John Lewis

[sybilshade]

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Fekko
I think that if you take a look at a certain anti women charity who have been openly campaigning to remove women's sex based rights, you will find that most (if not all) of the businesses currently inviting men into women's changing rooms will have signed up to said charity and will have already received (or about to be given) special awards for removing single sex changing facilities.
Someone pointed out last year that a man working for the Dfe got a special award for removing single sex toilets from their premises. It was deemed to be a wonderfully 'inclusive' act I believe.

Bless him. He must be related to my mother. She boycotted a local store in the mid-70s and actually outlived the store (it closed in the 2000s).

But then I stopped going to a local store when DS was little and the owner told him 'give that to your gran...' (coe on, I may have been sleep deprived and probably had cornflakes in my hair but I didn't look in my 70s!)

Shit on women? Heres your award for 'turd of the year' yaaaaayyyyyy!

I look forward to playing 'lawsuit bingo' with a printout of that webpage.

This is the latest, and last, response from John Lewis to my 3rd and 4th emails. I imagine them in the boardroom 🙈 🙈 seeing no evil. We're such a lovely shop, with such naice customers, of course nothing bad is going to happen. And when it does they'll be so shocked, and wonder why no-one ever warned them. Meanwhile we can go to hell; we'll take your money, but Women, know your place

I'll be limiting my Waitrose shopping to £10 now, just to get a free Times, and read some balanced reporting about the reality of Women's lives, and not some cloud cuckoo land of happy mixed sex changing rooms, where we can all be giggling girls together. Fuck that.

Almost worth doing just for cute dragon in the email! They still don’t get this whole problem can be solved by a third space. If you don’t want use the sex of your body then feel free use third space.

I’m a wheelchair user, I’d love use same loos, fire exits, Doors, changing rooms, as my friends. But I can’t. My physical body doesn’t fit the “norm” so I have use a third space. It’s not the same, but I can still use loo etc so basic needs met. Is it that different to say to a Trans/NB person your body doesn’t match the changing room of your preferred sex so use the third space.

This has enraged me. I sent a clear and polite email asking them to answer specific queries, not least the safeguarding of teenage girls and women, to get this reply back, which just quotes the original message I queried! And the "not responding" further is so fucking dismissive of women and their concerns.

(I did get a "how did we do" feedback email this morning which I took pleasure in completing)

I appreciate your concerns regarding our fitting rooms policy, however this has been in place now for a number of years. As an inclusive business, our customers are welcome to use whichever fitting room makes them feel the most comfortable. This goes for Partners too.

We strive to accommodate the requirements of all of our customers, and we take a balanced approach to how we achieve this. When developing any shop policy, we always consult with relevant stakeholders across the business and, where appropriate, outside of our business.

When it comes to putting policy into practice, as a co-owned business we ensure that all of our Partners understand their responsibilities and exercise their judgement appropriately. Regardless of specific policy, if any customer were to act inappropriately, the necessary action would be taken.

We are grateful for your feedback but I must advise we will not be responding further in relation to this matter.

Its not been in place for years, you had to try and look like you belonged in the ladies or you would’ve asked to leave. A man who dared walk in Marks would have been asked to leave, full stop. That’s what’s changed.

Test

Just sent my email to the MD, it’s a flippin woman as well, I despair...

I was making a conscious effort to try and use high street shops but they have to be prepared to meet our needs too. Boycotting JL, Waitrose and M&S entirely is not realistic but I've started to switch away and use alternatives whenever I can. They may not care but I've noticed a reduction in what I spend already.

Just sent my email to the MD, it’s a flippin woman as well, I despair

Plenty of women out there happy to do the dirty work and shit on others, unlike men who actively protect the rights of their sex. Wonder if it would be a different story if we had active female Freemason groups, continually working behind the scenes to uphold women’s rights ?

I have NC although already on the thread, just to protect my privacy. I'm not condoning anything illegal you understand or saying I have acted illegally, but I wonder if we will see any direct action by women to protect other women and girls.

I think that, to raise awareness in general, a woman in the men's areas, like toilets, is very effective - the irony is I would feel more comfortable with DH there if I were to do this, sigh. (Plus some are minging, it really would be taking one for the team) I think anyone who did this would actually find that far from bad or threatening reactions though, there would be agreement that the situation is all wrong and lots of concern that their daughters and wives are at risk. The act of causing so much uncomfortableness (is that a word) speaks a thousand words as well as explaining and leafleting.

