Bar slammed for serving food off naked women

An Australian bar has been condemned on social media for using near-naked women as fruit platters at its grand re-opening.

Credit: Twitter @melanie_james

Cruise Bar in Sydney hosted a tropical-themed party to mark its re-opening, with its celebrations including inviting guests to eat fruit off the bodies of scantily clad women.

Dozens of pictures of the event were shared on social media sites, which were largely met with shock, disgust and contempt, with the bar widely criticised for objectifying women.

Melanie James, an academic from the University of Newcastle in Australia, voiced her disgust at the display calling it “unacceptable” via Twitter.

She later posted a blog to the university’s site detailing her response to the scenes, writing: “Having women acting as fruit platters at an upmarket Sydney soiree is designed to perhaps titillate, and to certainly generate a reaction from the viewer. Pleasure? Discomfort? Horror? Uncertainty? The designer of such a display doesn’t care as long as there is a reaction.”

While there were also scantily male models at the event, they were not used in the same way, as Nora Fries pointed out writing on the Cruise Bar’s Facebook page.

“They weren’t lying on their backs like slabs of meat being offered to the public”, she said. “And if they were, it’d be just as disgusting. It’s not the nudity. It’s the objectification of the human body, and for either gender, it’s sickening.”

Ulrike Zimmermann added: “Are you out of your minds? Serving food on women’s bodies is not only tasteless but is also promoting a culture where women are objectified. This is the 21st century and it is NOT ok.”

The Cruise Bar is yet to comment on the incident.

Ugh @KatePeckme: Tonight, before I started work, I needed to dress a girls breasts in bananas. #cruisebar #sydney pic.twitter.com/bXiOMn18Pr”

— Melanie James (@melanie_james) August 26, 2015