Marks & Spencers bra fittings and trans women - they've missed the point

[IdaGlossop]

A mother complained to M&S when her daughter was approached in-store by a trans woman asking if she could be of assistance. The daughter needed a bra fitting and was upset as she could see that the member of staff was male. M&S apologised.

Today, in response to the incident, M&S have announced that bra fittings are for biological women only. The solution to the mother's complaint is to not deploy trans women staff in the lingerie department! Banning trans women from having bra fittings discriminates against trans women and doesn't solve the original problem.

YANBU = M&S have messed up with this decision
YABU = Banning trans women from bra fittings protects biological women from being offered bra fittings by trans women staff

www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/18/ms-bra-fitting-trans/

Not in women's single sex spaces.

Just one store, in the whole country?

Hmm.

Why do you think transwomen (who are biologically male) need bra fittings, op?
They either have no boobs, or surgically constructed boobs in which case they’ll know their dimensions perfectly well.

Multiple stores across the country was what I had in mind, dedicated to the clothing needs of trans people.

Some of them use estrogen to grow their breasts, so it's not always the case. However, the average woman's bra isn't going to be a good fit in that scenario because men's chests are generally broader. Actually, that's true of implants too. They sit differently because men's bodies are different.

Wouldn't be profitable because there aren't enough of them.

I never said that.

men approaching unaccompanied children for no good reason is a red flag,
don’t you believe in safeguarding? If not, why not.

if men need bras well they can sort out a separate service away from women’s changing room and female staff. Simple

Most of them haven’t gone gone any Surgery and don’t actually have any tits
They just want a 46 inch chest bar to be made for them in a frilly pink fabric Which will be incredibly uncomfortable and not to make them look like a woman

I think it's fine to say only bio women can use the service and also work on that department.
It's not fair on female staff to have to do bra fittings on men. And men can't work there so they can't use it either.

Why? Why is "some provision" needed? And if it is, why can't they have their own spaces?

Oh yes, I just remembered. Because they demand the validation of being in actual women's spaces.

There are plenty of those. And plenty of those online. But the trans-identified men don't want that. They want our spaces.

Not really it clearly shows that some women who work in "underwear" face a higher level of sexual harrassment from men that women who work in other departments.

Plus that M&S had not carried out a proper review of their work proceedure to take account of the fact that some men wear bras.

If you were on a jury what would you convict him of?

But why is it women’s place to provide that provision? Why should women care

Why. Why is "some provision needed"?

For the whole of the 20th Century it was widely understood that cross-dressing was a paraphilia strongly correlated with sexual fetish, sexual domination, misogyny and harassment. This was not an obscure piece of information only known to therapists and psycho sexual researchers. Alfred Hitchcock made Oscar nominated films about it. Thomas Harris wrote bestselling thrillers about it. Entire genres of US and UK comedy made jokes about it.

In the 21st century, the cross-dressers and their supporting industries (media, pharma, health) did a massive PR push to make them, not only accepted, but the Most Vulnerable and Marginalised and credulous fools in government, charities and business fell for it.

You now have GROWN WOMEN on here arguing that a cross-dressing male who wants to speak to teens about their tits is not a sexual threat, it's not sexual and if anything, HE'S the victim.

And I think that if men want to buy bras, there are hundreds of outlets online where they can do so.

Oh but then they wouldn't be able to ride roughshod over the privacy and dignity of real women.

Some provision is needed

No it isn't.

A woman shouldn't have to fit a bra for a male and a woman shouldn't have to have one fitted by a male. Other than that, no issue with trans identified males being fitted for bras in an appropriate way.

It is interesting how cross dressing fetishes have vanished in an otherwise pornified world isn't it 🙃

I've managed to get by for the whole of my adult life without a bra fitting, and I suspect most women are the same, so I don't see why transwomen need to fuss about having bras fitted. Unless, of course, they have some kind of fetish about the business of wearing bras.

Legally M&S is selling a product which can be used by both women and men.
So unless M&S have gotten great legal advice from the outside looking in they are refusing to fit men because they are men.

So as a cover their ass they could train male staff to provide male fittings in the mens changing rooms.

Ha ha. That would be hilarious! Imagine the deep-voiced hissy fits!! 😆

Absolutely perfect solution.

I’d love to see any man exert his legal right to wear a bra.

And how do you propose we tell the difference?