The irony is that DH walking into the women's changing rooms because he felt "more comfortable" (bigger mirrors you see ) would prove our point even more but he isn't a knob and wouldn't want to distress anyone.

Women talking to other women in single sex spaces may be as effective as leafleting and stickers, which would also raise awareness. I wonder if we will spot any, I do love a stickerwoman thread. I think we will see an increase. I will certainly be visiting John Lewis.

How do we start our own group then Getbusy.. ? But I had hoped the feminist movement would have been able to deal with all this, but it seems to be fragmenting and getting silly

I got an email from a woman too. If she exists - I’m bit certain as I’ve worked on places where we had ‘Mary’ who used to get the queries and rsvps so we could split the workload over a few ‘Mary’s’ and ‘temp Mary’s’

I don't know wtf is going on with my apostrophes there I think the excitement at the thought of all the direct action made my SPAG fall out of my head

Suzie it was just my musings and I don’t think we can successfully instigate change in this way in the current climate.
What we can do is individually raise awareness with everyone we know, boycott companies who disregard women’s rights where possible, challenge the gender dogma eg on forms, inform people about what is happening eg with stickers , leaflets etc.
The push back to this insanity has to be grassroots led, it seems the state, police etc are solely committed to upholding the rights of men to do as they please.
( I’m changing into a middle aged anarchist 😂)

How do you name change? Do you have to register a new name first? Do you lose your other name?

If you're on the app you go to the three lines on the right then My Mumsnet and you can change your username. You can still keep your old ones and change back anytime.

Hi all
Just a reply back re my email to MD,
Yes it was the stock reply given to previous poster from an Abigail Berry.
Unfortunately I think it will take an attack on a female person by a man in the changing rooms to generate enough heat on J Lewis to make them re think policy.
What happened to the poor woman in a woman’s jail that got attacked by a self ID man ???
That story went quiet didnt it

I have received the following response from John Lewis (having asked them which changing room I should use given that I feel most comfortable in a single sex changing room, asking them how ‘empowering’ they really thought it was for shop floor staff to have to challenge men behaving inappropriately in the women’s changing rooms, and asking them why they hadn’t rebranded their changing rooms as unisex so that women could at least make informed decisions as to whether to use their changing rooms) :

“We strive to accommodate the requirements of all of our customers, and we take a balanced approach to how we achieve this.

We are grateful for your feedback but I must advise we will not be responding further in relation to this matter.”

Basically, telling me to piss off. Fine, will take my money elsewhere. This boycott will hurt me harder than Ocado or M&S but I feel like the only thing I can do is to vote with my feet (money).

I've had exactly the same utterly rude and dismissive response: "we are 'balanced', thanks for feedback but fuck off". I specifically asked them to reply to my specific points and not send me a generalised reply. I specifically asked them to give me a legal justification why they were not using the Schedule 22 of the Equality Act 2010 exemptions which allow them to provide single-sex changing rooms. And I get this patronising, pathetic, evasive and rude response. What disgusting customer service. I've always shopped at John Lewis and Waitrose because of their customer service. Well, no longer. I shall cut up my JL Partnership credit card and will be shopping elsewhere. How totally dare they.

This is exactly what infuriated me so much - I too asked a number of specific questions I genuinely wanted answers to. Their refusal to answer combined with the extra fuck off at the end, is telling as well as infuriating, isn't it?

Wow GiveMeABreakAlready, you were clearly told to fuck off weren't you! Classic #NoDebate

Cheeky fuckers, I'll not be buying a stitch from them again, that'll easily be over £200 of custom they'll not be receiving from me from Christmas alone.

I'll be honest I don't have the budget to shop at John Lewis normally but I get a Waitrose food delivery each week as it actually works out cheaper than the other supermarkets (I didn't believe it I would be either, but I buy what's on offer. Last week my shop was £3.36 cheaper than at Tesco apparently )

We are a big family including teenagers so I spend a lot on food. I will take my custom elsewhere.

I too asked a number of specific questions - my draft email has 20 questions and points that I would like them to respond to.

D'ya think I will get a reply with a cute wee dragon on it telling me to swivel?