Abbie Chatfield Is Getting Trolled By Italian Men After She Slammed The Country’s Sexist Traditions
Abbie Chatfield is enjoying a holiday in Italy with her partner Konrad Bien-Stephen, but all the way across the other side of the world, controversy has followed her.
The couple visited Scotland for a friend’s wedding before travelling to Venice and Lake Como. It was at an expensive Venice restaurant where Abbie posted an Instagram Story and TikTok acting astonished when she was given a menu with no prices on it — yet Konrad was handed a different menu, a menu that listed the cost of the meals.
Watch Abbbie’s reaction on TikTok below:
@abbiechatfieldFirst time travelling with money is WILD!!!!♬ original sound – Abbie Chatfield
Abbie was left baffled by the restaurant’s policy. “He got a menu with prices on it and I didn’t? I’m the breadwinner. The patriarchy strikes again,” she seethed.
I mean, she’s got a point.
It turns out that quite a few upmarket Italian restaurants have a ‘ladies menu’ which appears to shield women from learning how much the meals on the menu cost.
Maybe we get confused?! Maybe we need not worry about finances?! Maybe like men, we have a goddamn right to know what we are paying as a patron at a restaurant.
Ladies menus are not an Italian phenomenon, they were common in the US and throughout Europe, but obviously started to be phased out as the women’s rights movements ignited. However, Italian restaurants have failed to evolve with the times.
After her rant, Abbie realised she had made headlines in Italy. “I have made the Italian news because I spoke about getting a menu without prices and now I have lots of angry Italian men in my DMs saying I need to ‘get some class’ because I dared say I should know how much I’m paying,” she said in an Instagram Story.
Abbie shared some of the DMs she had received from Italian men, who were infuriated that she would dare to question their traditions. “The Italians are continuing to come after me and I am being tagged in stories saying ‘go home’,” she said on Instagram. “A lot of sexist men are in my DMs saying it isn’t about gender but calling it a ‘ladies menu’. So it is a sexist notion. Sorry, the notion is sexist — get a grip.”
One commenter even told Abbie that her father must finance her lifestyle, which is comical given Abbie’s wide-sweeping success as an influencer, podcaster, and radio host.
Abbie is not the first person to criticise this archaic tradition. In an article by The Telegraph back in 2017, the writer was equally baffled by this sexist system that assumes men pay and women don’t. Last year, an Argentinian fashion blogger also called out a Milan restaurant for handing her a “blind menu”, while giving her male companions a priced menu.
“The worst thing is that they justify this by saying it only happens in restaurants of a certain level. So does that mean women cannot pay if we are talking about a more expensive meal?” blogger Agustina Gandolfo said on Instagram.
Thankfully, while Abbie has been trolled by some Italian men, the country’s women have sent her messages of support — they agree with her.
Amen, our Italian sisters. Ladies menus suck!!
If Australia’s Abbie actually plays a part in these misogynistic menus being phased out, then we couldn’t be any more proud.