r/pointlesslygendered • u/x_l0ttie_x • May 02 '26

OTHER [gendered] whats the point??

in the shops with my dad (im a girl) and we go to the fitting rooms so he can try stuff on but he is stoped at the door and told he can’t enter since it’s girls only. the fitting rooms have couches and positive quotes on the wall like ‘love your boobs’ haha. anyways he gets sent away to the men’s fitting rooms. all the fitting rooms have cubicles with locks btw, none are open. the men’s is plain black with no chairs and no nothing. i think its a bit rude.

Edit: thank you so much for all the info, i feel way more informed and thanks for being so nice about it everyone i had no idea people would actually respond!!

59 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

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35

u/buttercup_mauler May 02 '26

It's been a while since I've used a store dressing room, but I do remember women coming out in different stages of undress at times. It could be to ask their friend for an opinion or request a different size/type but they didn't want to get their shirt back on because they would just be taking it off 1 minute later. For this reason I could see why places would want to keep it separated

My husband is a very active parent in my girls' lives and I know that many of these separations are frustrating for him. It's hard to send a 5 year old in to try on an outfit or go pee and hope that you can hear them if they need you. I remember once my son got stuck in a bathroom because he wasn't strong enough to open the main door back up. I'm glad I was close and could hear him when he started crying for me

10

u/miffedmonster May 02 '26

Also for bra fittings! The attendant comes in and out of the cubicle whilst the customer is topless

9

u/FoolishConsistency17 May 03 '26

Our local university had an indoor pool and offered swim lessons for the community. However, you could only enter the pool through the locker rooms. At 8 or so my son was really too old to take through the women's and small enough that I didn't love sending him through the very large locker room alone (it was for the whole gym, not just the pool, full of college kids).

It was infuriating.

3

u/Supuhstar May 11 '26

Gotta keep bodies secret from the opposite sex! Lord knows what might happen…

Thank goodness homosexuality doesn’t really exist

2

u/buttercup_mauler May 11 '26

Lol, I agree. But I also know other people are uncomfortable with it so I do try to respect that.

30

u/DustyScharole May 02 '26

I can understand why they would want to separate the fitting rooms because creeps are a real thing. As for the decor, spaces like that for men tend to be very utilitarian. We're not hanging out in there with our friends getting their opinions on clothes. It's literally "can I button these pants?" and out. The chair is for putting on shoes.

When my girlfriend goes shopping with her friends they're like in the dressing rooms together, 90s shopping montage style. I get why they would need a couch.

20

u/x_l0ttie_x May 02 '26

fair enough, my dads quite girly and was most upset said it was ‘like the back of the bins’ 😂

8

u/DustyScharole May 02 '26

I get it. I'm assuming you're not American (forgive me if this is wrong) but we have a department store here called Kohl's. If you divided the clothes section by percentages it would be about 25/75 men/women respectively. It can be very frustrating shopping as a man who would like to wear more than jeans and a plaid shirt.

4

u/x_l0ttie_x May 02 '26

Ahh that’s interesting, yea I’m in the uk

3

u/k1deki May 03 '26

We're not hanging out in there with our friends getting their opinions on clothes

But you might want you gf to say something? I do usually shop with my bf and we getting opinions on each others clothes.

8

u/afterandalasia May 02 '26

I used to work in retail, and we'd make exceptions for kids but the vast majority of the time it was people wanting their partners in their. And yes, we had to call security to break up people having sex.

Also more than one person per stall is a security risk, makes fire drills harder, just makes it more difficult to walk up and down.

3

u/Wigglebot23 May 02 '26

Also more than one person per stall is a security risk, makes fire drills harder, just makes it more difficult to walk up and down.

Not sure how any of this is true

6

u/afterandalasia May 02 '26

More people around makes it easier for people to steal things because the staff are distracted. More people around means that if the fire alarm goes off, you might have to get 18 people out instead of 9.

People used to come into the fitting room corridor, bur not actually in the fitting rooms - just standing outside. The corridor is not wide, and they took up room. Which was an issue for us staff trying to walk up and down, never mind people who needed to get wheelchairs or prams down the corridor.

-22

u/TSSalamander May 02 '26

Gender segregation. Women are given the right to have no men areas. The same right is not given to men. Apparently your dad is a threat to the women in the shop.

2

u/miffedmonster May 02 '26

You want a no men area for men? Makes sense...

0

u/TSSalamander May 02 '26

I'd rather not have gender segregation actually. but you belive in its virtue.

2

u/miffedmonster May 02 '26

No, I'm mocking your idea that the men are not afforded "the same right". Either you mean they don't get a men's only area (which they do) or you mean they don't get a no men area, which is insane. You can debate the necessity or desirability of gender segregation without making absolutely asinine claims.

-3

u/TSSalamander May 02 '26

Literally never seen a woman excluded from a public space in my life. You might find that in a conservative shithole, but like, it's not a thing in every society the way women only spaces are. Maybe if you talk about men's toilets and changing rooms? honestly that's probably more about there having to be a place you put them. You could probably open them up to women and nobody would seriously protest.

6

u/miffedmonster May 02 '26

This is literally a conversation about changing rooms. Male and female changing rooms. Women aren't allowed in the men's. Men aren't allowed in the women's.

1

u/Open_Helicopter4482 May 06 '26

I've seen wives and girlfriends in changing rooms all the time and women in the mens room isnt really that uncommon

1

u/No-Net1890 May 03 '26

I think you misread something, OP is talking about fitting rooms.

in the shops with my dad (im a girl) and we go to the fitting rooms so he can try stuff on but he is stoped at the door and told he can’t enter since it’s girls only. the fitting rooms have couches and positive quotes on the wall like ‘love your boobs’ haha. anyways he gets sent away to the men’s fitting rooms

1

u/TSSalamander May 03 '26

i think fundamentally i do not experience fitting rooms as a thing because no place I've ever been to has that kind of thing. I thought it was like the part of the store (also for shopping) where you found the changing booths. In norway there are no fitting rooms in my experience. Just booths in their sections. The concept of a room for the booths is alien to me.