A Sydney bar has come under fire for using naked women's bare bodies as serving platters, in a "sexist" publicity stunt.
At Cruise Bar's relaunch party on Wednesday night, women were hired to lie nude on long tables, with only fruit to protect their modesty.
Some guests at the ship-themed bar, which is a popular venue in the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney’s Circular Quay, were even fed fruit by the naked women.
The topless women were allowed to wear only skimpy, skin-coloured underwear beneath the fruit.
After pictures of the event appeared on social networking sites, Twitter users called for a boycott of the venue, condemning the bar for objectifying women.
Academic Melanie James tweeted: "This is the display tonight at the Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal Cruise Bar - unacceptable. #destroythejoint"
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">This is the display tonight at the Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal Cruise Bar - unacceptable. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/destroythejoint?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2923536-https://twitter.com/hashtag/destroythejoint?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#destroythejoint</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://t.co/aasWBgSQO2" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2923536-http://t.co/aasWBgSQO2" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/aasWBgSQO2</a> — Melanie James (@melanie_james) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/melanie_james/status/636505045790420992" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2923536-https://twitter.com/melanie_james/status/636505045790420992" data-vars-event-id="c23">August 26, 2015</a>
She later said in a blog post: "Article 5 of the Declaration of Human Rights, to which Australia is a signatory, says no one shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment.
"Objectification is such treatment. It is unacceptable in 2015 to ask women to be employed as decorative food platters."
Michaela Hallett also tweeted: "@JointDestroyer boycott Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal cruise bar #sexism #appalling"
And Steve Williams posted: “Appalling. Women used as serving trays at Sydney bar in PR stunt.”
