'NOW Can We Kick The Boy Scouts To The Curb?'

I was a Boy Scout for over 10 years. At no time did a) anyone try to sodomize me or b) was I aware of the same going on anywhere around me.

Of all the many adults I knew when I was a kid, I have forgotten most of their names and hardly a one made a lasting impression on me, with the obvious exception of my parents. But the other notable exceptions: the scout leaders in my troop. They did a whole lot of teaching and just-plain-raising of me and a lot of other boys, some of whom came from families that were far from too "together". Quite a number of boys in my troop were from divorced "families", and for them, their only paternal reference points came from the adult leaders. All in all, they did a truly outstanding job, with very limited resources. Nothing but, for the most part, a whole lotta heart.

Was it these men who concealed the crimes of a few others? No. It was the officials in the national organization that did so as well as the particular individuals in the particular troops where these things happened. And just like the people in power in Penn State and the Catholic Church, the ultimate responsibility for the continuation of the crimes rests with them and anyone in law enforcement who looked the other way. As for the responsibility for the commission of those crimes, of course the fault lies squarely with the actual molesters/rapists.

I wonder about the author's reference to the BSA as a "patriarchal" organization. Hardly. True that most of the leaders in it are men, but there are plenty of female ones, too. And I would like to point out that the entire time I was in the Scouts, at no time did anyone teach me songs about how great it was to oppress women, teach me to refer to girls in a mean or derogatory way, or tell me I had any rights inherently superior to females. Can't say that about what gets taught in the GSA these days.

As for the GSA, can it be said that female leaders there are "without sin"? Again, how can one imagine to hide in the Age of Google? Read: http://www.ageofconsent.com/comments/womenwhoabuse.htm:

'Girl Scout's mother says she's disgusted by alleged assault- Former Girl Scout leader Mindy Lorenz, 19, pleaded innocent in Manchester District Court to two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a minor. Lorenz allegedly offered the child $100 to "fool around" during a Girl Scout group sleep-over held Feb. 18 in St. John the Baptist Church parish hall, according to court records. Police allege she kissed the child in a darkened, locked room for about 15 to 20 seconds. Lorenz, according to court records, denied offering money for sex but admitted to police that she told the girl about her own sexual experiences with another woman. She said she offered to "help" the girl if she wanted to experience a sexual encounter with another female, according to court records. The child had confided in a friend about the alleged incident and the friend, in turn, told the counselor.'

Plenty more cases of male GSA leaders committing sexual assaults of girls get aired than of female ones. Is it because sexual predators are more likely to be male or because male sexual preds. are more likely to be caught? Well, again, look at the facts, not the hype: http://www.csom.org/pubs/mythsfacts.pdf:

"Only a fraction of those who commit sexual assault are apprehended and convicted for their crimes. Most convicted sex offenders eventually are released to the community under probation or parole supervision."

"In 1994, less than 1% of all incarcerated rape and sexual assault offenders were female (fewer than 800 women) (Greenfeld, 1997). By 1997, however, 6,292 females had been arrested for forcible rape or other sex offenses, constituting approximately 8% of all rape and sexual assault arrests for that year (FBI, 1997). Additionally, studies indicate that females commit approximately 20% of sex offenses against children (ATSA, 1996). Males commit the majority of sex offenses but females commit some, particularly against children."

Now tie this in here, pp 114-115. It's easy to see how female preds. are under-reported. And as for female preds. among the GSA? I have this observation: If a male leader picks up a 12-YO girl and for a moment cradles her in his arms the way you may expect a father to do with his daughter, but yet that girl isn't his daughter, are you more inclined to imagine he is "copping a feel" than if he were a she? Probably. Take a look here. A female's actions are much more likely to be viewed as care-giving, where the same actions done by a man as being a form of molestation.

All the foregoing is not to say that the BSA's secret list of actual or suspected child sex abusers/rapists should not be aggressively investigated. What it is to say is that 1) women are not spotless regarding this topic, yet not even female GSA leaders (though as yet there is no 'secret list' that has been exposed that they have of actual or suspected child sex abusers), and 2) one can hardly conclude that the entire BSA ought to be summarily tossed out the window because of this offense, though I fully support the legal prosecution of those in the national organization (and anyone else) who knew of collective or individual cases and failed to notify authorities directly. It is NEVER justifiable to fail to go full-throttle to alert the authorities, no matter how politically difficult it may be for you to do so in your own little world, to report child abuse of any kind. After all, would you want to be the kid that the "adults" turn their backs on because it's just too inconvenient in some way for them to take every and all necessary steps to protect you? As a child, you have almost no political clout to employ on your own behalf. People just flat-out don't want to hear from you, or don't or won't believe you if you say anything critical of an adult, particularly one that is respected or liked by the listener. So the only way children for all practical purposes get a defense, if at all, is if an adult stands up for them and will not back down, no matter how inconvenient it may be. If local police won't listen, go to the county. If they won't listen, call the state police. If they won't listen, call the DA in your district and report that all three such authorities refused to do anything and your next move is the FBI. Failing that, contact your Congressman/Senator's office. Failing that, contact the Office of the Attorney General. Next step is the White House switchboard. But you do *everything* you possibly can to get the authorities to hear, and it doesn't matter how much 'trouble' it is to you in the short term. Because believe me, every single person involved in the Penn State, Catholic Church, and now BSA cover-ups really wishes they had. If there is anything worse than being seen as a "trouble maker", it's being revealed as someone who stood by and allowed some kid to be repeatedly f*cked in the a$$ by a slobbering bully or forced to perform oral sex on some looney woman dozens of times and did absolutely NOTHING to stop it.