Feminist campaigners demand unisex changing rooms are scrapped amid reports of traumatic encounters

MEPs are urging major shopping streets to ditch unisex locker rooms after a spate of women who have endured traumatic encounters with men.

Last week, Charlotte Kirby, 25, posted a video in which she tearfully showed two men entering her while trying on outfits in a unisex dressing room at Primark in Cambridge.

Now, a Mail on Sunday survey shows that her ordeal is common, showing repeated distress at M&S ​​and rival chains with no sex-segregated spaces.

One mother said that when she took her teenage girl to M&S for her first bra, she encountered a man who came out of a cubicle with his testicles exposed.

Another mom tweeted how in another M&S store, in Exeter, a man left his cubicle door open in the ‘gender neutral’ changing rooms, exposing himself while trying on pants with no underwear.

A woman complained and the man was then escorted out in protest.

Another mother said she had banned her 13-year-old daughter from buying clothes alone after discovering that her local H&M only offers unisex changing rooms.

On Mumsnet, a woman told how she was secretly filmed in a unisex dressing room.

Our investigation has uncovered many criminal cases involving sexual assault, voyeurism and harassment in unisex locker rooms.

This year, a Met Police officer was given a suspended prison sentence for covertly filming a woman in a Primark dressing room.

H&M, John Lewis, M&S, Monsoon and Primark no longer offer women-only spaces after transgender activists called for unisex locker rooms — despite a survey that found 98 percent of the public wanted same-sex spaces.

Tory MP Miriam Cates said: ‘Nobody says all men are a risk, but if you’re a predatory man, you now have an open door – literally – for vulnerable women undressing.

“I really hope these big companies wake up to what they’re doing because it’s not safe.”

Labor MP Rosie Duffield said: ‘It is completely unacceptable for major retailers to deny women and girls the right to change privately.’

And women’s rights activist Maya Forstater said: “There are men who will take advantage of opportunities for voyeurism, exposure and espionage with cell phones.

“Retailers shouldn’t be afraid to have clear signs and say no to men who want to undress with women and girls.”

Emma Salmon, of Woman’s Place UK, added: ‘Retailers should not ignore or minimize women’s need to feel safe in public.

“Policies claiming women’s right to privacy and dignity in public spaces must be reinstated immediately.”

After huge criticism following Charlotte Kirby’s video of her ordeal in Cambridge, Primark said last night that it plans to reinstate “a dedicated women’s fitting room” and continue to provide unisex changing facilities.

It said larger stores would have separate changing areas for women and men.

In smaller stores, men and women would use the same entrance, but be led to different aisles of booths.

In addition, cabin curtains are lengthened with mechanisms to keep them ‘firmly in place’.

Nicola Williams, of the Fair Play For Women group, said: “If Primark still thinks that ‘women only’ can include men who say they are ‘women’, their solution is a sham.”

H&M said the changing rooms would remain unisex.

A spokeswoman said: “We strive to be inclusive and let customers choose which fitting room they want to use.”

M&S said: ‘We have fitting rooms in our women’s and men’s clothing departments and each room is made up of individual, lockable cubicles to ensure everyone feels comfortable and has the privacy they need.

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