AIBU to want to boycott M&S?

[thatdamnwoman]

Marks & Spencer has made its changing rooms unisex because it is striving to be inclusive and it wants everyone to feel comfortable in whichever changing room they want. Which means that a woman like me, who wants to try on clothes in an area where I know I won't encounter men if I step outside the cubicle to see how a garment moves when I walk, is now excluded from M&S.

There's evidence that when facilities are made unisex the number of sexual incidents goes up:

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/sexual-assault-unisex-changing-rooms-sunday-times-women-risk-a8519086.html

I think most ordinary men are horrified at the thought of unisex facilities. They're worried that they might cause offence or be mistakenly accused of predatory behaviour. On the other hand the changing rooms will be a magnet for all those men who get a transgressive thrill from going where they shouldn't and being just a few inches away from where a woman's changing her clothing.

I've contacted M&S and they just say they want to be inclusive and if anything happens to anyone in the changing room they'll take appropriate action. But why should anything inappropriate have to happen?

This year we're having guests for four days over Christmas and I would normally be spending at least £200 at M&S. This year I'll shop elsewhere instead. And I won't be buying gifts or clothes or home stuff from them either.

Will anyone join me in a boycott?

They have send the same copy and paste response to everyone, which is offensive in itself. Then when women send a second reply they ignore it. I have spend thousands of pounds there in the past few years! I cannot get my head round this level of disrespect for their core customer. When I was a child my Mum bought lots of my clothes there, in my teens I had underwear from there, and bits of clothing. In my twenties I shopped there every day as I worked next door to a large branch. Throughout my thirties I was there at least once a week. Now I live rurally and I am an hour away and I still shop in the actual store around once a month, and shop online too. I have been shopping in there my entire life ! Apart from Boots, I can’t think of another store I have such a lengthy relationship with. Yet this is how they treat me.

They sent a reply saying about ensuring action would be taken with inappropriate behaviour, that was pretty much it.

How do they intend to identify that 'inappropriate behaviour'

I know someone who works in a min wage shop assistant job (not M&S) who has been told that it is not unknown for changing rooms in the store to have been used for sex, and there is nothing much they can do about it if it happens.

They sent a reply saying about ensuring action would be taken with inappropriate behaviour, that was pretty much it.

It’s a bit late to take action after a customer has been assaulted, or spied upon.

It’s a pretty low bar, expecting the conditions which allow for privacy and physical safety when dressing and undressing in a public space.

Help I am looking for leisure wear for 90 year old mother in law. Needs to have a full zip top and ideally the bottoms are elasticated. So either fleece or velour top. Previously got from M & S but nothing available this year. Any suggestions?