Sushi in the raw: Restaurant's displays get women's group steamed
Somehow, I don't think I'll be taking Susan out to dinner at this place....
Saturday night at Bonzai in Pioneer Square, a nearly naked woman is laid out on a table. A chef slices sushi behind her, to be arrayed on her torso, bare except for a sheath of plastic wrap and some decorative flower petals.
Chopsticks at the ready, patrons line up.
Hours earlier, across town on the campus of the University of Washington, eight activists, mostly Asian-American women, express outrage at what they call the prostitution of sushi and the exploitation of women. They plot their strategy.
Welcome to a clash of values — Seattle style.
While the promoter and the sushi model say this melding of prandial and sexual is performance art, Bonzai's patrons — men and women of various ethnicities — say it merely adds to the restaurant's sensual vibe.
Opponents say treating women like a serving platter reinforces attitudes that make domestic and sexual violence so prevalent.
Umm...outside of stretching the definition of tableware, this strikes me as pure silliness- on both sides. Performance art? Glorifying sexual violence? Y'all need to get over yourselves here. Ignore it, and it will likely and deservedly fade away quickly. This sort of silliness has only whatever symbolic value you choose to see in it. Me? I think I'll just go through the drive-through lane.
