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Painting with bare breasts removed from Swedish Riksdag dining room

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STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A painting of a bare-breasted woman has been removed from the Swedish Riksdag's guest dining room on orders from the legislature's deputy speaker.

Deputy Speaker Susanne Eberstein of the Social Democrat party ordered the painting, "Juno" by baroque artist G.E. Schroder, to be removed from the guest dining room, where it had hung since 1983, TheLocal.se reported Thursday.

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"We routinely change paintings from time to time," a Riksdag representative said in response to an inquiry from news agency TT.

A parliamentary source who asked to remain anonymous told TT lawmakers were concerned about the painting's effects on foreign visitors.

"You have to think of the foreign guests, especially those from Muslim countries," the source said.

Eberstein said the painting's removal was also for the comfort of herself and her fellow female officials.

"I think it is more a feminist issue. It's tiresome [looking at] a bare-breasted woman when I sit at public dinners with foreign guests. I think it feels a little hard to sit there with men who look at us women," Eberstein said.

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