Don’t mess with Abbie Chatfield – Is sexism now the new racism? It would appear so. Originally, I wasn’t going to cover this, but I saw what happened on Instagram and thought, “What the hell, I’ll do it as a BaBS post.” So, for those who don’t know, the Wash Online, which is a reality star gossip page, posted to their Instagram about an incident that happened to her and her boyfriend while they were in Italy.
According to Abbie, she and her boyfriend were dining at a ritzy restaurant in Italy, where they were given menus. Abbie’s menu didn’t have prices on it. Her partner’s menu did. Her boyfriend told her that the items were expensive.
Abbie, who is the breadwinner of the two of them, asked how he knew that. He explained that his menu had prices on it. She took to her TikTok account to vent her frustrations. The video can be found on the Wash Online’s Instagram account linked above. Anyway, the aftermath could NOT have been predicted. The Italian media were hating on her. She was stalked by the paparazzi and had men telling her to “go back to your shitty country.”
The story even ended up in the Italian edition of Grazia magazine. I won’t link it as it’s written in Italian. Also, it’s featured on the Wash Online post if you’re curious.
Now, I have no love for reality television. I never have. All it contains is people shitting on each other. If I wanted to see that, I’d go to the wrestling. The reason I wanted to cover this, is due to how often we’ve seen sexism play out in the media. This is not a new concept, as it has existed for decades.
Sexism Is All Over The Media – The Academy Awards
So, as you all know, the Oscars were a couple of weeks ago, and all people are still talking about is Will Smith slapping Chris Rock for insulting his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. I have some thoughts on this, but I won’t cover that here. What I wanted to discuss is the sexism that exists within the Academy when it comes to films directed by women.
The Oscars has been running since 1929, and in that time, only three women have won Best Director.
Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director in 2010 for The Hurt Locker, Chloé Zhao won for Nomadland in 2021, and Jane Campion won for Power of the Dog this year. Women who have been nominated for the award include:
- Jane Campion – The Piano (1993) – first nomination – the first woman to be nominated
- Sofia Coppola – Lost In Translation (2003)
- Greta Gerwig – Ladybird (2017)
- Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman (2021)
As you can see from what I’ve put above, the Academy doesn’t appear to care that women are equally good at directing as men. Now, I understand that the first fifty or so years had men as winners as women in directing roles was relevantly unheard of during this period. However, when Jane Campion was nominated for 1992’s The Piano, it should’ve been a wake-up call.
Last year’s awards should’ve been groundbreaking as there were two women nominated in the directing category for the first time. To have two female directors win in two years shows that there is a tiny shift. Yes, there have been women who have done hosting duties over the years, but much more needs to be done to minimise the sexism of the past. It won’t undo it entirely, but it’s a start.
Was Abbie Right To Call Out The Sexism?
To end this post, we need to ask whether Abbie did the right thing in calling out the sexism she faced. My answer to that is yes. She should have, and she had every right to do so. How is it okay for a foreign restaurant can treat anyone with disrespect? It shouldn’t matter if they’re from that particular country or not.
How is vilifying a foreign media personality helping anyone? The story went relatively unnoticed here in Australia outside of perhaps half a dozen reports in the Australian entertainment sphere. The world is not divided into men and women. All genders should be seen as equal. Without one, the other cannot exist.
The Italian restaurant that Abbie called out should be ashamed. We do NOT live in the 20th Century, nor do we follow the old examples of men being more important than women. If they want sales, they need to treat their patrons like equals. Also, it’s disgusting that Abbie was stalked by the paps and told by men to get out of Italy for simply having an opinion.
