For years I watched as high school boys who had earned the prestigious Eagle Scout Award were denied this recognition because they were gay. I saw men fired from leadership positions because it was against the BSA policy that states members must be “morally straight.”
Then in 2014 the policy changed and gay youth were allowed admittance into the BSA.
My son, then 8, expressed interest in joining, so I let him. I have to say I was not impressed. It was disorganized and sort of boring and his involvement lasted only one year.
Girl Talk
I have always supported the Girl Scouts (GS), who have never had such exclusionary policies in their by-laws. Even at its inception in 1912, founder Juliette Gordon Low strived to include girls of different cultures and ethnicities as well as those labeled disabled.
Full disclosure, I am a little biased towards the Girls Scouts because I was one, as was my daughter. My best friend is also employed by the GS and she is awesome. But really, what’s not to love about an organization for girls that builds leadership skills and encourages outdoor activities? Of course there’s also the cookies.
The Current Situation
On October 11th the Boy Scouts of America announced they would begin admitting girls as scouts starting in 2018. As far as I’m concerned this is a direct attack on the Girl Scouts and I am once again boycotting all BSA endeavors. Why, you ask? Aren’t they just recognizing girls’ skills and rights to be treated equally and achieve the same things as boys?
Don’t kid yourselves people. There is one reason and one reason only why the Boy Scouts of America would accept girls into their organization. MONEY! They see girls as a revenue stream and nothing else. The membership fees, the uniforms, badges, camp tuition, more kids hawking popcorn tins and spaghetti plate tickets. It’s all about the cash.
The BSA national board chairman, Randall Stephenson went as far as to say:
What? The Girl Scouts boast alumni like Venus and Serena Williams, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Condoleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube and Virginia Rometty, CEO of IBM. But wait, there’s more. Seventy-five percent of women in the US Senate are Girl Scout alumnae, more than half of the 88 women in the US House of Representatives are as well, and almost every woman who has flown in space was once a Girl Scout.
Economics and Scandal
When BSA founder Robert Baden-Powell died, he left several letters to be read after his death. One letter included the following:
Baden-Powell’s advice was not heeded and the organization now has a large paid staff and huge financial overhead. Additionally, bad publicity from banning gays, allowing gays (they just can’t win) and sexual misconduct allegations against scoutmasters, have added to the decline in enrollment. The BSA membership has been cut in half since the 70’s, and as families have more options for their kids’ activities (sports, the arts, religious activities…) and struggle financially, fewer families choose scouting.
Girls have Problems Too
The Girl Scouts have had their own share of issues, they too face declining enrollment due to economics and competition for time with other activities. My daughter left GS due to a demanding horseback riding schedule. Scandal has touched the girls as well, as conservatives have blasted GS support of liberal agendas in Washington and financial support to Planned Parenthood. Then there are those cookies. Some have complained because not all of them are trans fat free and that they use palm oil, which contributes to deforestation.
Ok, so no organization is completely innocent, but the Girl Scouts have always supported girls and are not trying to poach members from other scouting organizations.
Why?
Why would a girl want to join the BSA? The main reasons I have heard from girls is that they want to be equal and do the same things as boys. Um, that’s what Girl Scouts is for. They are not sitting around drinking tea and knitting. They are building fires, sleeping in tents, doing archery, helping through community service… Some girls say they want to join the BSA so they can earn the prestigious Eagle Scout Award. Guess what, the Girl Scouts have an equivalent, it’s called the Gold Award and it requires just as much time, devotion and work as the Eagle Scout Rank. Sadly it has not been given the same recognition by the patriarchy. Yeah I said it, probably for the first time ever, but it’s so true. Anything a girl can achieve in the Boy Scouts she can achieve in Girl Scouts.
Why would a parent want their daughter to be a Boy Scout? Well, parents are tired of driving their children to multiple activities on multiple nights in multiple locations. How convenient it would be if Bob and Sue were in the same scout troop on the same night. I get it. I am very much in the chauffer stage of my life, it’s a drag but it’s also a big part of parenting. Suck it up.
Do the boys want girls in their troops? I don’t know for sure but I wouldn’t think so. The young boys will be annoyed because girls have cooties, the older boys will be annoyed because girls are distracting and they can’t just hang with their bros and act like bros.
I am for gender equality. I am for helping busy families. But I am not for the undermining of a 105 year old fantastic female organization for profit.
Girl Scouts=Girl Power
Written by Leanne
Current Obsessions: Leanne is a wife, mother of 2 and currently unemployed. Her writing has been featured at GirlBodyPride.com and The Huffington Post. She is currently avoiding writing a memoir of her summer as an exchange student. Follow her nowhere, because that would be stalking, as she does not tweet, blog or insta. She doesn’t even own a smartphone!
