Unisex changing rooms

It's a NO from me !!

What about unisex toilets. I recently went to an NT property in South Wales, it was an events day so very busy. The ladies toilets were closed which meant the mens was for everyone. The urinals were barriered off and there were two cubicles, the floor was soaking and the seats drenched and it was disgusting, needless to say I left and won't be returning.

The rates of sexual assault are higher in mixed sex changing than in single sex. That's the issue.

I did read somewhere, apropos of Primark making their changing cubicles unisex, one young woman, understandably, furious, when I think I read one or maybe two men barged into her curtained cubicle. As stated above, in this shocking age of up skirting and covert filming we unfortunately live in, I can see problems ahead

Jaxjacky

Another plus of ordering online only.

Indeed. Never leave the comfort of home to shop.

A definite no from me. I wouldn’t go in a communal changing room either.

For those of us concerned with the safety of females -adult or child, then single sex changing is important. It’s quite obvious that not everyone is concerned with that.

Rosie51

So still potential for a cell phone to take photos or film of a woman or child in a state of undress?

Well yes, and no. Because staff are around and other customers too- so location is important.

Never!

Also I like a cubicle to myself to examine all angles but to be honest I can't really be bothered with the stripping off to get things tried on in shops...especially all the winter layers so I tend to buy a couple of sizes of things online and send back what I don't want.

I wonder if young people like it and feel ok with it?

Posted too soon. One recent case was when a woman spotted the phone propped against a shoe facing up into her cubicle. She raised the alarm and the guy was caught.

So still potential for a cell phone to take photos or film of a woman or child in a state of undress?

Gap at top and bottom- but as said, in middle of shop, so in full view of other clients and staff.

Fleurpepper

Tried trousers in Decathlon yesterday, Unisex changing rooms with door. What is the problem?

But it is in the middle of store, so with staff and other clients all around.

You've answered your own question.

A door, not a curtain. Presumably floor to ceiling partition, so no gaps for filming underneath or above? Middle of the store with staff and other customers around, increased safety.

This latest episode was far from the first in a Primark shop, but it has generated lots more publicity. That's why they're suddenly so concerned. The incident that I linked to where the man was filming under the partition happened in March and didn't shake them up enough to see the dangers.

Tried trousers in Decathlon yesterday, Unisex changing rooms with door. What is the problem?

But it is in the middle of store, so with staff and other clients all around.

Generally stores that operate this policy backtrack very quickly because for such companies sexual assault cases usually propel you to alter your position on the issue.

It's looks as though Primark are back-tracking on this policy as the bad publicity on social media has knocked some common sense into the decision makers. Why should it take a distressed young woman to do this?

It’s all over the internet, I hope this isn’t the way the shops are intending to go as I for one will carry on ordering online, although I do love to shop but certainly wouldn’t be using one myself

Jaxjaky a young girl had posted of her experience in primark Cambridge as two men walked in on her she was very upset naturally

Just seen Rosie's post. So I was missing something!

I've used individual changing cubicles (with locking doors) that have a few men's cubicles on one arm off a central entrance and rather more on the other arm for women and children. Each cubicle has a solid locking door, a seat, and a mirror. There are mirrors also outside some cubicles. I don't have a problem with this type of changing facility, and don't see why men and women can't have individual privacy. My local TkMaxx have this system - with a larger central room which is I presume, for anyone needing the larger room.
When using single sex cubicles, with an external mirror, often other women have asked my advice or offered theirs- which may not happen so much in a mixed zone- as I assume people would be less likely to wander out to the external mirrors.
Am I missing something?

Rosie51

This form of changing room, with a curtain for a 'door' is much cheaper to set up, and was not a problem when changing rooms were single sex. To now rebuild with solid walls and lockable doors costs money and puts the area out of use during construction. Companies don't want to spend money where they can avoid it, but making their existing facilities mixed sex overcame other problems that they didn't want to address.

I wonder if it will gradually change when they realise they are losing customers?

This form of changing room, with a curtain for a 'door' is much cheaper to set up, and was not a problem when changing rooms were single sex. To now rebuild with solid walls and lockable doors costs money and puts the area out of use during construction. Companies don't want to spend money where they can avoid it, but making their existing facilities mixed sex overcame other problems that they didn't want to address.

I'm not sure why there is so much talk about "changing in front of a man." This isn't what is happening at all. You will still have your own cubicle but the cubicle beside you might have a man in rather than a woman.
Rosie51's link shows a need for shops to ensure that women can't be video'd and to ensure women are safe. I can see no reason why the cubicle partitioning can't go from floor to ceiling.

Many shops operate these mixed sex cubicle changing rooms. Floor to ceiling walls with a lockable door is one thing (still not something I like), but thin partition boards that do not reach floor and ceiling with a drawback curtain for a 'door' is quite another. There have been plenty of instances shown of men filming or photographing the woman in the next cubicle by careful positioning of a mobile phone in the gap. Primark are well aware of this danger but have up until now decided women and girls aren't important enough to protect.
Just one example, and how telling is the sentencing here that men rule, even when it's a woman magistrate. Disgusting child porn images found and still a suspended sentence!
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11039617/Met-Police-officer-36-caught-secretly-photographing-woman-Primark-changing-room.html