Next’s fitting room policy

[Darkwoodfurniture]

Long story short went into Next changing room on the women’s floor and there was a man in there.
I complained onsite to just get ‘oh ok’ so complained to HQ.
Their response was that all their fitting rooms are now unisex (even though store staff said they were women's) even if they are on separate floors I.e women’s or men’s.
I queried with them why they didn’t provide lockable doors etc and provide some level of security other than a curtain, along with some signage.
They escalated my complaint and they got back to me saying they feel their fitting rooms are appropriate as they are and won’t be publicising the unisex nature via signage.
I get it’s a trend to make fitting rooms unisex, but surely letting customers know so that they get to make a decision if they want to use them or not, should be the bare minimum.

A good example of the hypocracy that surrounds this woke obsession with diversity and being inclusive. A normal person would expect the changing rooms on the women's floor to be for women and those on the mens floor to be for men.
The fact that Next have a unisex changing room policy but they do not advertise it shows that they are trying to keep it secret.
Let's be honest what men are going to go up to the next floor to use the changing rooms apart from wierdos. Men should be using the changing rooms on the mens floor otherwise you start to suspect that they have some ulterior motive

Not all men are predators but 99.9% of predators are men, hth

I was recently in a White Stuff shop and wanted to try something on. They had ‘closed’ the women’s fitting room. I was directed upstairs to the ‘unisex’ fitting room which was in the men’s clothing area. I informed the staff that I was not comfortable with trying on clothes in that area and wanted to use a women’s changing room. They did ‘open’ the women’s changing room for me at that point. I find the whole thing so disrespectful to women.

Let’s hope you aren’t featured on any of the voyeur porn sites.

Something else that bothers me is that when you are helping children try on clothes it’s necessary to talk about body parts. My self conscious daughter may say something about how the clothes fit on her, I may comment as well, especially if trying on bras, etc. Even with things like trousers, we may talk about them being loose around the waist, tight around the bum, etc. I would be very uncomfortable knowing a man could overhear this in the next fitting room.

This is my issue tbh. Have unisex fitting rooms if you must, but have the decency to inform your customers so they can make an informed choice of using them or not.
Why do they not want to do that?

won’t be publicising the unisex nature via signage
Have unisex fitting rooms if you must, but have the decency to inform your customers so they can make an informed choice of using them or not
Why do they not want to do that?

Hmmm, why indeed. It sure is a mystery 🤔 what could possibly be the reason? All that fence sitting, they’ll get splinters. Maybe ask them on Twitter @ nextofficial , see if they can give a clear answer…

I would think it’s normal? I went shopping today and tried on clothes in many stores and none of them had separate areas for men/women. Do not know how space would permit in many? Not a new thing though as these unisex cubicles have been in use for at least the last 15 years I’ve shopped in these stores. There has never been any specific signage.

You are clearly very lucky to never have experienced sexual harassment or violence by a sexual predator. Unfortunately many of us have and therefore don’t feel safe in unisex areas.

This happened to my daughter in primark. A man twice ‘accidentally’ opened the curtain on her when she was changing.

Good grief . Are you really suggesting that women just have put up with men in what should be women’s spaces ?
Why can’t stores provide women only as well as unisex ?

Exactly the same thing happened to my teenage granddaughter in Primark . Complaints were met with a shrug . Apparently the man was confused …..

There wasn’t a sign that said it was a women’s changing room though. It’s a unisex changing room and people presume it’s not.

i think that’s the point - put a sign up so people can decide if they want to use it or not.

Cubicles are good but I like to go out and look in the really big mirrors or show my daughter/friend or hoik my bra up , fanny around with angles etc etc and I would not do that if a bloke was around

@TeaKitten

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/03/world/asia/korea-toilet-camera.html
Men film women in changing rooms.
Men assault women in unisex changing rooms: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/sexual-assault-unisex-changing-rooms-sunday-times-women-risk-a8519086.html

A man tried to film DD in Topshop in leeds in 2018, I shouted at him, the staff did nothing but the pathetic pervert ran as fast as he could when DH confronted him.

If they do not tell me it is a unisex changing room I do not have the option to not use it, so I am being tricked.

My little cousin works at Next so I just text her to ask if the changing rooms are unisex and she said no.

No I wasn’t saying people should put up with men in women’s changing rooms, I was saying it didn’t seem like the man in a unisex changing room wasn’t doing any harm. I don’t no why they can’t provide both, I think it makes more sense to have separate male and female, but im
not personally upset by unisex ones.

Are they any worse than others? I went shopping yesterday and tried on clothes in a bunch of shops like Levi's, Arket, & Other Stories, Mango and local one, neither one of them had female/male fitting rooms. I think Mango was the only one that had more than one fitting room area, but they were on either side of the shop, both in the female clothes section.

I am very much for protecting women's spaces but I can't remember ever feeling uncomfortable changing in a cubicle where the could be a man.

Wtaf?! Why did he do that?

I’d be so tempted to go to the men’s changing area (or unisex) and try the opening the curtain part if there is one. Because, you know, if a man can do this to a woman why not vice versa?

I’m not happy with eg Primark having male assistants in female/unisex changing spaces because how do you know they’ll behave professionally/aren’t perverts?

Went into a changing room in New Look (no men's section) with my ten year old daughter and she was really uncomfortable that there was a man sitting in the room. The changing room doors had a 50ishcm gap from the floor which is a lot when you're small! The guy was waiting for his wife, not creepy or anything, but you'd think would have the self awareness to wait outside.

Charity shops have always had unisex changing rooms, never been a problem.

Agree. And even then I don’t think I would use them. Total disregard for women’s safety. Once again the onus is on women to take measures to keep themselves safe (by not using the changing rooms) rather than companies supporting us to be safe. Utterly ridiculous.

I really really don’t want take this risk. I haven’t been sexually assaulted by a man or anything but I’ve been stared at and leered at by men in the past so putting them in a changing room scenario where they’ve got even more chance to do this. No thanks. It’s wokeness gone mad. Most men I know would prefer single sex male female cubicles, unless they’re pervy voyeurs.

It's not an open changing area right? All individual cubicles? I'm really not getting the issue here.

I agree, changing rooms should be single sex. I could personally use the mixed sex changing room without distress or fear but others could not have. Likewise, some men are not comfortable with sharing with women. They deserve the right to single sex spaces too.