An all-girl troop that's part of the Boy Scouts, but they do things completely separate from the boys and no boys are allowed? As they're saying on my FB feed, "that just sounds like the Girls Scouts with extra steps."
Someone who says "That just sounds like the Girl Scouts with extra steps" is apparently quite unfamiliar with the difference between the programs of the GSUSA and the BSA. Trust me, the girls and young women in a BSA girl troop will participate in programs and activities that are much different than those of the GSUSA's.
Can boys join the Girl Scouts? If not, why not? Can a man be a Girl Scout leader? If not, one presumes that is because of a sexual concern, and if so, how can a homosexual be a Boy Scout leader, or a lesbian a Girl Scout leader.
Ron, I agree that Girl Scouts activities have traditionally been different from those of the BSA. Not that I've checked lately, but when I was a girl, the Girl Scouts were extremely namby-pamby. But if girls want a scouting group that takes things more seriously, couldn't they just change the Girl Scouts to make it less silly? I can't wrap my mind around girls forcing their way into the Boy Scouts and then demanding their own special girls-only troops. It's not like the BSA copyrighted the Scout's oath or activities and forbade girls to enjoy the same types of activities in their own organization. Why join the BSA unless it's to scout alongside the boys? If scouting still needs to be segregated by sex, why not keep the organizations separate?
The Church of Jesus Christ, I mean aka LDS org latter day saints, decided to pull away from their 100 year alliance with the BSA. Now they are, I think, shjifting to an entirely self funded, self organized, Youth program. I like to call it "Amish, but without the tech blocks" haha.
I think humanity is just confused and afraid of many things. This creates psychosis, hate, and other things like: https://static.pjmedia.com/static/20034/instapundit/wp-content/themes/instapundit_responsive/images/permalink.gif
E Hines, some people just take their 33% total donations funding BSA, and get their ball to go home with.
My wife was a Girl Scout. Her group wasn’t namby pamby. Her mother grew up in Alaska, and taught cold weather winter survival. The wife taught horsemanship at a summer course in Wyoming.
Now I think it’s courses on feminism, plus cookie sales. But it was not always thus.
My experience was in the 70s and earlier. Perhaps there was a golden age of seriousness, followed by a relapse into madness. Or maybe Alaska is just different from suburban Houston! Girl Scout Camp in the 60s and 70s was hilariously devoted to making sure we never did anything dirty or dangerous. When you were 17, you became eligible for what they called "primitive camping," i.e., in tents instead of cabins, and--gasp--cooking outdoors over fire. The campfire singing was pretty great, though.
FWIW, I lost patience pretty quickly with Girl Scouts, and my recollection is the same as Tex's (we didn't do anything fun/interesting - it was sort of like Home Ec, Lite -- and I already knew how to cook and sew).
As a girl, I wanted to go camping and hiking and be outdoors. Ride horses, or chop wood, make fires, or shoot arrows or guns or any of the things our sons got to do in Scouts.
The closest we ever got to camping was staying in posh cabins. That, and decoupage.
During the cold weather survival program, not only did they sleep outside in freezing weather but in shelters they'd built themselves out of snow ant whatnot. The only concessions my mother in law made, as I recall the story, was that she allowed them to turn in the grubs and other things they dug up for hot oatmeal instead of actually making them eat the bugs; and the scoutmasters or whatever they call Girl Scout leaders checked on the girls regularly all night to make sure they were warm enough in their shelters.
It was as good a program as the Boy Scouts ever ran, I'll wager.
I always got the impression they were worried we might break a nail. It was a lot like junior high school "sports" in that way. By high school it was better.
My elder sister did an Outward Bound program. They seemed pretty serious.
I recently linked 4 issues of Boy's Life magazine...from 1911, 1956, 2000, and 2010....all were available on Google Books. This was in the context of a discussion about education and literacy issues over time.
I bet something similar is available for the Girl Scouts...might provide some insight as to how the emphasis has changed over time.
19 comments:
Someone who says "That just sounds like the Girl Scouts with extra steps" is apparently quite unfamiliar with the difference between the programs of the GSUSA and the BSA. Trust me, the girls and young women in a BSA girl troop will participate in programs and activities that are much different than those of the GSUSA's.
I am confused too. Questions.
Can boys join the Girl Scouts? If not, why not?
Can a man be a Girl Scout leader?
If not, one presumes that is because of a sexual concern, and if so, how can a homosexual be a Boy Scout leader, or a lesbian a Girl Scout leader.
This here modern age is all tangled up.
Their rules don't have to make sense. You just have to memorize them and follow them.
