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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

M&S + John Lewis - your poor Christmas sales will be due to the contempt you've shown your female customers

482 replies

Sunkisses · 10/01/2020 10:26

It's all over the news that M&S and John Lewis have had terrible Christmas sales. I am absolutely sure this is due to the terrible press coverage they received and viral threads of Twitter about how they allow men into the female changing rooms, the contempt they treated their female customers with when we voiced our complaints, and the 1,000s of us who pledged not to shop with them over Christmas. I stuck by my pledge over Christmas and they lost about £1,000 of custom from me with gifts and food. Anyone else kept up their boycott?

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LangCleg · 10/01/2020 23:09

I never ever realised what was out there.

Yep. As I said earlier, once you've had the last piece of crap rammed down your throat and you get off your backside and find replacements, you suddenly realise how little you got for your quid beyond bullshit virtue signalling marketing and also how many are the better ways you can spend it. And you'll never go back.

High streets re-energised!

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily · 10/01/2020 23:08

"Nothing you do makes any difference" turns into "you, personally, are putting shops out of business" so easily when the first tactic isn't working.

Excellent point, TheProdigalKittensReturn. I thought we were just being silly powerless women. Confused

Grin
NextdoorNeighbourIsATwat · 10/01/2020 23:05

Yup, I stuck to my boycott. Fuck 'em

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily · 10/01/2020 23:03

PegasusReturns It’s great, isn’t it. Of course I don’t always know what’s going to be in the vegetable box, on top off the usual veg, such as spuds, carrots, etc. One week it could be squash and the next it might be beetroot, but it’s great, because it has made me think more about local produce and what I cook.

I get a really good feeling from supporting females that run smaller businesses. My veg box supplier is a woman, I buy most of my bread from a local woman that runs a similar ‘box’ business. Actually my toiletries, such as bars of soap, deodorant bars, hair shampoo bars, are even made by a woman who runs a small independent business in Co Down. Thanks to so many going woke, I’ve been amazed by what I can get by staying away from those stores. I never ever realised what was out there. Just today I bought hand cream made by her, from the local artisan cafe/shop, again, run by a woman. Don’t worry I buy from men to, such as the neighbour two streets away who grows flowers or buys them from the market.

Actually, come to think of it, wtf are you other posters talking about, when you try to guilt us because we won’t spend our money in big stores that pay those working class women shit wages? I’m improving the lives of women, by giving my money directly to them. What are you doing to support women in business or the small independent stores. Fucking hypocritical attitude.

Tocopherol · 10/01/2020 22:57

Exercise all the choice you want - I haven't told you what to do with your money - but maybe read the thread? Plenty of posts expressing positive feelings at the idea of them going bust. Hoping they do, in fact.

I didn't particularly like regularly cleaning spunk out of the ladies' loos at my former place of work, but to be unemployed and poor is to loose your dignity, privacy, and safety too.

TheProdigalKittensReturn · 10/01/2020 22:55

I personally would prefer my workers rights to include not having to pick up semen encrusted clothing. Apparently M&S have been failing their workers there for quite some time.

(How expensive are disposable gloves? FFS.)

Dangerfloof · 10/01/2020 22:55

All clothes shops in the UK allow trans women to use the female changing rooms
Not my little independent, which I was too terrified to try before m and s did there sly thing. Let's be honest if they actually believe it's all fine and dandy then advertise it, in every paper, on every stupid jumper advert, on social media the works.
So I didnt spend any money at m and s motorway services, and Christmas was done by pipers farm. No drama, this is affecting m and s but not me particularly.

BaileysMadeMeDoIt · 10/01/2020 22:54

Trans isn't the issue though is it? The real issue is that M&S introduced a policy that customers should use the changing rooms that they felt comfortable using - ie any man could enter the women's changing rooms unchallenged. Unsurprisingly women are not happy about that. I have never bought clothes in M&S so I can't boycott them but I fully understand why others have decided to.

LangCleg · 10/01/2020 22:53

Oh my goodness! The neoliberal wokeists have discovered workers rights! Would those include not being forced to provide intimate fitting services to members of the opposite sex, perhaps?

This is where my M&S money was diverted to: high street butcher, farm shop, farmers market, small independent women's clothes shop, small independent candle and soap shop, online woman-owned vegan confectionery shop.

A much more ethical spend. A supporting the local High Street spend. A supporting small business spend. A supporting women-led small business spend.

