Hi Friends (especially in the UK on this occassion)

Earlier this week I decided to email a few of the bigger fashion shops. As I'm going out more dressed I wanted to know their attitude to serving crossdressers while en femme.

Here is the reply from Bon Marche:

Dear Alina

Thank you for your email that I have recently received.

bonmarché stores have a very wide range of customers as you may have already seen.

I am aware of no reason whatsoever why you should not shop with us in the future.

Therefore, I hope that you will enjoy the new ranges we have instore and continue to be a valued customer in bonmarché.

Yours sincerely


Gill Holland
Customer Services


Waiting to see what I get back from others.

Alina
xx

Lucy
Yes it is illegal to show prejudice on grounds of gender status/sex. However there is one group not covered by it, the one that lots of us fall into and that is the transvestite/crossdresser. In legal terms we are not transgendered. The MOD proved that to be the case with me.

The reason I sounded out a few of the shopping chains was to find out company attitude. If we raise the subject with the company they might just put out a policy directive advising that all staff are to be treated with respect.

Alina

Hi Alina,

Part of our reluctance to go and do everyday things en Femme seems to be our internal fears, and not actual discrimination on the part of any store. In fact, I actually hadn't thought of asking in advance of a stores policy. (This obviously assumes you have worked out the coming out issues).

On a recent shopping trip en Femme, I experienced absolutely no problems and was actually treated far better than I anticipated. My experience

1. Chocolatier to buy some gifts for a couple of ggirl shopkeepers who have been supportive. (Was welcomed, waited on courteously and invited back!)

2. Shoe shopping at a large shoe store. (DSW). Some 2nd looks from other women customers and only 1 whisper, but no issues. Again, courteous treatment at the checkout process and invited back. (Warm smile from the cashier).

3. Clothing department store - Was asked if I was finding what I needed, courteous help and when I went to pay experienced quite warm treatment. (BTW - bought over $300/USD , figured they like my money very well - even if my bank card had my male name on it)

In all cases, I did not have any problems whatsoever.All in all, a fun experience (being out as me), and very pleasant experience. The one area I did not try to test out was going to the dressing rooms to try on the items I was looking at.

It's funny, how my internal fears had held me hostage for way too long. The fears simply were not founded in reality. It makes me wonder - What else have I hesitated or chose not to do because of internal fears.

Just a thought - The person you will be interacting with will only be in your life for at most a few minutes - so why be overly concerned about how they react to you en Femme. (Safety and legal situations aside).

Michelle Lynn

Firstly I must apologise for not being on line recently but having just got a new job I had to spend a lot of time settling in. I'm now on my standard hours which are 1 to 5 Monday to Friday afternoons. It's great only having to work part time and means that I get my household chores and shopping done in the mornings.

So what about this new job? Well I work in a large store dealing with Ladies, Mens and Childrens clothes and homewares. My function is in the stockroom so I get to see most clothes before they actually hit the shop. Fellow members of staff do not know of Alina but several know that I live with a male partner and that I undertake the more feminine role at home.

Have I seen any tvs in the shop? Well yes I have. Did the staff say anything? No, but other customers whispered to each other. The strange thing was that the two I saw yesterday afternoon were buying mens' socks and I was restocking socks at the time. Was this shop assistant polite to them? Of course I was.

Alina

Hi Alina
I doubt any store will have policy against serving TS's.
But the sales people are the ones you will be dealing with.
But I have yet to read of a bad experience. Once while shopping in K-mart. I had to return a nightgown for a different size. The girl at the return counter told me to get the one I want & bring it back. Than as I was walking away she said for everyone to hear " I'm sure we have a gown your size SIR". I wasn't embarrassed I was angry. I tore into her ass. Then the manager came & I bitched at her about how to treat people. Never saw the girl at the counter again. She's not there anymore.

well that's interesting, i just take the suck it and see approach. all shop assistants have been fine with me so far, usually very friendly, compared to the occasional funny look i used to get when i shopped en bloke. shopping en femme is MUCH better, and you can try things on too!
i expect all your replies will be positive and they will be practically grovelling to get you into their shops (isn't illegal now to show prejudice towards people because of their gender status?)
oh and karen, well done for giving that girl hell, she deserved it!
happy shopping everyone.
xx

Good thinking Alina, I expect some of the smaller stores have never given it much thought, but to prompt them into issuing company policies on such matters can only be a good thing.
I never knew that – that legally tv’s are not transgender, I didn’t know the law was so clear on such definitions, no-one else seems to be, not even the medical profession! Certainly one should not have to be post-op ts to be protected from discrimination, and now that you’ve sought assistance from your GP perhaps the MOD case would now stand differently? Then again the law is an ass…
Just thinking out loud, sorry. Must get out to the shops again soon…
xx