Reply #49: The gesture in itself, is crude, and rude, but it is the accompanying

[MADem]

PHRASE that makes the obscenity complete. I've lived in Italy, and that gesture in and of itself, so long as it isn't executed FORCEFULLY, can simply be a slightly rude way of being 'dismissive.' You can use it when you are discussing politics, for example, and you disagree with a point of view. When directed specifically at a person, though, and accompanied by verbiage that is literally translated as "GO FUCK YOURSELF" it is plainly obscene. However, that bit did not accompany the original reports.