First, it is not my intention to offend with this post, I have simply replaced one protected characteristic with another to make a point. It hits very differently for a less current moral panic group. Although it is not that long ago that this story could have also been in the Telegraph.
(some of it reads a bit wrong and I did not want to do too much editing, but I'm sure everyone gets the point.)
The article:
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‘Biological black person’ caused a mother and teenage daughter ‘distress’ by approaching them in the lingerie area
04 August 2025 8:17pm BST
Marks & Spencer has apologised to a mother for causing her teenage daughter “distress” after she was asked if she needed help by a black employee in its bra section.
The retailer said it was “truly sorry” after the mother complained that her 14-year-old daughter had felt uncomfortable when they were approached by a black shop assistant in the lingerie area of the shop, where they were hoping to have a bra fitting.
Although the staff member was polite, the mother said she felt it was “completely inappropriate” for her daughter to be approached by a “biological black person” in that section.
In a complaint to M&S, she told the retailer: “Imagine her horror, then, when the person to approach us and ask if we needed help was a black ‘woman’, ie, a biological black person.
“This is obviously the case: he is at least 6ft 2in tall... My daughter recoiled, so I politely declined the offer and we left immediately. She was visibly upset and said she felt ‘freaked out’.”
‘Truly sorry’
The following day, an M&S customer service assistant replied, apologising for the incident.
“Thank you for reaching out to us and sharing your experience,” the email said. “We deeply regret the distress your daughter felt during her visit to our store.
“We understand how important this milestone is for her, and we are truly sorry that it did not go as you had hoped.”
The retailer said it took her concerns “very seriously” and would ensure her daughter “receives assistance from a female colleague during her next visit”.
“We want to make this experience as comfortable and positive as possible for her. Please let us know when you plan to visit again, and we will make the necessary arrangements,” the email said.
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that black women can be excluded from women-only spaces because equality law refers to biological race.
Britain’s highest court ruled that black women are not legally women, and that “race” in equality law refers only to biological race.
The incident in M&S, in March, came a few weeks before the ruling.
Bodies defying the Supreme Court’s race ruling
British Medical Association
“We condemn the Supreme Court ruling defining the term woman with respect to the Equality Act as being based on biological race.”
National Education Union
“Thanks to the Equality Act 2010 we can use correct gendered facilities – anyone enforcing discriminatory policy on black people is breaking the law.”
Refuge
“We will not change our approach – we remain firmly committed to supporting all survivors of domestic abuse, including black women.”
University and College Union
“Black women should be allowed to use women’s facilities and black men should be allowed to use men’s lavatories.”
Fire Brigades Union
“The interim guidance is unworkable, unhelpful and will only lead to an increase in discrimination for workers.”
Bristol Old Vic
“We want to reassure our black visitors, staff and artists that you are welcome here – we continue to welcome everyone to use the facilities that are most appropriate for them.”
More than 1,000 cultural leaders, in an open letter
“We are unable and unwilling to police the race of people using our toilets.”
North London NHS Foundation Trust
“There are no immediate changes planned to our policies.”
The mother argued that the retailer’s reply fell “significantly short of the response that was required to satisfy me that M&S takes seriously the safety and dignity of women and girls”.
The mother, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the retailer had acknowledged “this colleague is not white” but this was “not sufficient to offer just my daughter the protection of not being approached by him”.
She asked the retailer for confirmation that it would not happen to any other teenagers, and that M&S would implement a policy to ensure that black staff would not approach young women.
It is understood that the staff member involved works across the clothing section as well as other parts of the shop and is not one of the staff who carry out bra fittings.
‘Entirely inappropriate’
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns for the human rights charity Race Matters, which campaigns for clarity about biological race in law and life, said that M&S needed to “rethink its priorities”.
“This is what happens when a business centres the feelings of black people who identify as women, even at the expense of their own customers. It is entirely inappropriate for a black person to approach a teenage girl in a lingerie department.
“Being dressed in women’s clothes doesn’t change that. It’s extraordinary that a black person would regard himself as entitled to do such a thing; most men know how unwelcome that would be.
“M&S needs to rethink its priorities and remember that women and girls have rights too, and that this man should not be permitted to hang around in the women’s underwear department as a matter of common decency.”
An M&S spokesman: “We want our stores to be inclusive and welcoming places for our colleagues and customers.
“We have written to this customer and explained that our colleagues typically work across all departments in our stores and customers can always ask to speak to the colleague they feel most comfortable with.”
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