M&S’s ‘gender inclusive’ changing room policy is a mess

Marks and Spencer needs to get a grip on its fitting rooms policy. The question of who can use the men’s and who can use the women’s has been a long running saga for the British clothing chain, which has now been accused of introducing unsafe changing rooms for women by stealth.

Responding to an already dissatisfied customer, the M&S social media team announced this week that, ‘in all of our stores, we have fitting rooms located within our womenswear and menswear departments and each is made up of individual lockable cubicles to ensure every customer feels comfortable and has the privacy they need.’

A politician trying to obfuscate might well have left it there. But there was a follow up. After a customer explained that they needed a shop with a female-only changing area, M&S continued:

While they are mainly used by customers of that gender, as an inclusive retailer and in line with most other retailers, we allow customers the choice of fitting room.