Shoppers who believed only women could get pregnant were seen as “bigoted” by Lush staff, a former employee claims.
The sales assistant, who asked not to be named, told The Telegraph she saw a customer of the cosmetics retailer became upset, after she asked staff to help her choose a gift for a “pregnant woman” and was directed towards products for “pregnant people”.
Describing the incident, which she said happened earlier this year, the former employee said: “She said only women can get pregnant, but my colleagues couldn’t see her point – they just thought she was bigoted.”
She said staff were encouraged to wear badges with preferred pronouns; described as “trans allies” by managers, and could ask customers to leave if they felt they were expressing transphobic views. Some seemed “genuinely excited” at the prospect of confronting people they saw as transphobic, she said.
‘I didn’t want to become a target’
She said she found the company’s “constant activism” exhausting, saying: “Certain opinions simply weren’t acceptable. I kept my own views to myself because I didn’t want to become a target.
“You would never expect employees to profess a particular religion in order to fit in at work. I don’t see why this should be any different.”
The former staff member contacted The Telegraph following public criticism of a window display at a Lush in Chelmsford, Essex. It showed a tiger with pink, blue and white stripes, and the words “proud of my stripes”. The tiger also bears markings suggestive of “top surgery” to remove breasts.
The display attracted criticism from survivors of breast cancer, who accused the cosmetics retailer of “glorifying the removal of healthy breasts”.
Bucky Ringsell, the artist was painted the mural, said in an Instagram post she had designed the tiger to support and represent people who had undergone top surgery, “myself included”.