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

I don’t like it but then again I would be hypocrite if I didn’t call all the other videos of line where customers are shouting at staff in bars, airlines or even the WiSpa. I guess sometimes people become so angered and frustrated by the situation they feel they need evidence to show they are not being taken seriously.

I would say that M&S are being irresponsible in their attitude. They're sending staff out in pronoun badges which many people find offensive and provocative, they're being deceptive in how they describe their changing rooms as the PP said, and also if this man is answering per staff training, it's patronising, questionable and manipulative. In the clip I saw - not the whole thing of course - his attitude stank frankly, and that is the reason it has so many views unfortunately for him and M&S. Blurring his face out would have lessened the impact.

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/

She could have blurred his name and face. It would have still gained the views. She knew what she was doing and that was to bully a male member of staff who is simply trying to earn a living.

Exactly. Women have been complaining directly to head office for a long time, and other women will be still unaware of their policies because they do not describe their facilities accurately online.

Thanks for noticing, heathspeedwell I was being to think i was writing in invisible ink!

What im trying to say is that M&S do say they have male and female fitting rooms. And they are generally placed in the men clothing, women clothing and bra sections.

Is it unreasonable to read that they offer single sex changing, see a changing room in the women's or the bra section and expect them to be single sex? Even if the sign says just 'fitting rooms'?

Lots of people here say they have never seen a man in the fitting room in the women's clothing area. And why would we? It'd be odd for a man to pick up a jumper in the men's section and walk into the changing rooms in the women's.

M&S are saying thats unnecessary- they are providing facilities close to where he was, but if he wants to change in the ladies, he has their full support.

People here say that it doesn't matter because the doors are lockable and the security is so tight nothing could happen.

The assistant said that there is no danger to women in mix sex changing rooms.

Ive googled but cant see any completely floor to ceiling walls and doors. Therefore its easy to hear what's going on the next cubicle and easy to slip a phone through gaps and take a photo.

The security is for shoplifting, not to stop voyeurism and indecent exposure.

So what is more unreasonable- the women assuming single sex changing, the men who just fancies using the fitting room in the women's clothing area, the member of staff dismissing the need for single sex, or m&s for unclear advertising and using shoplifting security as a proxy for reducing the risk of voyeurism and indecent exposure?

There is a separate question about if its unreasonable to video him and then post online.

But however unreasonable the recording and social media posting was, it doesnt negate the concerns about the changing rooms.

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?

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.

It's completely unacceptable. He didn't create the policy. He's doing the job he's paid to do. She could have written a paragraph and posted that to highlight the point without harassing someone in their place of work and recording it for public flogging.

Thanks to the wonderful sleuthing of pingponghavoc we know that this M&S store is directly contravening the law and advertising women-only spaces which then turn out to be mixed sex.

Women and girls are around 9 times more likely to be assaulted in mixed sex spaces - we're not being difficult to insist that single sex provision is in fact safe, any more than a parent is being difficult if they insist a baby has the appropriate car seat. It's basic safety laws.

This manager has a responsibility to consider the safety, privacy and dignity of his female customers. If the store is breaking the law, it's not good enough to hide behind company policy.

It's unacceptable that on other sites his sexuality and appearance have apparently been commented on. But not one single person is doing that here.

It doesn't change the fact that a single sex space has to be single sex, and this manager should have been trained to understand that. The Supreme Court Ruling was over a year ago.

My recent experience of M&S CR was at Fosse Park. CR by women’s clothes was unmanned. It was unusual as the one local to me always had someone to collect clothes or change sizes but not this one.

This is my local Marks.
A. Each department has its own changing rooms. Mens, lingerie and women's. Three in total, I have NEVER seen a man in the changing rooms of either the lingerie or women's clothes.
B. Each changing area has cubicles with lockable doors and a member of staff.

I feel incredibly sorry for this member of staff, the women here was clearly baiting him and filming without his consent. Arsehole move. He is now being targeted on social media.

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 see (hear) what he'd said without recording him. She could even at a push have recorded him if she was unable to remember what he'd said/thought he'd deny it and not published it online to humiliate him.

