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Feminism: chat

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

ManFriday needs you!

85 replies

SwearyG · 22/03/2018 11:56

After the runaway success of last week and the traction we have in the media (shitty interviews aside, but we'll ignore those) and they're keen to know what we're doing this week, and what would really help us is numbers. I hope that if we get enough companies to pull their self-ID stuff we can then start getting at the places where more vulnerable women will need protecting, possibly not with public activism but with discourse, but I think that might be us getting ahead of ourselves.

The plan for tomorrow is changing rooms. We know that Topshop, Primark, Marks and Spencer and Urban Outfitters have said that anyone who identifies as a woman can enter the women's changing rooms so the opposite will apply.

Clearly, it won't make a huge amount of impact as a single act in a single shop so we need numbers and social media impact to push this one. I can't dare to hope about the success of last week but I think bringing it to the attention of people who don't know who is allowed in their changing rooms has got to have some impact.

So here's what we need to do:

Pick one of the shops listed

Use one of the changing rooms. You could use the men's as it's man Friday or you could be a horrid man perving in the women's instead. Do what you're comfortable with.

Take photos - they can be of you changing, of the gaps around the curtain, of you outside the men's changing room, if you're brave and take a friend they could be of you inside the changing room taken around the curtain or under the door.

Tweet the company and @ManFriday_ and say something along the lines of how great it was to be in whichever changing room and how nice it was to be around all sorts of people in stages of undress. Say how you appreciate that your feelings are being considered as more important than the safety, privacy and dignity of everyone else in there. You can say stuff about vulnerability too, go to town with your 280 characters.

Don't forget to add the hashtag #manfriday

I know it's something little, but it is something most people would be able to do in a lunch hour or small part of their day and the more people we have the better in the media. We will get better press coverage, and therefore maybe companies rethinking their policies with greater numbers.

Swim England have taken down their guidance, silently, we don't know what they're going to do next, but it does feel like if nothing else we've made people think.

If you're concerned that it won't make a difference, remember that people are still talking about this in the national press in a world where we live in a 24 hour news cycle. Just from two women going for a swim.

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NoSquirrels · 22/03/2018 12:00

Swim England have taken down their guidance, silently, we don't know what they're going to do next, but it does feel like if nothing else we've made people think.

Wow! That’s huge. Well done!