Boycott JL and Waitrose? : James Esses' latest Substack on John Lewis LGBTQIA++ 'Identity' mag

[PersephoneSeethes]

I saw it this afternoon on Twitter and read the article with utter horror.

I was hoping it would be uplifting stories about people being accepted and living full lives

John Lewis and Waitrose are seemingly actively promoting and policing
pronoun usage by colleagues, Stasi-style. This seems like it is a court case, a-la-Forstater, waiting to happen.

They have an article about 'raising non-binary and transgender children', not from an information position in case Partners come across such families in their stores, but with a heavy activist slant.

I think I have finally been pushed to the edge with this beloved company. I can no longer shop with them, and I shop at Waitrose every week for our main shop, have done for over a decade.

This is a real gut punch because I believe in what Waitrose does, or used to do: they pay their farmers better, their animal welfare is better, their shops don't have the bright lights and loud noises that set off my migraines and irritate family members autistic temperaments. But as someone who grew up a tomboy, and would have been thrown under the gender bus by Stonewall and all the other organisations if I had been a child today, I can't stand by and accept all this nonsense.

I'd assumed it was paper copies because of the 32 page format, since multiples of 4 fit with double-sided printed folded pages, and because the layout of the page numbering fitted with the style of a printed document but obviously I was wrong. I'm glad they haven't wasted an additional £30k+ on printing.

It sounds as though it was designed in the format of a magazine that would appear as a physical print version.

At what point it was decided that it would only be released digitally .. who knows.

Postage costs would easily another £1 a copy of sent to partner's home addresses.

Postage costs would easily another £1 a copy of sent to partner's home addresses.

I'm cringing for them! They are shops, we don't want social engineering from shops!

And what a bubble they must be in to not realize how badly this will land.

I've deleted the JL and Waitrose app, I'll have to cancel my card later, and unsubscribe from emails.
will this show up in their stats?

I'm going to have to vegetarian as I like the animal welfare standards they have

This is so so disappointing. We're nearing the end of a renovation and have a lot of home interiors stuff to buy, but I don't want to buy them from a shop that promotes child abuse. Deleted the app. How bloody bloody annoying. Where are the adults in John Lewis? Where are the lawyers? This isn't 2015 as someone has pointed out! 😡

I've unsubscribed from the mailing list, make sure to choose the option "I no longer shop with you"

I hope someone at John Lewis is reading this.

Gutted as I love waitrose.

And this thread is in active now!!

I used to love shopping in John Lewis, but haven't bought anything from them since 2019.

That was when they decided to open their female changing rooms to male wankers, but without changing the signage to let women know they were now mixed sex.

So the sign still said "women" but the policy was that men got to choose where they felt most comfortable.

It was made very clear at the time that any women unkind and exclusive enough to expect privacy when undressing, or prudish and bigoted enough to object to spunk on the mirrors and floors was unwelcome in John Lewis.

I can be a bit slow on the uptake, but after women wrote begging them to reconsider and had their concerns ridiculed and dismissed I took the hint.

Can't say I've missed them either. They used to be really good, but were already going downhill back then, and have only got worse.

I’ve just closed my JL account too and told them why

They've been going downhill for years but this puts the tin hat on it. I remember being dismayed by that awful 'aggressive boy in a dress smashes up the house' Christmas ad a couple of years ago. No more Waitrose or JL for us. As a boring old middle-aged adult human female I get to decide where we shop as a family.

Are they going to find enough blue haired thems to buy curtains for hundreds of pounds? I don't think so. I was literally just about to do just that.

The comments on that Telegraph article are a joy to behold! I've read the majority of comments (1200+!) and only two in favour of the wokeness.

Huge mis-step, JLP!

Aren't they great? The Telegraph has done excellent work in exposing all this. I've got a very cheap 6 month sub to them and am impressed. Don't share many of the political views but they've some excellent journalists, their sports pages are fab (with a whole section devoted to women's sport) and the sports writers articulate about the eradication of women's sport by mediocre males.

Many commentators are articulate about safeguarding children, lesbian erasure and could hold their own on this board.

There's money to be made in the signage there: "women and male wankers".

😶 oops forgot to write something!

Is the whole magazine just more of this?👇

He works in the nursery department!? 😶😶

Bloody hell, just read the article. I love shopping at JP but how can I shop there when it’s ethically questionable.

Is the belted vest fashion ware? My teen wears lots of alternative thrift shop fashions and so I’m used to creative outfits. However leather and buckles make me assume kink wear ..

He's wearing reins!

Lots of comments on this on their latest insta post:

www.instagram.com/p/C3Z3vnwqKUy/?igsh=MWFqaGV2enV0M25pNg==

And on Facebook too.

If I met him in the nursery dept I would be perturbed.