Boy Scouts are for boys
This story origianlly appeared in Advance Publication newspapers in 2017. The Boy Scouts of America are still pushing to add girls to their ranks. If we follow the money, the legal problems of BSA have drained them of resources, and they are eyeing the budget of Girl Scouts. Combining forces seems like a woke move, when in fact, I think it’s a desperate move to financially save their organization.
2017 – My youngest son just completed his Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts of America. He’s a member of Troop 47, which is the oldest continuously operating troop in the state of Alabama. He, along with most other scouts feel the decision by the National Council to allow girls the option of joining Boy Scouts is ridiculous, and I agree.
Pinning the “Mentor” badge on his grandfather.
First of all, if girls can join Boy Scouts of America or BSA, can boys join Girl Scouts? Will you think it’s a good idea when three 16 year old boys who shave twice a week want to camp with your daughters? After eating all the cookies while sitting around the campfire burping, scratching and talking about teenage boy things, the girls could really get an education. There would be new Girl Scout badges for “shock and awe” and “grossed out.”
Any girl who wants to be an Eagle Scout is probably being pushed by her parents to make a statement of some sort, because to be a girl amongst a throng of silly, smelly boys may be fun for about thirty minutes, after a while, when the TV cameras are gone, a normal girl will recognize she’s out of place. Being the belle of the ball and getting attention only makes you happy for a short time. Then, you have to carry your backpack for about five miles and find a place to tend to your personal needs without slowing down the entire troop.
Totally insulting to the Girl Scouts, what these families who are pushing for membership into the BSA, along with the BSA Executive Directors, are saying is, “Girls Scouts aren’t good enough. Juliette Gordon Low was off her rocker thinking she could bring girls together to encourage, support and cheer each other on while teaching them about adventure and self-sufficiency. All those classes about breast cancer awareness, business development and computer programing for girls is a waste!”
The girls who want to join the BSA for a bigger challenge, should focus on restructuring Girl Scout programs to fit their needs. Girls can fix anything and make it even better than Boy Scouts if that’s their goal. They also need to be smart enough to know there’s a power play going on for control of their lucrative cookie money. Watch out girls, don’t be fooled. Those Thin-Mints are your secret weapon of power.
American boys are surrounded by women all day. Most teachers are women, and the mothers at home are usually the ones dealing with the children. Boys need time with men. They need role models who will guide them into the world of becoming bold, adventurous, risk-takers, which is how they are wired from birth. There’s no debate that the human nature of boys is different from girls and because of this fact, it’s okay and necessary for boys to have time with their own tribe and for girls to do the same.
Knowing the spirited and fighting nature of our Troop, I’m surprised that Scouts from around the country haven’t organized a coup and made a sneak attack on the BSA Executive Board where their tracking skills and knot tying expertise could be thrown into action and the tiniest Cub up to the largest Eagle could hold the conniving adults captive until they heard what the boys really and truly want, which is just to be left alone and allowed to be kids.
Finding a frog in their sleeping bag will be the smallest disruption girls will bring to the Boy Scouts. The largest disruption will sadly be the collapse of the entire program.
My Eagle Scout has learned valuable lessons in this civic minded, patriotic and yes, manly group, and I am proud beyond words of the hard work, organization and determination he has shown to achieve this rank. It’s a shame his final lesson from Boy Scouts is that of adults using children to advance their own political, monetary and social agendas, instead of recognizing the truth that boys just need to be boys — and girls don’t need the help of boys to be awesome.
* When this story was first published in the Mobile, Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama Newsapapers by Alabama Media Group, there was a huge response. A few notes, from women, tried to convince me young girls could do the same exact things young boys could do. But overwhelmingly, I received hearty approval from men in high ranking positions who had grown up being invovled in Boy Scouts. Military leaders and law enforcement officers, along with legal and political leaders in our state all agreed that Boy Scouts are for boys. It’s too bad nothing was done to stop this injustice to our children.
Some of us are confused, very confused, especially the “Executives”, having identity crisis. Are we Boy Scouts of America or we not or are we Boy and Girl Scouts of America? Change your company sign. Make up your mind! BSA and GSA are NOT in competition with one another. It is NOT a battle of the sexes.
Were the boys being excluded in the GSA discriminatory or vice versa girls excluded in BSA? NO and NO. They are single gender for many reasons from their physical transformation during their confusing puberty years to their peer bonding needs with their peers.
Should girls play in the boys soccer/basketball/volleyball team or vice versa? Does that remedy the equality or prove our stupidity? Should women join the fraternities or men join the sororities? Are the exclusions discriminatory or with merits?
BSA and GSA both have their own program emphasis and uniqueness. They are there to maximize their gender’s potential and personal development with no or minimum distractions. They are NOT any inferior or superior of the other.
