Posted on 05/29/2002 7:10:54 AM PDT by GrandMoM
Everyone knows about the Boy Scouts, now one of the most controversial groups in America. But what about the Girl Scouts? All sugar and spice and everything nice, plus annual cookie sales, right? Not quite.
The Girl Scouts of America have avoided the beleaguered status of the Boy Scouts only because the organization has surrendered to exactly the cultural forces the Boy Scouts are resisting.
The Girl Scouts' leaders hope to make their youthful charges the shock troops of an ongoing feminist revolution.
It's been a long slide for the Girl Scouts. First, as James Davison Hunter points out in his new book The Death of Character, they dropped "loyalty" from their oath in 1972, in favor of "I will do my best to be honest and fair."
In 1975, a Catholic archdiocese cut off all support of the Girl Scouts because of their sex-ed program.
In 1993, the Girl Scouts made "God" optional in the Girl Scout Promise: "On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, to help people at all times and to live by the Girl Scout Law."
(The Boy Scouts, meanwhile, have been sued over keeping God obligatory in their oath.)
Today, the Girl Scouts is arguably one of the most politically correct organizations in the country.
Evans's Scouts march predictably leftward on almost everything. The Girl Scouts organization supports the Title IX legislation — which mandates gender equity in sports — in both the nation's capital (in 1998–99, the organization spent $56,800 on lobbying) and in its own literature. The Girl Scout Constitution includes a ringing endorsement of affirmative action in "recruitment, hiring, training, and promoting." Girl Scouts and Girl Scout moms are anti-gun, and were, naturally enough, represented in the anti-gun Million Mom March.
A Senior Scout resource book reads like an insert from YM or Seventeen. Scattered throughout the margins are a semester's worth of themes for after-school specials, including such statistical nuggets as, "One-fifth of girls have used diet pills, more than one in six have forced themselves to vomit, and half have skipped a meal in order to lose weight." Exercises include working through how the Girl Scout Promise and Law relate to such situations as "Supporting a decision to pull a life-support system from a dying relative" and "Ending a pregnancy." Some activities "you can do as a Girl Scout to address contemporary issues" include "organiz[ing] an event to make people aware of gender bias" or "help[ing] organize an Earth Day celebration."
"The core values remain the same, but throughout its history Girl Scouting has evolved to meet the needs and interests of girls today," says Karen Solzak Rice, a spokesman for the Mt. Wilson Vista Council of Arcadia, Calif. "Today's Girl Scout activities help girls grow up strong and give them skills for success in today's world." Girl Scouts now can earn the "Ms. Fix-It" badge for learning how to fix a leak, rewire an electrical appliance, or re-caulk a window, and the "Car Care" badge for checking fluids, filling tires to the proper pressure, and performing safety checks. And badges, which vary from council to council, go way beyond selling cookies. There's a "Domestic Violence Awareness" badge, as well as badges for stress management, for "becoming a teen," and a "Girl Power!" badge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Girls can earn a "Decisions for Your Life" badge for participating in activities relating to teen pregnancy, including carrying around a raw egg for a designated period of time.
Victimization is central to the Girl Scout worldview, as the organization continues to propagate the now discredited notion that the nation's girls are a tribe of desperate Ophelias. Citing a survey from the American Association of University Women that has since been debunked, the Girl Scouts assures girls in its literature that teachers discriminate against them in the classroom, calling on boys more often. The new Girl Scout Research Institute, a clearinghouse of "research and polling information on girls," as National President Connie Matsui describes it, has just released its inaugural study, "Girls Speak Out: Teens Before Their Time," focusing on the supposed crisis of girls. Dr. Whitney Roban, a clinical psychologist at the research institute, advises parents: "You are hurting your daughter by trying to protect her. Sit down with your daughter and watch Dawson's Creek and the MTV Music Awards. Talk about it. It will be very revealing."
So why isn't the Girl Scouts, like the Boy Scouts, being sued and protested against for not allowing lesbian Scout leaders? Because they have them. The Girl Scouts does not have "a discrimination policy," as they like to put it — Girl Scouts doors are open to all, gay Scout leaders and girls.
Girl Scout policy forbids sex on Girl Scouts time. But the book On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on Their Scouting Experience, published in 1997, is filled with coming-of-age stories sparked by gay encounters in the Girl Scouts. Along with an essay entitled "All I Really Need to Know About Being a Lesbian I Learned at Girl Scout Camp," and various stories of "butch" counselors who "wore men's clothes and had slicked back short hair," is testimony to the prevalence of lesbians in Girl Scouting. One writer remembers: "By the time I was a junior counselor, Mic was assistant camp director and her gruff, deep-voiced directives no longer scared me. I didn't know that most of the counselors were lesbians." Others remember how sleepovers and camping trips were opportunities for same-sex sexual experimentation. Girl Scout staffers writing in the book claim that roughly one in three of the Girl Scouts' paid professional staff is lesbian.
