Are 'female friendly' restaurants sexist?

[theHandpuppet]

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27353005
Are 'female friendly' restaurants sexist? By Anthony Zurcher
Editor, Echo Chambers

Granted, I live in small-town WV but I had no idea there were actually restaurants for women. I am interested in your opinions on this article because from this description I wouldn't feel comfortable there anyway -- I'd just want to hide under a table somewhere.

(excerpt)
At least that's one explanation for the proliferation of "female-friendly" restaurants such as the steakhouse chains STK and SHe, and the Washington DC area sports bar the Bracket Room.

Unfortunately, writes the Week's Kaitlin Roberts, most of these restaurants miss the mark.

SHe, for instance, features "smaller, 'she-sized' steak portions, mirrors on the dessert menus so women could reapply their lipstick and 'sexy' decor".

And then there's the catwalk, she notes, "where women in scanty clothing perform for the restaurant's female and male guests".

Yuck. I have to agree with Jessica Sidman of the Washington City Paper, who writes:

Sidman thinks she knows what's really behind this trend. These restaurants aren't trying to attract women - they're trying to attract men who want to go where they think they can find women.