I’m curious, are separate male and female changing areas common now? I don’t buy new clothes from retail “brick and mortar” stores often, but when last I went the dressing rooms were not split up. At one store I frequent, the fitting rooms are almost like a small wicker hut (they’re more substantial, but not not really, lol) out in the middle of the sales floor. In one store, there is often a line to use those located near the men’s area, so I just walk over to the huts near the women’s area. No one has ever said anything, and the women often go to the “men’s area” too (actually, that’s why I quit waiting in line, goose and gandar, and all).
In the old days, I remember fitting rooms being back behind a wall, and strictly separated by gender. I would never feel comfortable trying to get into an obviously private area, but I also wouldn’t dress as a woman either. I was just curious if the fitting rooms are still segregated, because I don’t see it much in this area, these days.
Also, cross dressers were prevalent at a job I had years ago (customer service), so much so that they had a separate bathroom and dress policy for them. I never used the restroom at the same time one of the tranvestites did (I hardly used the restroom at work anyway), but I know a lot of other guys that had one of them walk into the restroom when they were there and it made them angry. I knew a few girls that had it happen to, also, and they seemed not to care as much, depending on the original gender (girls dressed as men bothered them less than men dressed as girls, whereas the males/men hated either one in thier restroom).
there are some stores, such as Gap, where it's not so separated. In a place like Macy's or Nordstrom's you can have alterations done in the dressing room common area.
If I'm not expecting a man in the dressing area, it would be quite a shock to see one walk in and change clothes.
Macy’s - unlike, say, The Gap - still has dressing rooms that are fairly isolated and segregated by sex. In fact, they’re damn creepy. If some tranny walked in on me at Macy’s, I’d freak.