MS are handing out pronoun badges to their staff

It's definitely optional as a couple of us have said.

Also against bashing a store that employs large numbers of women fairly, abiding by employment legislation, in a really hostile retail environment which has seen a million plus workers, many of whom are women lose their jobs since the credit crunch.

I always contrast the lack of concern from the left for women losing their jobs, with the miners situation and the folklore that surrounds that - even though it was global capitalism that did for the miners just as much as it has been for high street retail.

I was being all-inclusive.

I also wouldn't care if they had dyed themselves purple all over or were covered in dappled fur so long as they were able to answer a question informatively. Though if it were particularly spectacular I am old enough to get away with saying wtte "love the fur, by the way: it looks great on you" when I was thanking them. (Only if it did, obviously.)

Is ‘genda’ sexuality? It’s just a vague self-feelz.

occa
It's a store, not a bloody dating site.

This.

I don't care about their sexuality if they can do their blasted job without making a fuss.

Which assistant did you mean?
That one over there...
Which one?
The one with the hair
What?
Has hair. On their head, two eyes...
Eh? Male or female
I have no way of telling...

Reminds me of when I was in the office and someone was trying to describe someone I had met at a function. I had no idea - in the end she said ‘the one with two arms!’. I did actually did get it after that. She was someone who looked similar to one of our colleagues who had one arm (I didn’t notice that until we’d worked together for about a year).

This is bizarre. I can think of no circumstances under which I'd need to know either the sex or the gender of a shop assistant. It's a store, not a bloody dating site.

If I need to refer to them I'll use their name or say e.g. 'that person over there' .

These are things that are useful for customers, patients (in hospitals - where the pronoun brigade have also landed).

These ones are purely for the wearer.

@KittenKong their badges do say whos a first aider, who speaks sign language who has done dementia training etc. Some info is on separate badges some on the name badge.
And i can 100% confirm it is entirely optional and in many cases not even mentioned to staff.

Wonder how optional it feels on the ground?

YY.

Why would they do it on the first place.

Do the badges indicate who is a first aider, who knows how to use a defibrillator, who can assist customers who have learneing difficulties/fight problems, who can use BSL, who can speak french...?

I wonder if the BBC decision will have a wider impact on M & S John Lewis etc, who may not yet have clocked just how political SW and it's Diversity Champions Scheme is and how much it impacts on women. I live in hope

“dotoallasyouwouldbedoneby

M&S have just replied to my online feedback confirming that the pronoun badges are indeed optional for all staff.
'I can confirm that using a name badge that includes an individual's preferred pronouns is entirely optional for M&S colleagues. I would like to assure you I have noted your concerns in relation to this.'“

I am pleased to learn of this.

Wonder how optional it feels on the ground?

It's definitely optional on the ground.

They are actually still a big employer in Britain with good HR policies, loads of female workers, enhanced mat leave pay, sick pay. In gig economy Britain these things are a bonus. I suspect most of their staff won't put their pronouns on badges.

M&S have just replied to my online feedback confirming that the pronoun badges are indeed optional for all staff.
'I can confirm that using a name badge that includes an individual's preferred pronouns is entirely optional for M&S colleagues. I would like to assure you I have noted your concerns in relation to this.'

Wonder how optional it feels on the ground?

'Stonewall themselves have plenty of incriminating info on their own site. It’s written they oppose single sex exemptions in the equality act, they opposed rape by deception claus, they redefined homosexual as same gender attracted, just look at their definitions of what a girl or woman is. Nancy Kelly in the bbc article saying homosexuality is a societal prejudice. Stonewall employee gave talks on how to break through the cotton ceiling. Stonewall are pro puberty blockers. And maliciously represent the equality act as having gender instead of sex in the protected characteristic.'

And as for the 'bestiality' thing, I can't remember the details (and Googling bestiality doesn't seem like the best idea) but was it not an objection to adding paraphillias like bestiality to the LGBGQI+? I would be more worried if they had advocated for it to be honest.

ScrollingLeaves unfortunately I think that is now just nostalgia. They are desperately trying not to go the way of other 'institutions' like Woolworths and badges are cheap.

For me M&S is a symbolic shop. It represents U.K. values like Cadbury’s used to. It is almost like an official institution.

That is my imo it is upsetting if they have taken up trans political ideology.

I would find it very difficult to boycott M&S these days as their offering is so rubbish that I have no reason to go there. Their food hall no longer differentiates itself from other supermarkets. And, as any bra-related thread on MN will tell you going back years, they have always been completely rubbish at fitting bras. They always tell you a back size too large and a cup size too small.

Apart from homosexuals, of course, who are like racists.

@DdraigGoch i dont really get your point? Of course i am not saying check your local butcher etc. Its more that pps are recommending other companies that are just the same as m&s which makes boycotting m&s slightly pointless if the new shop does the same.

"I wonder if Stonewall could say the same"

What are you talking about? I've never seen Stonewall compare LGBT inclusion to bestiality...