Next changing rooms- how should I respond?

[Mattressahoy]

Looking for advice re how to respond to the following email. I recently contacted Next to let them know that on the last two occasions I tried on clothes in their Oxford Street store, there had been men in the changing rooms (at this point I thought they were single-sex). The first time a man was sitting in the communal area of the changing room, and the second time a man was in a changing room opposite mine. Both times I was trying on swimming costumes and felt really vulnerable being naked with a man directly on the other side of the curtain.

This was Next's response:

"Thank you for your e-mail and I am sorry to hear you have felt uncomfortable on your last couple of visits to our stores, due to the presence of male customers in the fitting rooms on the Womenswear floor.

Just to explain, our position has always been that all fitting rooms, irrespective of which department they are situated on, are open to all customers to use, and they are not designated as a single-sex provision. Hence the signage above the entrance just saying 'Fitting Rooms', rather than 'Men's' or 'Women's' Fitting Rooms.

We want to encourage customers to be able to use whichever facility is most convenient for them at the time. For example, for customers placing orders online for delivery to store, the collection point in most of our stores is on Menswear so female customers may find it more convenient to use those fitting rooms to try items on and decide what they wish to keep or return while they are still in store.

We are continuously reviewing and updating our fitting rooms, for example, by attaching hook and eye fixtures to secure the curtains in fitting rooms in our existing stores in order to make customers feel more comfortable, and we are also looking at alternatives to replace curtains in fitting rooms when we re-fit stores or open new ones."

I feel really disappointed with Next and don't feel they're taking women's safety seriously. They have changing rooms in the women's section and in the men's, so in what way would it be detrimental to them to make one specifically for women and one for men? There is absolutely no reason for men to need to access the changing room on the women's floor as all the men's clothes are on the upstairs floor, with it's own changing room. And I can't imagine many women actively choosing to use changing facilities on the men's floor. What is the legal position here? I thought that under the Equality Act companies can provide a single-sex space where there is good reason to do so?

At the very least, I would want there to be clear signage stating the changing rooms are unisex so that women can be made aware that they do not have access to a safe single-sex space before they enter. Is that unreasonable? Is there anything else I could add?

Overall, women try on clothes in store more often than men. They shop more than men. More women want the fitting rooms than men.

The collection point is typically on the same floor/section as menswear because menswear is smaller and therefore can share space. That means some women use the closest changing room to collection for convenience. Therefore it makes more sense to prioritise renovating and securing the changing rooms most likely to have both sexes using them. Those are the ones closest to menswear, wether they are designated as single sex or not.

Your point about the minimal effort and cost of ensuring the changing rooms are correctly labelled is key.

I suspect there are two drivers for this. If they acknowledge provision is mixed sex, they fail to provide the validation/ affirmation transwomen are seeking from using provision ‘for women’. And, if they make it clear provision is mixed sex, they know women won’t be happy and will complain.

You realise the changing rooms are mixed sex so women like me and presumably you can use the closest ones to us wherever we are in the store? It isn't for the benefit of men because they rarely use changing rooms, it is for the convenience of the people who shop the most: women.

The most inclusive solution is to provide a mix of changing rooms - single sex, mixed sex and accessible.

Thanks for digging into this OP.

I won’t be visiting Next to shop again. There are plenty of other places to spend my money.

That makes sense if they are lockable from outside and not from the inside only. Locks operated from the inside would only protect the user from opportunist thefts carried out whilst he was in the cubicle. I wonder how often men have their wallets pinched while they are trying on a pair of trousers in a shop's changing rooms.

And it doesn't explain why the women's changing rooms don't have lockable doors.

Why would any customer agree to be locked in a changing cubicle? I certainly wouldn't!

The thefts I was referring to were those against the customers. It needn't be wallets/purses targeted, plenty of people will have laptops on them and most people will have a mobile phone.

Shoplifting is a whole different story and, if fly-on-the-wall documentaries I've watched are reasonably representative, don't seem to require access to any changing rooms to be attempted.

I am also at a loss why different provision is made according to sex.

I didn't suppose that the men were to be locked in; I was postulating that the only reason for them needing locks on the doors to prevent opportunistic theft would be when they were not in the cubicles. When they are in there with the nickable possessions (wallet or phone or laptop or weapons-grade uranium or whatever else) but without the door locked they'd be at precisely the same risk of theft as they would be anywhere else, wouldn't they? But if they could lock their possessions in while they wandered out, presumably trouserless, to look for kecks in a different size, then the lockable door would make sense. They would have to return the key when they left, though.

I admit that shoplifting hadn't even entered my head. I don't think it's been mentioned in this discussion until now, has it? If it has, I missed it.

This seems to be the case in most clothes shops where most reasonably assume they are single sex based on the department they are in. It certainly used to be the case.

Primark seem the exception giving explicitly single sex rooms for women but not men. I'm waiting for men to complain thats discrimination or unequal provision for men.

Interesting that you just joined QuestionFromTheBack and your first post was on Site Stuff, complaining about us 'gardening'. Obviously fundraising for womens rights really upsets the MRAs...

Why are coded fundraising threads allowed outside the charities noticeboard? | Mumsnet

It must vary from store to store. We have two Nexts where I live and both have lockable doors and not curtains.

Not really as would be quite disgusting to try on swimwear without pants!

I suspect that is the delightful Mr Lismore. He has TwiXed on the matter, apparently he has put us in our place!

x.com/i/status/2060612490946367784

It’s also interesting in their response they pointed out that it’s women who use the collections desk and are welcome to try on in the fitting rooms on the men’s floor.

perhaps they should be moving the collections desk to the women’s wear department.

The collection desk in all retails stores more commonly shares a space or floor with the smallest departments. Menswear is often the smallest department in a clothing retailers.

Not my experience, but you do you.

When you say all, do you mean every type of shop or only ones larger than a certain size? Can you cite any studies on this, or is it just what you have seen in maybe half-a-dozen shops in the past ten years? Are you quite sure you didn't have any confirmation bias playing into this observation?

(Tempted to go to the nearest shopping mall and ask all the stores there where their collection point is, but it's too damn' hot and on a Saturday it will probably be heaving. Maybe next week when we are expecting – hoping for – rain.)

Yes, and usually nearest access to the storage unit.

but their point is a poor argument for why the mens changing rooms to be considered mixed sex.

You are being pathetic. There is a closed cubicle available for you. Dont have a tantrum about nothing

I'm not being pathetic. Stop trying to shame or embarrass me for trying to ensure women's privacy, dignity and safety is being upheld. I am asking for clear signage so women can make informed choices about where they undress, and safe, secure spaces to try on clothes on the womenswear floor. These are really basic requests that surely any business who cares about women should be able to provide.

Closed cubicles don't stop men from hiding cameras in them though

Exactly.

Next, M&S and all other retailers who are so cavalier with women’s safety and dignity should be asked to explain how they ensure this doesn’t happen.

They arent men's changing rooms if the store is saying they aren't designated by sex.

I work in retail in a regional management role. It's just how shops are typically set up. Especially somewhere like Westfield or in a retail park. It is ultimately dictated by the layout, though. It's ideal if you can have the collection desk near the storage units AND on the same floor as the smallest department but you can't always.

The problem is that I don’t think retailers are bothered to change this because, and I don’t like saying this, a lot of women, especially young women aren’t bothered.

I think where it perhaps could have an impact is women started using the ‘male’ changing rooms and see what happens. These stores say they are all mixed but often that isn’t the case. I don’t think men would like this but stores can’t have it all ways.