H&M has been blasted for making female customers feel “vulnerable” with gender-neutral changing rooms at all its stores.
The clothing giant, hugely popular with teen girls and younger women, says its “fitting rooms are for everyone” and it aims to be “inclusive”.
But critics say females would be worried about getting changed when males are nearby.
Our reporter visited the Swedish firm’s three-floor store at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, and when she asked a staff member if the rooms were for men or women, the employee said: “It’s for everyone.”
The rooms only have a curtain for privacy, with a gap at the bottom of around a foot and a half, rather than a door with a lock.
Customer Maisie Marshall, 19, said: “I avoid trying on clothes in H&M because of this.
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“It makes me feel vulnerable getting undressed with men doing the same thing just a few feet away.”
Other stores such as Primark have axed gendered changing rooms.
Ex-Tory MP Ann Widdecombe fumed: “Women don’t want to be stripped to their underwear and possibly find a man wandering in.
“It’s political correctness at the expense of common sense.”
H&M said: “Our fitting rooms are for everyone and our customers should always feel welcome.”
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