Marks and Spencer have fallen, part III; we’re gonna need a bigger boat

[MrsSnippyPants]

Fresh thread in case part 2 fills up overnight.
I am yet to receive a reply to my third email, have been furiously tweeting, and as am now pursuing the options available to me as a shareholder.
Still crossing fingers for John Lewis!

I agree too. The bottom line counts.

But I'm also writing to the corporate decision makers to explain why M&S aren't getting another penny of my money.

I emailed Steve Rowe the CEO and Archie Norman and received the standard brush off response. I have sent further detailed follow-ups asking for a proper reply. I have sent subsequent chasing emails.

Nothing. It's now just automated acknowledgements promising a reply which never comes. It's almost two weeks now.

So I'm now emailing the manager of my local store and the M&S head of legal at HQ.

If anyone else wants to do the same, senior management emails seem to be [email protected].

I got the name and email of store manager by ringing the local store. Details are on the website.

This is shocking

I agree with Bicker, focus on M&S however, I've said it before, just speaking to the shop floor staff and management isn't going to be enough. We need to distrupt and raise awareness amongst customers by using the mens changing room, preferably with arms full of lingerie, preferably at busy times. Let's see the reaction from the men and their wives sitting outside. Let them complain, put the shop floor staff in a position where they have to tell customers their position and stand our ground.

They simply won't listen to us women.

Justabaker I think the poster who thought they'd come across a Target connection realised it was a different company, not the US Target.

Unsubscribe from their marketing emails too. I got one yesterday, if you scroll to the bottom there is an unsubscribe link.

This is what really rips my knitting. M&S have stated if someone acts inappropriately then they will be dealt with. So they are perfectly
happy to wait until a woman or child is a victim before they take any action. How many women and children are acceptable collateral damage?
There are many problems with all of this. First "he looked at me funny" we all know that really means he set off my creep radar and I dont want him near me, but m and s will brush it off. Because nothing happened. "He took pictures of me over/under the door" by the time his phone gets looked at the images are halfway around the world but not on his phone.
And from experience we know that this behaviour escalates. So gets his rocks off going into a change area with women escalates to peeping Tom, then escalates to wanking in front of women to then escalate to rape.
I will not set foot in m and s now til this is changed.

I also told Facebook not to show me any more M&S adverts. Means I can't click without noticing where it is from.

jean: So shall I just stop doing stuff now you've told me what's what? Or shall I carry on campaigning on a variety of issues in my own way as I have done for a few years?

If you read my posts properly you will see that I agree with your campaign. You seem determined to believe that I am against what you are trying to achieve.
The only thing I am not in agreement with is targeting anyone at the bottom of the 'great' corporate pyramid yet you seem to think I'm on their side. Weird.

There are many problems with all of this. First "he looked at me funny" we all know that really means he set off my creep radar and I dont want him near me, but m and s will brush it off. Because nothing happened. "He took pictures of me over/under the door" by the time his phone gets looked at the images are halfway around the world but not on his phone.

EXACTLY! Which is why we need to maintain sex segregated spaces so these “non” incidents can’t occur because there’s no opportunity.

If only there was a word for that kind of thing

Go on M&S, convince me you haven’t just opened up your female changing facilities to every fucking perv out there.

Took me about 2 minutes to find these reviews. I’m sure there’s plenty more where they came from.

Posting such reviews, sometimes with photos, online is a way for them to safely expose themselves and their fetish to female shoppers. Remember they like female witnesses.

But they are all about making their customers comfortable @Sexnotgender

Why crack one out at home in a sock when you can lose yourself onto a pair of ladies pants you have no intention of buying in the comfort of your own cubicle?

The christmas best seller (for the customer they clearly care most about) will be penis beakers.

This thread is not showing up in my watch list etc, could I have hidden it by accident, and if so, how to reveal it again ? I only found it through a link on another thread.

The christmas best seller (for the customer they clearly care most about) will be penis beakers
Chuffing crying with laughing.

I also went into my local store to see how this is implemented on the ground. Had a conversation with various members of staff of differing levels of seniority at the entrance to the lingerie fitting room.

It was very interesting that some staff dropped their voices in discussing the policy so they couldn't be heard by customers in the cubicles. I did not lower my voice and made a point of repeating what they were whispering saying.

Nothing new. Pretty much the same depressing experience as Jean Hatchet. All concerns about the impact on women who would feel uncomfortable or distressed were brushed aside with a suggestion that anyone who felt this way was 'small-minded'.

