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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

M&S Colchester claim mixed changing is ‘completely safe’ for women.

460 replies

PeachOctopus · 27/05/2026 12:31

How is it that M&S can continue to flaunt the high court ruling and do not offer single sex changing rooms?

Abouterf in this video confronts the store manager and is fobbed off and told that it’s head offices policy:

Colchester @marksandspencer I asked where the women’s changing room was to try on swimwear. Manager Andrew (he/ his /him) says gender neutral changing areas are “completely safe” for women and girls. For asking him this question, he told me to leave the store.

Abouterf x account

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Apollo441 · 28/05/2026 14:36

So pointing you at the evidence that mixed sex changing rooms are regularly targetted by male perverts makes us some how culpable? What the f is wrong with you?

Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:29

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Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:26

TheKeatingFive · 28/05/2026 14:10

That's to do with the legalities - not whether they actually do that or not

Look, I understand you desperately want to feel wronged somehow, but at some stage, transphobes are going to have to realise that you're gullible bullies, who believe anything you're told. Google takes two minutes.

M&S Colchester claim mixed changing is ‘completely safe’ for women.
Chersfrozenface · 28/05/2026 14:24

Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:05

Christ almighty, get a grip

Once again, check out XNXX or VoyeurHit or xHamster or XVideos or TNAFlix or any other of the myriad of internet sites that offer videos, taken with hidden cameras, of women and girls undressing in mixed sex changing rooms and using mixed sex toilets.

MarmaladeorJam · 28/05/2026 14:18

tokennamechange · 28/05/2026 13:04

she could have just sound recorded rather than video.
she could have aimed the camera at the floor so didn't capture his face.
she could have uploaded the video with just audio.
she could have uploaded the video blanking out his face.

making an individual staff member identifiable and lying that he was liable for not enforcing a law that doesn't actually apply in those specific circumstances, added absolutely nothing to whatever she was trying to "prove", which, as above, she doesn't even seem to know herself given people are trying to claim she was doing it because of concealed cameras and whatnot, none of which she actually mentions on the video - the only thing she says is "why should I HAVE to change in front of men," which she doesn't. Even if she used the changing rooms (which nobody is making her do) she would presumably shut the door so wouldn't be changing in front of anyone.

He was arrogant, dismissive and actually, a very bad business person.

Why would anyone want a customer to leave without buying?

There are a million and one ways he could have handled it.

Instead, he immediately made her a "Karen" and treated her as such.

Well done her.

TheKeatingFive · 28/05/2026 14:10

Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:09

Yes

That's to do with the legalities - not whether they actually do that or not

Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:09

TheKeatingFive · 28/05/2026 14:08

Do you have evidence that it's bollocks?

Yes

M&S Colchester claim mixed changing is ‘completely safe’ for women.
TheKeatingFive · 28/05/2026 14:08

Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:03

This is bollox

Do you have evidence that it's bollocks?

Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:07

tartyflette · 27/05/2026 22:06

I am confused. Does Marks and Spencer still provide a men's changing/fitting room? With signs saying as such?
If so, how is it NOT discriminatory to provide a mens changing room but not one for women? Or can women also use the men’s one? Anyone know?

No, people here are misinformed and riddled with confirmation bias to the point they don't even bother checking anything they're told online.

Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:05

PrettyDamnCosmic · 27/05/2026 17:43

You go into a wide corridor of monitored rooms. Lock the door behind you and changed.

At what stage do you sweep the cubicle for the hidden camera placed there by the man in a dress who just exited the cubicle?

Christ almighty, get a grip

Joanneken · 28/05/2026 14:03

TheLocust · 27/05/2026 16:09

if indeed it is a mixed SEX fitting room then that should be made very obvious and M&S should state that as policy they are unable to provide single SEX fitting rooms so customers can choose to shop there or not.

They do provide single sex ftting rooms. But only for the men.

This is bollox

TheLocust · 28/05/2026 13:54

KnottyAuty · 28/05/2026 13:03

Surely the solution to this is for women en masse to use the changing in the men’s section? With just regular blokes there the chance of encountering a creep or hidden camera will be much lower? Those people target the women’s specifically - counterintuitive but possibly the solution as it might cause the men to start complaining about the inconvenience to them?

The women would probably get turfed out of the men's fitting room, a la Hampstead Ponds.

thedramaQueen · 28/05/2026 13:52

ScribblingPixie · 28/05/2026 10:32

I've no problem with it. She didn't do it to humiliate him. She did it to show that unacceptable practices are in place at M&S. It's important.

Let’s hope you don’t have relatives working in customer facing retail… shame on you thinking filming like this is acceptable.

Mmmnotsure · 28/05/2026 13:50

"Why should I have to change in front of a man?"
If that is part of the message people take away from the nearly five million views - given that they might then make the connection between this and other mixed-sex changing spaces - then good job.

ScribblingPixie · 28/05/2026 13:45

HootyMcBoobys · 28/05/2026 13:30

Does this idiot know how utterly filthy and depraved some men are?
My daughter works in a retail store and recently had the unfortunate experience of picking up and being handed clothes covered in spunk from some filthy degenerate who was "just using the changing room".

