A vegan coffee shop owned by lesbians that offered women preferred seating and charged men an 18 percent ’man tax‘ in order to ’reflect the gender pay gap’ is going out of business in Melbourne, Australia.
Although the owners haven’t detailed the reasons behind the move, after only 2 years in business, it’s closing down for good on April 28.
Co-owner Alexandra O’Brien wrote a post on Facebook titled “A Handsome Farewell,” saying:
“When we opened Handsome Her in 2017, we expected that perhaps we might make a stir through our brazen public discussions of structural inequality and oppression.
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.
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 [expletive] 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 …”
Reactions over the announcement are both positive and negative, and as they wrap up during the last days of the coffee shop’s business, they ask customers to come to visit them before Handsome Her is no more. On the last day, the cafe is offering a “pay as you feel scheme” to the final clients.
The earnings will be donated to Maiti Nepal, a nonprofit organization said to be dedicated to “[protecting] Nepali girls and women from crimes like domestic violence, trafficking for flesh trade, child prostitution, child labor, and various forms of exploitation and torture.”
An Instagram comment said, “Is there anything we can do to keep you open? (My stage of grief: bargaining).”
Others were glad to see the cafe close.
“Get woke, go broke ... What has your cafe going bankrupt taught us? 1. Sexism in business is a bad idea 2. In the end, all you man haters care more about bringing men down than lifting one another,” one Instagram user wrote.
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