And in answer to how they knew a man was not trying to enter the fitting room for the purpose of indulging a sexual fetish or voyeurism...

'We trust them'.

It's worth doing. The conversation was very calm. Nobody got upset. There were other staff hovering around listening and customers still going in and out. Any assistant or customer who might not know or have given it much thought heard exactly what is going on and the reasons why this policy is not a 'good thing'.

I had a wander round the M&S lingerie dept this afternoon about 3pm and it was pretty well deserted. I was the only one in the fitting room (just doing a recce).

I reckon it's about 50:50 on the sewn/not sewn gussets in M&S, but in Asda, I only found one pair of knickers with an unsewn version, so it's clearly nothing to do with cost. In the Asda case, I suspect it was left unsewn because the stitching would be visible on the sheer lace.

'small-minded'.

Are they going to seriously look someone in the face and tell them that their faith, disability or rape is 'small minded' and something they must get over? For whose benefit? Because it isn't theirs.

And in answer to how they knew a man was not trying to enter the fitting room for the purpose of indulging a sexual fetish or voyeurism...'We trust them'.

Really. Do they really. Well good luck with that. That answer is likely to cost them a lot in compensation. As my manager used to say: lets stop for a moment and think how this might look on the front page of the Daily Mail?

Are they going to seriously look someone in the face and tell them that their faith, disability or rape is 'small minded' and something they must get over? For whose benefit? Because it isn't theirs.

I know. I could hardly believe it when the (male) manager uttered this word.

@criticalcondition Thanks for the correction. I'm still with the conspiracy theory though. As a board of directors they must consider risks to their business. Sex vs gender must have come up on their risk radar. If they sought balanced advice (not just Stonewall) the data is there on what happens in mixed sex changing rooms and toilets. The creepy reviews are what tipped me over the edge from 'they are garden variety idiots who were poorly advised' to 'someone on the inside wants this to happen'.

In our household everything is joint owned. I, too, am the decision maker for most purchases and also agree that we should focus on one retailer.

I have tried to peak M&S a few people over recent days. It seems some of the women I know are not militant enough, unfortunately. I did manage to persuade one friend and another friend already knew about it and is boycotting.

On another front, did anyone see that labour activists have launched a declaration on women’s sex based rights?

I am incandescent with rage about this. Thank you all so much for all your efforts. My little contribution - I left a leaflet in the fitting room of my local store on the weekend and have fired off an angry email just now:

I am writing to tell you that I am appalled at the contempt you have shown for the safety and comfort of women and girls, by changing your fitting room policy to allow men to access women’s fitting rooms. If you think about it for more than a minute you will realise that the only man who will likely feel “comfortable” in a fitting room reserved for women and girls, is a pervert. You are compromising the safety and dignity of your biggest customer group. If you actually want to provide changing rooms for the vanishingly small number of men who genuinely believe they are in the wrong body, then do so. But please remember that there are men out there who actually get a sexual kick out of being in women’s private spaces and wearing women’s clothes. Why should I expose my daughters to the risk of meeting one of these men? And what about devout women, whose religions prevent them from sharing such spaces with men? You have sorely lost your way here in an effort to prove how woke you are,. I will not spend a single pound with M&S until this policy is reversed.

I'm more of an ill-considered cock-up rather than conspiracy believer. But the creepy reviews are horrifying. How on earth can M&S justify letting them stand? Do they think it would be 'kink shaming' to delete them?

I can't believe I'm having to think about this stuff. What on earth are you doing M&S? I just want to buy some good value pants and nice food.

I'm in charge of all the spending in our house, on food, clothes, etc. I'm VERY discerning as to what stores I support and whilst I'm most definitely not a big spender at M & S (probably less than £100 a year, so hey ho they won't even notice), that'll be taken right down to £0 from now on. In fact, I'm bloody boycotting the lot of them, all clothing stores. We can just wear what we have, and I'll repair as I need to, or make new things as we require them.

Just looking at the M&S Equality Policy

corporate.marksandspencer.com/documents/policy-documents/equal-opportunities.pdf

and guess what....the protected characteristic sex is missing, replaced, surprise surprise, by gender.

Age  Religion or belief  Ethnic or national origin  Marital or civil partner status  Hours of work  Sexual orientation  Race  Gender  Disability  Colour  Gender reassignment  Nationality  Pregnancy/maternity

Time for some more emails; they can't get away with that.