A vegan, feminist cafe that charged an 18% “man tax” is going out of business after opening just two years ago, according to the Blaze.
Upon its opening, the Australian cafe, Handsome Her announced it would charge male customers an 18 percent premium for one week every month to reflect the gender pay gap. According to NPR, the tax was optional.
The cafe’s three rules included, “Women have priority seating,” “Men will be charged an 18% premium to reflect the gender pay gap (2016) which is donated to a women’s service,” and “Respect goes both ways.”
Would LOVE everyones thoughts on this. My friends cafe in #Brunswick, Handsom Her – is for women by women AND an has a 18% gender tax! pic.twitter.com/tVSX3PO4q8
— Paige Cardona (@paigecardona) August 3, 2017
In a farewell post on Facebook, the cafe said the public’s response to the man tax was proof of how fragile masculinity is.
“The man tax blew up the internet, an idea that we didn’t think was all too radical, yet the way the world responded showed us how fragile masculinity is and solidified the necessity for us to confront and dismantle patriarchy” wrote the cafe.
The post continues, “We were just one little tiny shop on Sydney Rd that was trying to carve out a swathe of space to prioritise women and women’s issues, and suddenly we became the punching bag of Melbourne and the internet. Yes, we are the evil, discriminatory, man-hating dykes who charge men more when didn’t you know the wage gap doesn’t even exist!? Meanwhile gentlemen’s social clubs live on and strong around Melbourne and the world over…”
For the full report click HERE.
