I made a mistake of going into Lush and trying to buy...

I won’t shop there or the Body Shop. Awful.

Soooo according to most posts in this section of mumsnet, gender and sex are the same

Ummm nope. Sex is a scientific reality. Gender is a bunch of outdated stereotypes.

honestly it's like they've eradicated men from LUSH...

I won’t spend any money with them until they put the same effort into eradicating men from women’s spaces.

Bloody Lush. I was once given by the DC a bathbomb that contain raisins. It was a Christmas pudding monstrosity. I never want to experience the the surprise of raisins lurking and at the bottom of a cloudy bath ever again. It was most uncomfortable.

Plus the overpowering smell of the shop and hardcore sales tactics and the politics now

This is quite the reach.

They've always been shit at catering for men. DH likes a bath bomb but they don't make a single one without some sort of glitter or iridescence, funnily enough DH isn't keen on sparkling.

They have always been too woke for their own good.

It's a shame about BS but I won't shop there until they stop throwing women under the bus and apologize

I will never forgive them for making that post to JKR while she was getting death and rape threats.

You should have gone to The Body Shop instead. Not only do they have a men's section but the staff after an initial 'hello can I help you & then a if you need me I will be over here' they leave you alone.
Plus I've also seen them point out products that aren't in the men's section that would be appealing to the male sex such as the Hemp range, soaps, shower gels, fragrances etc.
My DF loves their normal White Musk range (the one that's usually worn by women) as he says it reminds him of YSL Kouros but is a darn site cheaper.
Also in my local BS one of the sales assistants was helping a bloke choose the best concealer for him.
They're a darn sight more inclusive & nicer than Lush but do need to apologise to JK Rowling or explain that they didn't mean to have a go at her.

They used to have some soap with a spanner on it.

Stopped reading there because if you made that giant a strawman in your first sentence, the rest is a waste of time reading.

Soooo according to most posts in this section of mumsnet, gender and sex are the same
Incorrect. Gender roles aren't innate.
The OP sounds like it came from S&B rather than FWR though.

I've been boycotting them for years now. The shops stink, they force their female employees into situations where they get sexually harassed, they think a "keep prisons single-sex" sticker is hate.
No thank you.

Soooo according to most posts in this section of mumsnet, gender and sex are the same, there are no differences except biology, its all just a myth driven by Stonewall etc . And now somebody complains that there are no male fragrances in LUSH? It would be funny if it wouldn’t be so tragic

Did this get moved from a different board onto FWR? Bizarre...

I have stopped shopping there too though, used to be a huge fan but between all the stories about how they treated women staff/models etc and the promotion of anti-women policies and attacks on JKR, I couldn't support the misogyny any more.

I've never liked the overpowering stench of the Lush shops, but I almost wish I'd been a customer so I could tell them to fuck off for doing this to young girls and women.

Like previous posters, just walking near a Lush shop makes me feel sick and dizzy and ill from the stink of their products.

I'm not a huge fan of Lush, but i do like some of their products (the solid skin lotion and their solid hair conditioner are lovely).

If LUSH are so desperate to be inclusive, maybe they should try being inclusive of people who want to browse in peace and don't want to be followed around the store, grabbed and have things rubbed on them without so much as a by-your-leave. hmm

As soon as anyone approaches me in the shop i say, no thank you and they leave me alone. I've shopped in several different cities, in several different countries and it has not been an issue. I don't have any issues around telling people "no" though. I know other people aren't assertive.

The kisses thing: that was appalling and i hope they learned from it. Ditto the spy cops. I find them overpriced, but some of their products are very very good.

I'm tall as are all the DC. We all have narrow feet which I believe magnifies the difference. Not such a problem for the boys but the girls and I have always had the combo of narrow feet at the upper end of the prevailing women's sizes.

Its especially noticeable in shoes such as trainers where once you get to a certain size the only stock is men shoes. cue futile hours trying on men's trainers which slip off the heels because many shops just point women at the men's section rather than keep stocks of small volume sizes. They were in adult sizes long before puberty (and VAT, don't start me on VAT for kids shoes and suitable shoes for children with big feet!).

@PurgatoryOfPotholes That’s terrible!

Last time I went to get glasses they had boys and girls sections (as well as men and women’s). Mine came from the ladies and teen boys sections respectively.

I don't see a problem with this. Sexist stereotyping doesn't help anyone, surely?

I think Lush products are overscented and their HR policies sound worrying, but less rigidly demarcated gender provision around products and services is good, no? Why can't boys and girls use creams, lotions and potions by choice, and not sex?

We need single sex provision for things where sex matters, absolutely. Girls are physically vulnerable to boys, as an avalanche of data amply demonstrates, and for some things, women and girls require separate spaces. But I see no issue with gender neutral skincare. It's good that they aren't assuming anything gendered and stereotyped about a focus on appearance, no?

Wasn’t there a campaign where they asked staff to don an apron and nothing else?

I went off Lush after this.

extract

I was part of Lush’s ‘Cruelty Free Kisses’ campaign this Saturday and I want to write up what I saw and experienced on that day, because I want the public to understand just how dangerous and unethical the entire day was.

The concept is simple. Promote the use of cosmetics not tested on animals in a ‘fun’ and ‘quirky’ way whilst simultaneously pushing sales on all lip related products (there’s a competition for the winning store to have an all expenses paid trip to Poole to make lip products as a reward for whoever sells the most). So far, so good. The problem occurs when staff members are required to wear t-shirts that serve not only to promote the day, but also to act as evidence for the Guinness World Record attempt. What this meant was that the customers would be kissing our bodies for the entirety of the day. I could have opted out, but I would have been the only one to refuse and would have stuck out like a sore thumb on top of not participating in the store’s effort to win. Interestingly, the stores were only sent medium and large size t-shirts, so larger members of staff (they do exist, Lush) were spared the ordeal.

It was a busy Saturday and we had many people willing to help out. The majority were lovely. Unfortunately, as time went on, the mood changed. Large groups of drunken men were passing through the city centre on their way to the local bars and were drawn in by our display. From then on, they donned lipstick and kissed the most inappropriate places they could find – our breasts, our buttocks and our crotches (the t-shirts were quite long). I was asked for my mobile phone number, what time I finished work, if I had a boyfriend, if I was sexually excited by all of this, if I would give one of them a blow job… I plastered my fake grin on to my face, as I was one step away from either telling them all to fuck off, or bursting into tears and going home. I was very conscious of the fact that I was representing Lush, and I felt like I couldn’t defend myself to the same extent that I would if I weren’t in store. There were some points were I was definitely fearful, especially when some groups wouldn’t leave the store and stood waiting outside. I tried to swallow down my feelings of disgust as men pawed at me, forcefully grabbing parts of me to kiss and touch as if they’d been given carte blanche by Lush.

I felt helpless and exploited, and that’s because I was. Lush know that their staff are mostly young women, and they knew exactly how this type of campaign would play out amongst the general public. I’ve lost count of how many campaigns they’ve had that’ve sexualised and dehumanised women, and all of my complaints have fallen on deaf ears. I want everyone to know exactly what happened at Lush stores across the globe on Saturday. Animal testing isn’t acceptable, but the sexual exploitation of their workforce is actively encouraged.

Continues: mitheringsfrommorningside.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/the-smell-of-bullshit-part-22-sexual-harassment-is-part-of-the-job/

Glad to hear others think that they're inclusive though.