Truly single-sex bra fittings for DD13

Forgot the receipt.

OP: the quoted poster thinks that threatening women who disagree with him with sexual assault with splintery rolling pins is an acceptable way to behave. I would disregard his life advice on that basis, and on the basis that he is misinformed as to the law.

The "genital inspections" trantrumming is unjustified hyperbole, a deliberate misrepresentation of both reality and the feminist position, as women don't need to look at a man's dick to know he's a man and no feminist is advocating for that. Women generally don't want to look at men's dicks!)

The assertion that "shops aren't single-sex" is a deliberate mis-scoping of the single-sex nature of a fitting room, or any other space, that is signed for women. The whole shop isn't single-sex and no one claimed it was, but the bra fitting rooms might be. The Supreme Court ruled that a single-sex space means single biological sex, and if a space is advertised as being for women, that means it is single-sex.

I was fitting my DD12 in M&S a few months ago and a man strode into the fitting rooms to speak to a woman who I'm assuming was his wife.

"All but nonexistent" my arse 😑

"Common" in the context of "common sense" and "common knowledge" means "something that most people have". When 70% of women are in the wrong size of bra, then correctly fitting a bra is clearly not a matter of common sense.

Here is a list of things that aren't intuitively obvious and that a decent fitter will have been trained in:

• The bra should fit when fastened on its loosest hooks when you first buy it. The hooks are to take up slack as the band's elastic wears out.
• The wires should lie flat on the ribcage. They should not be on the breast tissue and there should not be a gap between the wires and the sternum.
• If one breast is larger than the other, fit to the larger breast, using a chicken fillet on the smaller one if needed.
• If you are slackening the shoulder straps to prevent spilling, you need a bigger cup size.
• If the band curves up at the back, you need a smaller band size.
• To put the bra on, bend forwards at the waist first and then lift and scoop your breasts upwards after you've fastened the hooks.
• The "size" is only applicable to that style. You may take a different "size" in different styles, even from the same manufacturer.
• Your breasts won't fit properly into every style available. I cannot wear balconettes, they just either spill or are gappy at the top.

And a point that even some fitters (Bravissimo, I am looking at you) get wrong:

• If the wire is in your armpits and your breasts are pointing out slightly sideways instead of straight forwards, try a bigger band size. Bravissimo fitters insist on putting me in bands so tight that the wires get pulled back into my armpits.

It doesn’t have to be uncomfortably tight but if you measure by M&S, they put me in a 40HH. I could pull the back band out 6 inches and my boobs were falling out everywhere
I’m a 34L, and it’s comfortable enough to sleep in at a size 18 and I’m supported
not so much of an issue at an A/B cup but when you start getting into bigger cup sizes you need the band support

We're talking about womens changing rooms, not whole shops. Do keep up.

And -!&^ off with the genital inspections comment, only you TRAs are obsessed with this.

I’m shocked by the number of posters on here who take the view that if you or your 13 year old don’t want to strip for the delectation of men with fetishes that you are just big wet Nellies who should know better and who they will reprimand. And they do this after a TiM on this thread boasts about using M&S women’s changing rooms. This is the same man who has publicly threatened women he disagrees with with corrective rape with a splintery bat. How on earth can you say this isn’t happening when it is happening right in front of you on this thread?

Single sex spaces so women and girls can have a bit of privacy and dignity.

It’s the bra companies who say this. Why, d’you think?! Why must a woman wear a band that is uncomfortably tight because of their mad ideas and desire for increased sales. Women choose to wear what is comfortable and in their price bracket.

Even young women who presumably have more exciting sex lives and are interested in how the lingerie looks are now opting in huge numbers for sports type bras and unwired - the covid days mean less tolerance for discomfort. That has driven the increasing availability of softer moulded shapes thank god.

That sounds like a step in the right direction.

I wonder if the staff are taking it into their own hands.

Bio female or identify as such?

M&S also has a sign saying their bra fitters are all female XX.

Are you adding kisses or does it actually say ‘female XX’?

Our M&S has 3 changing rooms by the underwear that says clearly female changing rooms for the lingerie dept, there’s then arrows to the other changing facilities which are gender neutral with lockable doors (kids and ladies share a floor so boys up to 12 always used those changing rooms, never seen an adult male in there). M&S also has a sign saying their bra fitters are all female XX.

Sufficient room for their hens?

@Secretsquirrelshh - can you get to a Rigby and Peller store (Knightsbridge, Bluewater, Edinburgh, I think)? Their fitters are excellent, and I would be very surprised if they had male fitters/staff.

There were other men spunking on the loo roll in the ladies toilets, and in case they didn't catch the women with that, they smeared it on the door knob 'just to be sure'.

And I'm honestly shocked at how many women appear not to grasp how many men out there would relish being a centimetre away from a topless 13 year old talking about her anatomy.

Legitimately and with the blessing of John Lewis and M&S.

Men (however they choose to present themselves) in changing rooms used by females present a risk to our comfort, dignity and safety. Anyone who hasn't read the Target study is ill informed and should read it in order to understand the risks.

We need and deserve single sex spaces.

Secretsquirrelshh, you’ve been very clear in all your posts.

It can be very embarrassing even being in a cubicle changing room when the bra fitter leaves to get some different styles/fit because she would be opening the door.

What attracted AidaP to post on this thread 🤔

@dizzydizzydizzy

Dignity and privacy -

Cameras - put there by the man who used the cubicle before you or the man who is waiting next door until you have finished.

Cubicles aren't soundproof - someone recording from the next cubicle, or masturbating while your daughter is talking about her breasts. It may be enough for him just to know there is a semi-naked young girl the other side of the partition.

None of this may be happening. But it is awful that we even have to think that it might be, and that is another way in which men make our lives worse. There are good reasons why single-sex spaces for women and girls were created, and no good reasons why they should be destroyed because men want them to be.

And re your instant reaction to men masturbating into underwear as a likely joke. Listen to women - including the workers in eg M&S who have to handle items when the men hand them back.

Seems fairly clear…

Yes i think it was 80 something % when I was working as a bra fitter years ago.

Measuring is only a basic guideline and doesn’t work a lot of the time.

Best thing is to get properly fitted for individual bras. But I get this can be difficult according to staffing and stock levels.

I once had a customer who came in for a bra fit after surgery and we had closed the bra fit service due to lack of staff. I just disobeyed my manager and fit her properly instead of counting all the clothes other customers were bringing into the changing rooms.

I’m sorry op i don’t know what to suggest as the unisex changing room wasn’t a thing when i worked as a bra fitter.

Having a cubicle instead of curtains doesn’t solve the problem either as the bra would normally open the door several times during the fitting to go out to look for bras and the customer shouldn’t have to put a top on every time the fitter leaves.

I'd still pay the money and go somewhere posh.
After that you can order online. Hungerford has Angela Knight who fits the Princess of Wales I believe.