http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html
(I cannot link this site for some odd reason!!)
This world that I happen to live in, seems to be getting more and more impossible and not appearing interesting enough to some, unless there is a beautifully naked woman on the scene, serving a dish of sushi in a popular japanese restaurant (check out this news http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_308175057.html) or in this case, giving a sign language lesson!
My first response to the post, 'Naked Sign Language News in Japan', created by Prof. Steven Fedorowicz was rather a sense of surprise than disgust at the fact that nudity is in fact everywhere, even in a society that is relatively considered as a minority. When I say this, let me clarify that my surprise of this naked sign language lessons was not due to any kind of expectation as to the nudity in a minority group like deaf people is not acceptable or a way out of the ordinary. The nudity is an unusual concept for any other groups within the society. Surely there are many aesthetic views to the nudity and of course, pornography. It can be definitely seen as deaf people taking an interesting angle towards their means of communication in a form of nude. Furthermore if such a lesson is a result of their (deaf people) effort to insinuate into the society that this minority group of people are, in fact, no less than any other healthy people who would portray themselves in or expose freely to the nudity. However I found it quite dubious whether it is an effective way to attract people's attention on the deaf society. I guess this matter lies on the question, who the target audience is that this naked sign language lesson aimed to be presented to. Followed by, there is a bunch of questions waiting to be answered if it was aimed for non-deaf people,supposedly wanting to learn the sign language or perhaps just interested in some pornographical effect. Why on earth would they choose this particular method to pursue their goal? No doubt there are a lot of other effective sources in a case to study the language and surely there will be more than plenty of pornography out there on the internet! In this aspect, the purpose of this particualr concept of teaching the sign language is too vague and somewhat strange to say these lessons are effective in order to bring people's awareness into the deaf society.
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You provide some interesting ideas and questions here. Yes, who is the target audience? Are people (whether deaf or hearing) tuning in to a porno network to get the news of the world? And who is creating/producing the show? Are deaf people involved in the production? From the few clips I have seen, the sign language quality is questionable... Your comparison of naked sushi and naked sign language is interesting.
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