A
Mexican political party has come under fire for bringing out topless
women in body paint at a campaign event promoting women's rights ahead
of weekend elections.
The
four women appeared at Tuesday's event in Mexico City wearing white
pants and turquoise paint over their breasts and stomachs -- the colors
of the small New Alliance Party.
The word "free yourself" was painted in their backs, under a drawing of an unfastened bra.
They
stood alongside New Alliance leader Luis Castro, who smiled and
applauded in front of a banner reading "For the Women and Girls of
Mexico City."
The
party, an ally of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in
Congress, was closing its campaign for seats on a constitutional
assembly for the capital.
The event was slammed by the federal government's National Women's Institute.
The
institute said in a statement it "condemns and regrets the existence of
political campaign strategies that denigrate women by exhibiting them
as objects and repeating the sexism and stereotypes that encourage
discrimination and violence."
The event was also criticized on social media, with Twitter users writing "misogynists," "very vulgar" or "how degrading."
