Handsome Her, A Restaurant Famous For Their “Man Tax,” Is Now Closing

Over in Australia, there’s a vegan cafe, Handsome Her, that does something a little, well, unconventional. That is, they have a “man tax.” Just like women are made to pay extra for things like razors (which come with the “pink tax” — true story), this restaurant though it was necessary to give men a taste of their own medicine.

We can understand the restaurant’s motivations — AKA the deep and systemic patriarchy that plagues most countries — but a lot of people could not. It became, as the BBC put it, “the punching bag of the internet.” And if you’ve ever, literally for a single moment, been on the internet, you’ll know that it is filled with both misogyny and absurd conflations of feminism and misandry.

Because of accusations of “reverse sexism,” which, like “reverse racism,” isn’t actually real (but instead is a mixture of willful ignorance and sensitivity), the cafe was forced to shut its doors on April 28th.

When the cafe was open, it allowed women priority seating and charged men an extra 18 percent during one week out of the month. The extra percentage was supposed to reflect the pay gap between men and women in Australia.

In their Facebook post, they wrote that the ordeal “showed us how fragile masculinity is and solidified the necessity for us to confront and dismantle patriarchy.”

“We were just one little tiny shop on Sydney Rd that was trying to carve out a swathe of space to prioritize women and women’s issues, and suddenly we became the punching bag of Melbourne and the internet,” they continued to say.

And people on the internet had THOUGHTS:

If men are offended at this, then they’re both pussies and clueless.

— Who am I? 🇺🇸 (@triana922) April 25, 2019

At the end of their announcement, the cafe wrote that they didn’t shut down because of “male tears” or because of money, but because, “we have sold the business because we are young, educated, and off on our next adventure! For those of you who have run your own small business, you know how much time, blood, sweat and tears it takes, and we are looking forward to a slower, more deliberate way of living out in the world and putting our feminist, vegan, low-waste politics into practice.”

The restaurant actually had rules — the third rule said, “Respect goes both ways.” Amen to that.

Handsome Her: Australian vegan café to close after ‘man tax’ furore https://t.co/mUSIgPszqd

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 25, 2019

But some people just DO NOT get it. Like this, er, troll. For the record, being educated and inclusive actually does very well for companies.

Some people think the restaurant was right to charge the tax:

Only in an oppressive patriarchy like ours would charging men an extra 18% turn out to be an unsuccessful business model. https://t.co/KJfl8b70KN

— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) April 24, 2019

We’re not sure about this tweet (or its spelling) in any way, but one person presents an interesting idea. Should women have had a discount?

Of course, it’s no surprise that this question is being asked. In a perfect world, everyone would fight for equality, but many believe that equality is hard to fight for when the starting line is lacking so much parity to begin with.

Of course, one Twitter user posed a question worth asking.

Did the employees ask how people identify? Were queen men subjected to the same tax? What about male-presenting nonbinary customers?

How did the employees know what gender each customer identified as? Asking for a friend. https://t.co/h1RFEaR0SP

— Iam Swoboda (@iamswoboda) April 25, 2019

Whether or not you agree with the restaurant’s business model, the pay gap is real. According to The American Association of University Women (AAUW), women are paid a median of $41,000 to men’s $52,000.

And it’s even worse for women of color. Just look at this stat:

Of course, some people just wanted to know about the meat. Some people don’t love vegan food.

They lost me at vegan. Give me meat!

— OldCurmudgeon (@SmartAssSOB) April 25, 2019

In their final post, the restaurant says that all the items are pay as you wish:

“Maiti Nepal was born out of a crusade to protect Nepali girls and women from crimes like domestic violence, trafficking for flesh trade, child prostitution, child labor and various forms of abuse, exploitation and torture.”

We wish the restaurant owners the best of luck — and hope that their next venture, well, doesn’t inspire so much vitriol.