Dancers in thongs at business gala

In France, the birthplace of the Moulin Rouge, a major agriculture conference threw a business party featuring an after-dinner cabaret show of women wearing little else besides rhinestone-studded thongs and bras.

Traders attending the European Commodities Exchange last week in Rouen, France, posted photos and video of the party on Twitter, some of which showed semi-naked women dancing on a stage to club-thumping music.

The gala was part of the official program of the conference, which was sponsored by major companies in the French agriculture and trading industry, including Euronext, Senalia and Soufflet Group.

“It was like the Moulin Rouge, albeit just scantily clad, not topless,” said Swithun Still, director of Solaris Commodities, a Swiss agriculture trading house.

When contacted by phone about the event, Stephane Menard, president of the Bourse de Commerce de Rouen, which organized the conference, declined to comment, but added that his wife, whom he called a feminist, found the event “classy and appropriate.”

The decision to hold a male-dominated corporate event with half-naked women highlights how there are differing views on what’s considered acceptable in a business setting.