The next time you are eating an ice lolly in the office, be warned: you could be sexually harassing your colleagues.

That, at least, is the bizarre suggestion from a group of lawyers calling for new sexual harassment laws to include women who eat ‘too provocatively’ in public.

The Finnish team has even released a video showing a young female office worker sucking an ice lolly in a highly suggestive manner.

Male colleagues look away awkwardly as she moans and licks the lolly in the minute-long clip.

A question then appears on the screen asking: ‘Is this sexual harassment? We know the answer.’

The Finnish Lawyers Association, which represents thousands of legal experts in the country, said on its website: ‘We have released this video to raise a very difficult issue. Sexual harassment in the workplace can target anyone, men or women.

‘We fully intended to throw the cat among the pigeons and hope to stimulate debate about what is a very tricky legal area.

‘We also want to inform the public that if they are unsure about a complex situation they may have faced, lawyers are there to help them.’

An expert in EU laws on sexual harassment told French newspaper France-Soir: 'This video shows a woman consuming an ice cream in a totally exaggerated manner that would make any man raise his eyebrows.

'Across most of Europe, the law says that any gestures aimed deliberately at sexually intimidating another person are a criminal offence.

'This film shows it is sometimes difficult to know where to draw the line and that women as well as men can be guilty of sexual harassment.'

(Read by Christine Mallari. Christine Mallari is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)