The naked truth on Zocalo photo shoot

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The fallout continues from last weekend’s much-publicized group nude photo shoot by Brooklyn artist Spencer Tunick, which attracted a record 18,000 people to strip in the middle of Mexico City’s Zocalo, or central plaza.

Many of those who took part in the event said it was a liberating, exhilarating experience, as these videos demonstrate.

At a news conference, Tunick declared that “all eyes are looking south from the United States to Mexico City to see how a country can be free and treat the naked body as art. Not as pornography or as a crime, but with happiness and caring.”

But in recent days, a number of women who got naked have gone public with their complaints about Tunick’s decision to make a separate shot of just the women, after allowing the men to get dressed.

Large numbers of men took advantage of the situation to stand around and ogle the females, taking pictures and shouting insults, according to numerous accounts.

After starting the day feeling “on the same level as men,” and sharing in a “secure and happy” common experience, one female participant wrote in a May 12 letter to editor of the Mexico City newspaper Reforma, the women ended up feeling “like sheep” on their way to a “visual and verbal slaughterhouse.”

“What a shame, Mr. Tunick!” the writer concluded. “And what a shame to all those that contributed to our shame.”

Posted by Reed Johnson in Mexico City