to be surprised by single sex changing rooms in M&S!

[MrsMaturin]

There is a new M&S near us. It's pretty huge with ladieswear downstairs with a changing room and then menswear and childrens upstairs also with a changing room.
This week I took dd2 (13) to look for a school skirt which she had to try one because school are v fussy about length. We found two and headed over to the changing rooms on that floor. When we got there the man wouldn't let us in saying it was men only. I pointed out that the children's department was also on that floor with no separate facility but he was implacable. AIBU in finding this really odd? The changing rooms are all made up of cubicles and I've never been told they are single sex. If I had been shopping with my son would I be told to wait outside, unable to see how the garments looked on him? This is a minor issue of course but his officious exclusion of us really made me cross plus the ladies changing rooms were miles away. If we'd wanted the staff there to fetch us something else it would have taken them quite some time.
Or am I being weird and you would expect changing rooms to be single sex only in a major clothing shop/department store?

I actually like the changing village at the swimming pool. They're all like that where I live (have a few different ones in easy travelling distance) and I much prefer them because there are cubicles - the old women only changing rooms were totally communal, no cubicles and as a teenager I just stopped going swimming rather than step into them. They also allow dads to take daughters swimming where previously they wouldn't have been allowed to take a little girl into the men's changing rooms.

I wish architects would come up with solutions that suited everyone. It should be possible to have single sex only changing rooms and an area of cubicles that are mixed sex. Then everyone will be happy.

Aren't most changing rooms single sex? Not quite sure what the issue is....

Our swimming pool has a male area, a female area, and a mixed area. Almost everyone uses the mixed area.

I would use the female area. I suspect many people with kids would use the mixed area, But many older people would use the single sex areas. So if you go at a time when kids go, then yes the mixed area would be used more. Doesn't mean that is always the case though.

soda Sat 07-Jun-14 22:05:10
I remember as a teenager when Chelsea Girl turned into River Island

I didn't know that! I loved Chelsea Girl as a teenager in the 70s

I can't understand why people are against changing villages in swimming pools- they are ideal considering that most people on MN are against sending their DSs into the men's changing room once they get to 6 yrs and some are even insisting on taking them in the women's area after the age of 8yrs. You have your own cubical with a lock on the door!

yet another issue where women's needs come second for you

Is this yet another issue where you minimise women's concerns?

One of our local pools does have a women only area in it's changing village. I don't know whether it's got a men only bit but presumably would if there was demand.

Mirroring swimming pool arrangements in M&S may not be very practical due to the smaller numbers of people changing but surely it's in their interests to consider mums with sons, men who want their DW nearby to dash off and get different size etc as shoppers could vote with their feet.

M&S have a very flexible returns policy. I think they're not so concerned about changing rooms as other shops might be because loads of customers just buy without trying on, knowing that they can return it if it doesn't fit.

Not saying that's right, or good service, but I reckon it is something they're aware of.

Kim - Haven't you read the thread where a woman above talks about why she hates using a mixed changing area with cubicles?

I remember when M&S didn't have changing rooms. You were expected to bring it back if it didn't fit. But their clothes sizes were very consistent then. Not bought anything from there in years so don't know if that's changed.

Back to the OP, of course it is ridiculous not to have changing rooms by the children's clothing section, that most children can actually use. In that type of set up, I have usually seen separate changing rooms by the children's clothes.

Most stores now have good return policies and lots of clothes are bought online without trying them on. A man trying to get into the women's changing area in Monsoon is looking for validation. It's not some kind of oppression.

I do not want to get changed with men round about me.

And you are simply dismissing and mocking a woman's concerns on the thread.

kim can you explain why you think it's okay to shame women into accepting male bodies in changing areas? Why is it okay for you to ridicule women who want to change without the presence of male bodies?

I must admit I don't understand the fear of changing villages either - you're in an individual cubicle with a locked door and you must be dressed in the communal areas. The ones I've been in feel very secure and private, much more so than the female only communal changing from when I was younger.

But having said that, if some women feel strongly that they want female only changing, it's a shame that it can't be accommodated.