Reephdweller
11-12-2003, 08:32 PM
Sushi in the raw: Restaurant's displays get women's group steamed
By J. Patrick Coolican
Seattle Times staff reporter
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.
"It's dehumanizing, the manner in which people are buying and selling sushi to be eaten off a woman's body. It's dehumanizing to be treated as a plate," said Cherry Cayabyab, president of the Seattle chapter of National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum.
The restaurant, which has featured naked sushi monthly since May and every Saturday night this fall, could be called a capital of the Seattle lounge kingdom.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2001788074&zsection_id=2001780260&slug=sushi11m&date=20031111]http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2001788074&zsection_id=2001780260&slug=sushi11m&date=20031111
http://www.citycent.com/CCC/Pasadena/wok/Wokgirlra.jpg
Hmmmmm is that the sushi that smells like fish....or the model?
<center><IMG SRC="http://www.chaoticconcepts.com/randomizer/random.php?uid=3">
<B>Horde King Forever!! <strike>The Oracle Never!!</strike></b></center>
<font size="1" color="red">
<marquee behavior=alternate bgcolor="#FFFFFF">Right now you could care less about me...
but soon enough you will care, by the time I'm done</marquee> </font>
This message was edited by Gvac on 11-13-03 @ 6:04 AM
By J. Patrick Coolican
Seattle Times staff reporter
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.
"It's dehumanizing, the manner in which people are buying and selling sushi to be eaten off a woman's body. It's dehumanizing to be treated as a plate," said Cherry Cayabyab, president of the Seattle chapter of National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum.
The restaurant, which has featured naked sushi monthly since May and every Saturday night this fall, could be called a capital of the Seattle lounge kingdom.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2001788074&zsection_id=2001780260&slug=sushi11m&date=20031111]http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2001788074&zsection_id=2001780260&slug=sushi11m&date=20031111
http://www.citycent.com/CCC/Pasadena/wok/Wokgirlra.jpg
Hmmmmm is that the sushi that smells like fish....or the model?
<center><IMG SRC="http://www.chaoticconcepts.com/randomizer/random.php?uid=3">
<B>Horde King Forever!! <strike>The Oracle Never!!</strike></b></center>
<font size="1" color="red">
<marquee behavior=alternate bgcolor="#FFFFFF">Right now you could care less about me...
but soon enough you will care, by the time I'm done</marquee> </font>
This message was edited by Gvac on 11-13-03 @ 6:04 AM