oktoberfest for Girls* and Women*” campaign reported that 310 girls and women visited the campaign’s Safe Space on the Oktoberfest grounds last year. The association campaigns against sexual assault and supports women in emergency situations.

In 24 cases, girls and women received advice at the contact point in 2023 due to acutely experienced violence, the campaign also reports. The attacks range from unwanted touching to unwanted kisses and “upskirting” to serious sexual assault. The demand for the offer has increased “significantly” in recent years, as can be seen from the Safe Space campaign’s Instagram account.

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