No, we don't want to share with MEN thank you. Even one in a dress.

And even if it's 2026, whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean.

Heard exactly that story from a friend who worked for M&S - men regularly masturbating into the women's clothes. This was a while back so maybe men have totally changed 🙄

HootyMcBoobys · 28/05/2026 13:30

Does this idiot know how utterly filthy and depraved some men are?
My daughter works in a retail store and recently had the unfortunate experience of picking up and being handed clothes covered in spunk from some filthy degenerate who was "just using the changing room".

No, we don't want to share with MEN thank you. Even one in a dress.

And even if it's 2026, whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean.

KnottyAuty · 28/05/2026 13:25

EssexLounger · 28/05/2026 11:55

Really disappointed this in Essex, I thought we had more common sense than mixed sex changing rooms.

This TRA below writes about it and then pretends that no feminist has spoken up about the recent story on teenage boys not being given prison sentences for the gang rape (he's forgetting the fact that it has been the national headline for days).

Another case of TRAs just blatantly lying.

https://metro.co.uk/2026/05/27/incident-m-amp-s-changing-rooms-proves-anti-trans-women-need-get-a-life-28541601/

This is blatant self publicity - horrible click bait linking himself to two tragic stories attracting a lot of media attention. Horrible behaviour

heathspeedwell · 28/05/2026 13:10

@tokennamechange of course the law applies at the store. It's advertising a changing room online as female, but turns out it's mixed sex.

The manager has a duty to know the law and a duty to keep his customers safe.

If he didn't know the fire regulations would you be so sympathetic about his ignorance?

tokennamechange · 28/05/2026 13:04

ScribblingPixie · 28/05/2026 10:32

I've no problem with it. She didn't do it to humiliate him. She did it to show that unacceptable practices are in place at M&S. It's important.

she could have just sound recorded rather than video.
she could have aimed the camera at the floor so didn't capture his face.
she could have uploaded the video with just audio.
she could have uploaded the video blanking out his face.

making an individual staff member identifiable and lying that he was liable for not enforcing a law that doesn't actually apply in those specific circumstances, added absolutely nothing to whatever she was trying to "prove", which, as above, she doesn't even seem to know herself given people are trying to claim she was doing it because of concealed cameras and whatnot, none of which she actually mentions on the video - the only thing she says is "why should I HAVE to change in front of men," which she doesn't. Even if she used the changing rooms (which nobody is making her do) she would presumably shut the door so wouldn't be changing in front of anyone.

KnottyAuty · 28/05/2026 13:03

TheLocust · 27/05/2026 18:23

M&S isn't breaking the law.

Are they not breaking the law by providing single sex fitting rooms for men but not for women?

Surely the solution to this is for women en masse to use the changing in the men’s section? With just regular blokes there the chance of encountering a creep or hidden camera will be much lower? Those people target the women’s specifically - counterintuitive but possibly the solution as it might cause the men to start complaining about the inconvenience to them?

KnottyAuty · 28/05/2026 12:54

Chersfrozenface · 27/05/2026 13:28

Have M&S learned nothing from Primark?

Primark got some terrible publicity following a customer's experience in 2022 https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2022-09-26/primark-reviews-unisex-changing-rooms-as-men-walk-in-on-woman

After that the chain changed its policy to having women only plus all genders fitting rooms.
https://corporate.primark.com/en-gb/a/news/corporate-news/important-changes-to-fitting-room-uk

But the women’s changing wasnt female only - they included TW in their definition 🙄

TheKeatingFive · 28/05/2026 12:51

MyLuckyHelper · 28/05/2026 11:06

The fitting rooms aren't labelled based on sex in store. They're labelled as fitting rooms.

So they're not contravening anything. The law only states that if a single sex space is offered, it must be based on biological sex. They aren't offering that and aren't required to do so.

No, it seems some are labelled 'men's' and some are labelled 'fitting rooms'.

So men get their own spaces but women don't. How is that right or fair?

Rhaidimiddim · 28/05/2026 12:13

ScribblingPixie · 28/05/2026 11:33

The clip has been viewed 4.8 million times on Twitter alone. That raises awareness of M&S policy and, if people don't like it, creates pressure on M&S to alter it. How much publicity would she have got from 'writing a paragraph' do you think?

Exactly!

A woman finds a way to highlight - and get serious attention for - an issue that we've all known about for some time, but MSM ignore it and M & S can't give two fucks.

And she's the baddie?

heathspeedwell · 28/05/2026 12:08

@TheseWordsAreMine I think you need to realise it's 2026. Women won the Supreme Court ruling.

If a changing room is advertised as being for women, then it can't be mixed sex.

Women and girls are 9 times more likely to be assaulted in mixed sex changing rooms, which is why most women really don't want them.

TheseWordsAreMine · 28/05/2026 12:05

The woman filming is a disgrace.

She needs to realise its 2026.