The organization itself is not shy about the issue. One resource book for Scouts informs its young readers: "Some girls have sexual attractions or desires for people of the same sex." Meanwhile, the Patriots' Trail Girl Scout Council in Massachusetts held a volunteer workshop this year on sexual orientation, working in tandem with the Gay Lesbian Youth Support project "to educate us about overcoming barriers that may exist in our organization and instilling a culture that is inviting to all girls," according to Mary Jo Kane, spokesman for the council. The Girl Scout council developed a mentoring program "for lesbian women and girls dealing with sexual identity." Says Kane, "I can only imagine the energy and leadership that would be unleashed — in society — if we spent our time and resources encouraging our girls — and everyone — to be visible, authentic, and bring 100 percent of themselves to all their experiences."
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported this summer on a vivid example of the "authenticity" of today's Scouts:
For those of us who remember the Girl Scouts as the quiet girls in class who wore their green uniforms on Wednesdays, encountering Katze Ludeke can be quite an eye-opener. She seldom wears her sash for St. Croix Valley Troop 1256, preferring to accessorize with army boots and a lavender bra strap that slides persistently down her bare shoulder. Rather than stitching doilies and tea cozies, the talented seamstress has created her own costume company specializing in "fetish-wear." Instead of going for the Gold Award — the Girl Scout's highest honor — by reading to senior citizens, Ludeke pushed to start her own support group for at-risk teens called Queer Youth Exist. For her Gold Award application . . . Ludeke is submitting her work with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens, with the support of her troop.
The eyes — and ire — of the world may well be on the wrong Scouts. There are currently 2.7 million Girl Scouts in the U.S. That's a lot of liberal feminists to look forward to.
In a speech shortly after becoming executive director, the Girl Scouts' Marty Evans boasted, "We're not your mother's Girl Scout troop." No kidding.
My wife is Asian, and we have tons of respect (and love) for each other. In many ways, as you say, Asian women exemplify the values of American women of yore.
OK, then. So why not say "to hell with the council", have cupcake sales (or whatever), keeping 100% of the money for the troop, and buy equiptment? I don't see the problem -- an insurrection of the scouts and their moms would leave the councils high and dry
'Female Liberalism' Pervades Girl Scouts, Says Ex-Scout
Lesbian Girl Scout Leader Assaults 12 Year Old Girl
GLSEN - Girl Scouts Try a Version of Don't Ask, Don't Tell:
"... The local council has since welcomed open lesbians into its ranks..."
Barf Alert:
Lesbians are to Scouting as Sunshine is to Summer...
"Suffice it to say, "without lesbians" there would probably still be a Girl Scouts of America, but without lesbians, "GSA probably would not be the vibrant organization it is today, nor would it be inspiring so many girls and women to high ideals of character and community," says author Nancy Manahan. Manahan, whose first book Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence (co-authored with Rosemary Keefe Curb), sent shockwaves through the lesbian and the religious communities, is again broaching a subject universally understood to be taboo: lesbians in scouting—young lesbian scouts, lesbian volunteers, and lesbians in administrative positions within local councils and the national organization...
For some, no doubt, contributing to On My Honor was a healing experience. Manahan hopes that the book can be a catalyst for healing, a catalyst for change within the world of scouting. But for Manahan, On My Honor began an opportunity for "lesbian girl scouts to tell their stories in print for the first time." But as she got into the project and heard "stories of homophobia, and became informed about the Girl Scout policy and practice on sexual orientation, another motive emerged: to help this wonderful, progressive, idealistic, dedicated and influential organization—the largest organization of girls and women in the world!—take it’s role in the most important civil rights struggle of our time: gay, lesbian, bisexual equality..."
May I suggest to you that you also obtain a similar job, and you will have the chance to do what you advise others?
Anyway, what is not changed is the attitudes displayed by so many American women that renders them harmful to the American male.
At least, those values still exist. My wife was born in 1954. She has those values. The younger women mostly seem to lack them.
And here's the surprising thing, at least by my observation - Most of those younger women live LESS happy lives than they would if they still had those values. Just watch a couple of episodes of 'Friends' on TV. If you have traditional Christian values, you can't help feel sorry for (and be repulsed by) the lives of the girls (and boys) on that show.
Hey Mr. Salvation - Support Boy Scouts with time or money. They really make a (good) difference in the lives of many young men. My own two sons have benefited enormously from this program.
Good true story!
if you could have seen the look on her face when she was waving the NY Post on the Senate floor last week...........
Has she recanted since Daschle and Gephardt have?
Bump for Camp Fire Boys and Girls.
....in the few words you posted on FR your attitude clearly came threw. These young adults are not stupid and most can read people like a book!
And, their attitudes and harm have been done by their parents and society
....and isn't it quite possible you may be adding to the damage all ready done.
May I suggest to you that you also obtain a similar job, and you will have the chance to do what you advise others?
I do, I teach Sunday school and a great deal of my lessons are on daily life, and future expectations !
Anyway, what is not changed is the attitudes displayed by so many American women that renders them harmful to the American male.
Could you just explain what these attitudes are and do all or most males share your views?
There is no Campfire "girls" anymore. It is "Campfire USA" now. This organization went pc a long time ago, I am sad to say. I was a Campfire girl way back when and had a great time.
Their website tells alot.
excerpt:
Camp Fire USA's programs are designed and implemented to reduce sex-role, racial and cultural stereotypes and to foster positive intercultural relationships.
Then they go on to tell you about the percentages of age, gender and ethnicity there are within the organization. (go figure...) The logo on the home page has the three words "integrity, responsiblity and tolerance" underneath. Guess which word is set in the largest font.
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