Also: an anti-Woke capitalist spend. So last year, this Woke shite.

OhHolyJesus · 10/01/2020 22:51

I'm off to bed T0tally you're right I can't be bothered anyway, the thing is as a Saturday girl a million years ago I had to remove semen soaked underwear (women's thongs) from the men's changing rooms. I used to use a coat hanger so I didn't have to touch them as the retailer/employer didn't provide gloves.

So I sympathise, I can't imagine how stressful and uncomfortable it must be these days, now they get to do it in the women's.

TheProdigalKittensReturn · 10/01/2020 22:51

"Nothing you do makes any difference" turns into "you, personally, are putting shops out of business" so easily when the first tactic isn't working.

PegasusReturns · 10/01/2020 22:48

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily me too and it’s actually been enjoyable.

We’re a family of 6 and I work FT so not possible to totally avoid a supermarket shop but I’ve switched to a weekly food box delivery and I get all my meat at the local butcher.

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily · 10/01/2020 22:46

FWIW I have great sympathy for the employees who have to manage the changing rooms. What a nightmare.

Don’t try to explain yourself to those posters. They don’t actually care about that, they just want to kickstart your female socialisation that causes feelings of guilt. They’re disingenuous at best.

OhHolyJesus · 10/01/2020 22:45

Ruffle ameliorate is a brilliant word and a focus group is a great idea. Too late now of course but there's that stakeholders meeting and community engagement...

corporate.marksandspencer.com/sustainability/delivering-plan-a/listening-and-taking-action

DickDewy · 10/01/2020 22:44

No. We buy pretty much all our food from M&S, I won’t be boycotting.

And John Lewis is the mother ship. I love it.

snowblight · 10/01/2020 22:41

We are not rubbing our hands with glee

Not sure how previous comments on this thread like 'I hope they go bust' sit with that.

RuffleCrow · 10/01/2020 22:41

What's 'female' @snowblight? Can't wait to hear your non-circular definition of the people you pretend to care about Grin

I am working class, and an adult human female, so logic dictates i care. However, it is not the role of women of any demographic to ameliorate the poor business decisions of retailers they shop from.

Retailers, if you're willing to pay, however, i'm sure we can form some kind of common-sense based focus group to help you stop fucking up.

boatyardblues · 10/01/2020 22:40

To be honest, their stores are such an effing jumble I often search for what I want online and then go into the store and show staff the screengrabs on my phone and ask where they’ve hidden it. Or did...

OhHolyJesus · 10/01/2020 22:37

M&S decided to close 110 stores in 2016 and to have them closed by 2022 as part of a restructure to encourage online sales.

Those who don't get redeployed and end up redundant will not be blaming those here who did their Christmas food shop in Adsa.

We are not rubbing our hands with glee, we are exercising our choice as customers, not undermining the profit and loss columns of a multi-national retailer with a feminist master plan.

FWIW I have great sympathy for the employees who have to manage the changing rooms. What a nightmare.

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily · 10/01/2020 22:31

Oh dear. I think the toys are about to start to fly out of the prams. Not long now. Duck GC feminists. 😁

boatyardblues · 10/01/2020 22:30

Is that the sound of a barrel being scraped?

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily · 10/01/2020 22:28

Tell you what Tocopherol, I’ll decide where my boundaries lie and you can determine yours. To cry and preach about working class women losing jobs, while you’re happy for them to lose their rights to dignity, privacy and safety, really rubs me the wrong way. You’re welcome to make your stand and I’ll make mine. 🤷‍♀️

snowblight · 10/01/2020 22:28

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justcly · 10/01/2020 22:28

@AvaSnowdrop:
I want to dress like the clothes at Toast but they’re out of my budget.

I've just gone pure barmy in their sale. I was bragging to my g/f about how much I've saved and she just sniffed dismissively and said "You haven't saved anything. You've just spent the GDP of a developing country."

Ihatesundays · 10/01/2020 22:27

I do still use M&S food hall as there are gluten free foods I get from there for DD. Except they keep pissing about with the range over Christmas, even though they sell out of these items.
I probably would still buy clothes from there. I live in a town and don’t have a lot of access to different clothes shops but the stuff is disgusting generally. The clothes for DD (pre teen) are equally horrible.
That and the changing room issue (hasn’t been an issue for me as I haven’t tried anything on in years, maybe that’s the plan - anyone can use the changing rooms but no one will want to) makes me feel like they want to go bust... they’re making a good job of it .