If she really felt she had to record it, she ought to have recorded the whole conversation from the minute she approached him, not halfway through missing out the part where perhaps he had responded patiently before she started following him.

That's a separate issue, which I didn't comment on. But I think it was fair for her to challenge the employee and record it - we should see what the staff are trained to say so we can challenge store policy effectively. Unpleasant for him yes, but his attitude was unacceptable imo

Then that's your choice to shop elsewhere - with no judgement from anyone else. But what that doesn't translate into is giving someone the right to film an employee in their place of work and attempt (and in this case, succeed) to humiliate them by posting one sided footage online.

I don't agree. I prefer and trust women's changing rooms and that's what I want from my shopping experience. I was at Uniqlo when it first went mixed sex, and a seemingly respectable man opened a curtain on a young woman next to me and laughed it off in a way she clearly felt she couldn't challenge. There's no way it was accidental. I don't want to be in there thinking that only the door lock keeps shit like that from happening.

Have you seen the comments about him on social media... I would call that public humiliation - disguising comments about his manner, his sexuality and they are very homophobic. No one knows how he feels, people pointing out how rude and badly he behaved. I hope he is getting some support as this kind of thing could have serious impact on his mental health...This is why in my opinion filming without permission should be illegal. I hope the man is being supported by his workplace.

Exactly. The contempt M&S is showing for women here is disgraceful

If he'd taken a minute to listen to her entirely reasonable concerns, she probably wouldn't have felt worried enough to start filming, and there would be no reason for her to post it.

First of all, it's clear to anyone who's seen it that this interaction had been ongoing for some time before she started filming. It's clear he has been listening to her for a good few minutes.

Secondly, she wasn't worried. There is absolutely nothing in her behaviour that suggests that. This person is well known on X for being a bit of an agitator and has posted many videos of interactions. I'd bet the farm she went into M&S looking for a fight.

Thirdly, even in the film he has listened to her concerns, and directed her to head office.

How long, exactly, would you as a customer service rep keep going around in circles telling a customer they needed to speak to HO before bringing it to a close and walking away? How many minutes would you keep that going? Even when they started filming you?

We doesn’t know what happened before the clip so his reaction might be reasonable we don’t have the full context. The video in my opinion was humiliating as the comments about his sexuality are bigoted and homophobic.

Going into someone’s workplace and filming without permission should be illegal and I hope the government change the law here or companies take it into their own hands and pursue people who do this. This does nothing for any cause people think there is.

I might have been sympathetic to the cause, but now I’m just turned off and about to go shopping in M&S….

Yeah new look ones are horrid in a circle like that with just curtains.

@FinchiePink again you're minimising his poor behaviour.

If he'd taken a minute to listen to her entirely reasonable concerns, she probably wouldn't have felt worried enough to start filming, and there would be no reason for her to post it.

It's only gone viral and been watched by millions of people because he arrogantly pretends that mixed sex changing rooms are 'perfectly safe' and then strides away.

If the manager had behaved reasonably it would be a complete non-story.

Actually it's fortunate that so many people are talking about it because it will have alerted a lot more people to the dangers of mixed sex changing rooms.

I'm one of many women who has had the misfortune to be spied on in a mixed sex changing room. My friend and I were getting dressed after swimming, heard a strange noise and looked down to see a man had wedged his head under the gap and was audibly masturbating. In retrospect we're lucky he had his hands full because at least he didn't film us and post it on the internet.

Thousands of women and girls have not been so lucky. There are entire websites dedicated to footage of women and little girls being spied on while they undress. For this manager to claim mixed sex changing is 'perfectly safe' demonstrates that he simply doesn't take women seriously.

Im not sure if the video alone is quite in 'humiliating him publicly' territory, he was prissy and dismissive and should have dealt with fairly basic questioning over store policy better. What I did not like was the subsequent doxxing of his personal details which is straight from the TRA handbook and to be honest, I thought 'we' were better then that.

The direct analogy would be a TW filming him, following him round the store while shouting about misgendering because he'd been told not to go into a women's space and shouting why he had to change in front of men.

In neither scenario does the person filming come off as the more reasonable party.