Manchester Primark

[whoami24601]

Went in Primark today and noticed on the way into the women's changing rooms a MASSIVE sign stating 'this fitting room is for women only. There is an 'all genders' fitting room elsewhere'. Paraphrased but that was the general gist.

Sign of change? Should I be feeling optimistic?

I went in there yesterday and don’t even use the fitting rooms as all the clothes seemed to be for tiny people! EXS, S or at a push M we’re all that I could find!

That's so funny as I had the opposite problem - everything I looked at was XL!

Unfortunately not. At Primark "woman" means whoever claims they are a woman, so they still allow men into the "women only" fitting rooms.

This new policy has been challenged by a shareholder who has been told they have no intention of changing it. They simply don't care. There have been fairly recent sexual assaults that have taken place in the changing rooms, (Derby and Telford off the top of my head) and they are not interested.

Quite a lot of info on this on Twitter under #PrimarkDontGoAlone

I've done a couple of Primark actions, leafletting outside the stores.

Most people are like the OP and assume that "women only" means "women only".

They don't realise that it's Primark speak for "only people who tell us that they're a woman."

It doesn’t matter. Men have been emboldened to demand and bully access to female areas as they wish.

I have been complaining on and off to Primark for a few years now. They really don’t care. And there is no way to escalate complaints unless someone has an email that will get emails through to senior people.

I watched a male sit in front of cubicles on his phone while waiting for his friend who was a female change in a cubicle up the corridor. The curtain was partially open for the woman in front of his seat and he could certainly have watched her if he wanted. I was sitting also and jumped up to close the gap in the curtain for her (I didn’t say a thing). I complained. And was told the policy and that nothing needed to be done. I asked to be escalated and was told emphatically ‘no’.

I emailed again after the police officer incident and got told ‘no’ again.

They are simply not interested. They have made it clear.

The metrocentre one has split their fitting rooms to "women only" and "all genders"

They've also added extra holes down the side if the curtains and hooks down the door frames so the curtains can't be pulled open from the outside.

Vote with our feet

Yes it was like this with the curtain too. I did think the reference to separate 'all gender' changing rooms might mean a positive change in policy, but it seems not. Optimism thoroughly snuffed out!

Is this exclusively Primark or are there other stores that mostly market to teenagers that do this too?