Boy Scouts Face Renewed Push to Let Girls Join the Ranks

The GSA offers the equiv. of the Eagle award too. Why don't the girls value their own awards enough to be happy with them? You don't see boys pining away for the awards the GSA hands out, do you?

For some reason, females seem to value the awards males give to one another as recognitions of excellence, while not valuing their own such awards. Why is that? Makes no sense, really. And if ppl seem to think as they do that boys, esp. adolescent boys, pose such a danger to females, why do they want them mixing this way?

None of this adds up.

Also, to NOW, I say, what does combat role entry have to do w/ scouting? Nothing. I was an Eagle Scout myself and not once was I taught either that warfare is a good thing nor was I ever taught anything having to do with combat skills. Survival skills yes, but not combat skills.

If the GSA wants to teach girls survival skills then by all means, ladies, do it!

I used to think Freud's theory about penis envy was rather silly.

But efforts like this make me think he had a point.

And if the GSA doesn't allow boys, well, maybe they should be protested first.

Pun intended.

I can think of 2 possibilities. First is the program. The BSA teaches a set of core skills, generally. The Scouts were founded by Lord Baden-Powell because he saw during the Boer War that British men did not seem to "automatically" know certain things, particularly outdoorsey stuff, the kind he grew up knowing. How to pitch tents, stay dry in wet weather, light fires with flint or just twigs and grass, etc. They also seemed much less willing if not able to march distances, etc., even after basic training. He felt that British manhood itself had declined in quality, if not frontiering skills, the kind useful in a protracted war in a remote region.

After the war he decided to do something about it. He founded the Scouts and UK boys were recruited to it. It proved very popular. As a consequence, while the next war was bigger and far deadlier, British men were at least in better shape to deal with the protracted deployments in barren regions than their grandfathers were.

It caught on all over the world because teaching survival skills does build character. One learns to fend for himself, face the unknown, and to conserve resources. He also learns to value certain traits in himself and others: honesty, resourcefulness, courage, cheerfulness, etc. Hence the Scout Law ("A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful,...").

I couldn't say why the GSA was formed (the Girl Guides in the UK) or what its principles are. I wouldn't know perhaps because not only have I never been a Girl Scout but if I tried to join I'd be labeled a pervert and run out on a rail. (And yet, girls are now supposed to join the BOY Scouts??) Perhaps though there are some girls who just think the BSA program is just plain better than whatever the GSA is trying to do with girls. To that I say: Reform the GSA. Stop trying to take over the BSA. Model the GSA more after the BSA and stop whining.

The other possibility is simply that girls in adolescence have a natural interest in boys and maybe just want to be around boys a lot. Of course traditionalists who deny girls any sexual or other interest in boys can't even bring themselves to recognize that indeed, THAT may well explain why at least some girls want to join the BSA. BOY Scouts of America. Ie, where the boys are. They want to go be with the boys because they like boys, sexually and otherwise. Surprise, teen girls LIKE boys in an erotic way and want to be around them. Is that too much for Americans, et al., to wrap their heads around? Maybe so. But hey, ummm.... I think it's true.

If for no other reason, boys and girls in such places as remote campsites may be best kept apart if bringing them together in adverse conditions makes it easy enough for the teen pregnancy rate to go up. Or hasn't NOW thought of that?