Eric Hines
Ron, I agree that Girl Scouts activities have traditionally been different from those of the BSA. Not that I've checked lately, but when I was a girl, the Girl Scouts were extremely namby-pamby. But if girls want a scouting group that takes things more seriously, couldn't they just change the Girl Scouts to make it less silly? I can't wrap my mind around girls forcing their way into the Boy Scouts and then demanding their own special girls-only troops. It's not like the BSA copyrighted the Scout's oath or activities and forbade girls to enjoy the same types of activities in their own organization. Why join the BSA unless it's to scout alongside the boys? If scouting still needs to be segregated by sex, why not keep the organizations separate?
The Church of Jesus Christ, I mean aka LDS org latter day saints, decided to pull away from their 100 year alliance with the BSA. Now they are, I think, shjifting to an entirely self funded, self organized, Youth program. I like to call it "Amish, but without the tech blocks" haha.
I think humanity is just confused and afraid of many things. This creates psychosis, hate, and other things like: https://static.pjmedia.com/static/20034/instapundit/wp-content/themes/instapundit_responsive/images/permalink.gif
E Hines, some people just take their 33% total donations funding BSA, and get their ball to go home with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw9zSMsKcwk&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q3HPRBUdks
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/350830/ lol I somehow copy pasted the image gif.
My wife was a Girl Scout. Her group wasn’t namby pamby. Her mother grew up in Alaska, and taught cold weather winter survival. The wife taught horsemanship at a summer course in Wyoming.
Now I think it’s courses on feminism, plus cookie sales. But it was not always thus.
Makes about as much sense as a Renegade Dalek Quidditch team.
My experience was in the 70s and earlier. Perhaps there was a golden age of seriousness, followed by a relapse into madness. Or maybe Alaska is just different from suburban Houston! Girl Scout Camp in the 60s and 70s was hilariously devoted to making sure we never did anything dirty or dangerous. When you were 17, you became eligible for what they called "primitive camping," i.e., in tents instead of cabins, and--gasp--cooking outdoors over fire. The campfire singing was pretty great, though.
" Grim said...
My wife was a Girl Scout. Her group wasn’t namby pamby. "
Haven't we gone over this material before?
"Just part of her skull collection"
Haven't we gone over this material before?
She is a recurring feature, for more than 20 years now.
I don't remember that one, Raven. Something about Mrs. Grim's skull collection? She is a formidable creature.
Tex,
It was a great comment in the "Grinding Bones " post.
I spit my coffee laughing over the "not Namby-pamby" Girl Scout members! Yes, one rarely associates the word "namby-pamby" with "skull collector"!
She’s got quite a few.
Some collection in the new age community involves crystal skulls. I have never really understood what that was about.
Taxidermists used to mount heads on a wall, I suppose. Feng shui?!
My image of Girl Scouts was cookies, plus the steppe focused Virgin Archers.
Perhaps there was a golden age of seriousness, followed by a relapse into madness.
Humanity has always appeared mad to me, even before I was born.
FWIW, I lost patience pretty quickly with Girl Scouts, and my recollection is the same as Tex's (we didn't do anything fun/interesting - it was sort of like Home Ec, Lite -- and I already knew how to cook and sew).
As a girl, I wanted to go camping and hiking and be outdoors. Ride horses, or chop wood, make fires, or shoot arrows or guns or any of the things our sons got to do in Scouts.
The closest we ever got to camping was staying in posh cabins. That, and decoupage.
My mother in law was probably the good influence causing a better program. She was quite a woman. I wrote about here here:
http://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/2006_12_24_archive.html#116740188838572854
During the cold weather survival program, not only did they sleep outside in freezing weather but in shelters they'd built themselves out of snow ant whatnot. The only concessions my mother in law made, as I recall the story, was that she allowed them to turn in the grubs and other things they dug up for hot oatmeal instead of actually making them eat the bugs; and the scoutmasters or whatever they call Girl Scout leaders checked on the girls regularly all night to make sure they were warm enough in their shelters.
It was as good a program as the Boy Scouts ever ran, I'll wager.
I always got the impression they were worried we might break a nail. It was a lot like junior high school "sports" in that way. By high school it was better.
My elder sister did an Outward Bound program. They seemed pretty serious.
I recently linked 4 issues of Boy's Life magazine...from 1911, 1956, 2000, and 2010....all were available on Google Books. This was in the context of a discussion about education and literacy issues over time.
I bet something similar is available for the Girl Scouts...might provide some insight as to how the emphasis has changed over time.
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