Monsoon

‘I understand things like swimming room changing rooms where it's communal changing and showers, but shop changing rooms where there are individual changing rooms isn't the same.’

I understand what you’re saying but it is dependent on the shop situation. I’ve been in stores where there’s an attendant, lockable cubicles, doors that start at the floor. No problems. I don’t care who uses them.

I’ve also been in unstaffed areas where all that separates you from the rest of a quite dingy changing room is a curtain, and it’s not unreasonable to make those single sex.

I understand things like swimming room changing rooms where it's communal changing and showers, but shop changing rooms where there are individual changing rooms isn't the same. And as I said, I worked at Gap 20 years ago so it's not a new thing that's been taken away.

Because women are getting really really fed up of not being ‘allowed’ to have single sex spaces. It’s getting tedious to see ‘folx’ have social media tantrums and stored falling over themselves to say how inclusive they are by allowing males into womens changing areas (and the grovelling apologies and offers of free dresses so salve upset feelings).

I don't really understand the fuss about changing rooms where there are cubicles. I worked at Gap from 1998 - 2004 and it was always mixed changing rooms with curtains on the cubicles. I don't recall one complaint. So how is it an issue 20 years later?

Bye Monsoon!

ooops!!! Sorry Moley! I only ever see their stuff retweeted so I just assumed. But you know what they say about making assumptions...

Giving this one a bit more of a think, I think I’ve always assumed shops had both male and female changing, but for shops like Monsoon that probably isn’t true, is it? They only sell clothes clothes designed for women and girls.

But there’s nothing at all wrong with a young male person wanting to wear a prom dress, so they have to have a policy that caters to those who do (or it would be illegal sex discrimination).

Asking them to wait for the changing room to be vacated by women and little girls is reasonable. In their statement (although they also apologised to Charlie) I think Monsoon did make it clear that something like this could happen again.

But if I was paying for Charlie’s prom dress (as a parent) I would be impressing upon Charlie that no, Charlie does not have the right to share a changing space with female people, and I would remind Charlie that there are kids in there. Not a good look for Charlie.

So...university-educated white boy gets minimum-wage-earning black woman into trouble at her job because he was asked to wait for a few minutes. And university-educated white boy feels that he is the victim? Is that about where we are?

Hi, please reach out to our team at [email protected] or click on the ‘contact us’ link at the bottom of our home page and they will be happy to help. You can also WhatsApp directly via the WhatsApp link on our homepage. Many thanks, Monsoon

My first question would be, is the account managed inhouse?

The original tweet complaint and the physical description of the staff member were after business hours.

The (out of character) reply was at 10:30 the next day.
Thats well into when most of the staff in HQ and PR would be active in the business.

They had to have checked the originating account and seen that a description of a public facing staff member had been given. There was no attempt to have a that physical description removed. Social media (Twitter) has a reputation of bringing out the crazy stalker types. Has the company an action to protect front line staff from job related harassment?

They had seen that it was a mini-vial and decided to go with a reaction that the staff member act was so "wrong" that they were willing to offer compensation to the tweeter (it also a risk reduction thing for if they get sued as the complainant settled on a compensation value).

For some reason the decision maker in charge of the twitter account decided to make a public spectacle.

How did they expect it to go well? It's never going to end well when the party complaining has a political motive or when it's about a political issue.
They can't control the narrative on Twitter. No publicity is better that any publicity because its not going to be a winner.
Going public about letting males use what most would expect to be a single sex fitting room in a "women's dress shop" is not going to be a brand enhancer.

The mailOnline don't seem to be reporting the full story, about Charlie simply being asked to wait, and the commentary on the shop assistant.

Its better than nothing, as stories like this are getting more coverage (and support!) than ever, but hopefully the update will cause even more incredulity and peak more people.

DialSquare

You've gotta love Moleatthedoor! She is awesome!

This is now featured in the DM on line - sorry I cannot link.
The vast majority of comments are in favour of boycotting Monsoon over this.
Interestingly, the DM online have placed this piece alongside an article on the withdrawal of funding by Peter Stanton of a Female cycling event and the comments are also favouring boycotting Mr Stanton's business too.

Monsoon have been played.

Why would you offer an apology and a free dress before you have completed an investigation?

If you have an established changing room policy then why wouldn't you outline that as part of your response to the initial complaint?

Charlie says they have just started university; are end of first year proms common?

They're going to be dealing with grifters for months.

That unattractive little boy needs his hard drive checked, IMHO. He also needs to get his eyebrows done

Why does someone who is non-binary use “she/her” as their pronouns and want to wear dresses? I thought non-binary meant they don’t identify as either male or female?

Does this individual not risk being a “Karen”?! All this complaining to the manager…

Say you are a man and you might get a personalised response and a free jacket or something. They don’t seem to put much effort into female interactions.

I had the email response that has obviously been copy and pasted numerous times.

I have replied asking for an actual response to my query, rather than a broad brush "we want to be everything to everyone" PR response.

Interesting that the CEO replied personally and differently. He gave a real response rather than the PR fluff that's designed to make us go away.

I will get the setup and initial consultation fees payed this week

Good to see that grammar school education hasn’t been wasted

From the Birmingham Mail article:

Charlie's friend, who doesn't identify as female but presents "in a more feminine way", was allowed to try on the dresses without any issues, they said.

I’m guessing Charlie’s friend is a girl then?

As PPs have noted, this individual really doesn’t have any room to be making comments about eyebrows.

I share in the astonishment that the poor wallflower who so absolutely didn’t want attention chose to complain publicly (rather than speak to a manager or contact customer services - they have WhatsApp & everything - or even email the CEO) and then sought the attention of the press. How very fortuitous that all this should happen just as they have a GFM running for gender-affirming hormone therapy, to help me feel more comfortable in my body, and live my life as a young Non-binary person… I start university in September and in my opinion this is a great opportunity to start my medical transition. One can only hope that they go to someone reputable who will point out that this is, in fact, a terrible time to do any such thing. But their description sounds rather more like the Gender GP model of handing out hormones without proper, full & rigorous assessment: I will get the setup and initial consultation fees payed this week, which will determine if i need bloods taken, or any follow up sessions in the immediate future, then it's regular payments for prescriptions and monitoring :)

And I absolutely wonder what “trauma” means to this crowd with the way they bandy it about, but oh Holy Family, all the angels & blessed saints HOW can anyone even for a moment think that THIS is even close to how it works: to avoid furthering already present medical related trauma, I've elected for a private route?!?

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE

The first article linked in the middle of the one about this individual’s gyroscopic self-centredness when I read it was about Semina Halliwell, a 12 year old girl who died by suicide having been raped by an older boy. That article links to one in the Liverpool Echo with more details - the police massively mishandled the case (pressured Semina not to pursue); there were threats made around her funeral; and her grave was desecrated. Perhaps it’s just me being dreadfully callous, but Semina’s story makes it even harder to have any sympathy at all for Charlie. Charlie gets to stroll about performing femininity as Charlie pleases & Charlie sees no issue with using women’s spaces - but Charlie will never understand what it is Charlie’s caricaturing, nor that Charlie is doing so with a freedom & safety girls & women simply do not have.