You can’t make a boy a better wife to join the girl scouts or a girl a better husband to join the boy scouts. Don’t drink that poison !!! BSA has venturing scouts and many females as rangers and staff, but not for the younger age. They perform well. If the BSA and GSA Executives see they have rooms for cooperation and improvement, they should talk to one another instead of strike out on their own. Right now, GSA don’t like “our” decision.
We are in the age of Political Correctness (PC) to the extreme, we are losing our principles. We are obsessed with individualism and individual “right”, they should be obtained at the expense of others and/or other collective rights at all cost. I am not advocating exclusion for the sake of exclusion but jeopardizing the proven record and experiment with possibility future benefit of the unknown is FOOLISH. We are trying to solve a problem that does not exist or not ours. Many of the “Executives” at the local and national level said they don’t know if this is the greatest thing or curse to BSA or not, they said let’s see. Don’t experiment with our children !
Just like any organization that make up of the populations, we have challenges. There is NO perfect organization. Only those NOT compromise, examine the missions, “Improvise, Adapt and Overcome” will pass the test of time. If there are bad kids in your school and justify you not going to school, you are a fool hurting nobody but yourself.
Like what I said to my own kids many times, my self esteem does NOT depend on others.
The “Executives” make decisions all the times, the only differences between yours and theirs are their wrong decisions cost a lot more damage, morally and financially. The Executives/ decisions are NOT the reasons one should join or leave our organization. ONLY the grass root volunteers, parents and leaders at the local level are the true heroes that make everything works. They ALONE executes. We ARE the ONLY agents of change or NOT to change in this case. As of right now, the cost of the change is way too high compared to the benefit (if any). It is one thing to be inclusive, but don’t let that liberalism and PC eat your soul. The National Executives make this decision among many other poor decisions and then defer the final approval/ disapproval to the local charter organizations. That is called impotent and irresponsible to me. That is “what do you want me to do with this Jesus” to me.
ONLY in America. The rest of the world are laughing at us. We are confused. BSA is not just BSA, we are part of the World of Scouting. Don’t embarrass ourselves, wake up please!
I am who I am because I was a scout, a scouter in Hong Kong. I am a scout and always will be. I am 110% sure it would be different if I was not in scout or girls were in my troop, so as my two Eagle Scout sons.
It is political correctness taken to an extreme. I was a Girl Scout, loved it and wouldn’t have been thrilled with a coed troop as a teen. There are plenty of other coed experiences. I say this as a woman who went to law school with a 10% female quota back in the ’70s and has fought for equal rights in the boardroom, the courtroom and in the practice of law. There is an appropriate time and place for everything.
I cheer for women who achieve greatness like your law school experience but also like you, see the need for single-gender activities. Thanks for writing!
Once again I say, Bravo Leslie Anne, for saying what needs to be said. When we heard this ridiculous piece of news my husband and I just shook our heads in disbelief, where will this madness end? There are 2 sexes and they are different. Period. I thought it was bad enough when colleges went to coed dorms, and now the boy scouts??? The way our country is changing and dissolving history right before my eyes makes smoke come out of my ears regularly. Thank you so much for your voice of reason in this crazy world!
Thanks Jenna.
Well said. I am sure you will get lots of comments on this one. I was sickened to hear about this. I loved being a Girl Scout and they have levels of achievement. I know I stayed in way past the cool stage. Instead of trying to ruin Boy Scouts…just revamp Girl Scouts to have some more outdoorsy badges. Oh my goodness…the world is going crazy.
This all came out about three days after I had decided what I was going to dress up for in our preschool at church. We do non scary stuff. I was going to be a Girl Scout. I have a green skirt and white shirt. I was going to dig in the closet and find my sash, go buy me some knee highs. I was all set…then bam…
Now I am trying to decide if I want to dish it to avoid any talk or wear my Girl Scout sash proudly. Argh!!!
You could wear the costume and let people try to guess if you are a boy scout or girl scout. Yikes.
Leslie Anne, I couldn’t agree with everything you say more! For years we had a wonderful organization called the Jaycees. They provided wonderful services to the community. We also had another civic organization, the Jaycettes. Members were mostly wives of the jaycees and the two groups were separate and worked together at times to better the community. This worked for many years until younger women thought it would be a good idea to combine the two groups into one. Well, you can imagine! It didn’t take long until there were none! I don’t know why we can’t recognize it is ok to have groups for women and for men, or in this case, boys and girls! Thanks for your article.
My Grandfather went into a depression when women invaded Kiwanis. Women can be awesome on their own! We don’t need to piggyback ALL THE TIME with men’s groups,especially when we are young, growing, changing, insecure girls. Sometimes it is great to join forces, other times, we are stronger with our own tribes. No one likes to hear that anymore.
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