In light of the discussion regarding the church possibly departing from BSA.

It was mentioned that maybe they just go duty to god in the way the young womens program is all about.....whats it called again? The Young Womens Medallian? Is it also called duty to god? Anyways..that seems like what they would do.

Then I started thinking and wondering why they even had their own program for girls when the boys had scouting.

Why are there no wards that have girl scouts units??

My wife did girl scouts through her school and had a really positive experience.

Is it the money? Is it because the girl scouts program is too feminist or liberal?? I didn't think it was. Odd. Anyone have any interesting insight to shed some light on this?

Girls don't count in mormonism.
Yes, girl scouts is way to "feminist or liberal" -- they teach girls to be strong, independent, capable, and intelligent (mostly).
Mormons hate that.

Girl Scouts of the USA is also (in more recent years) disliked by some Church groups because it has been quite transgender friendly (they are allowed to participate as girls) and because the national organization as well as the international organization (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) had some sorts of positive interactions with Planned Parenthood. This did not really affect Girl Scouts locally, however, and most conservative and/or Church sponsored troops more or less went on as normal. There are not that many transgendered Scouts in the organization. Several of those who left joined American Heritage Girls, Frontier Girls, or similar organizations that are run more similarly but are more conservative and only for Christians. There are also girls who started baking cookies at home and selling them as Pro Life Cookies with the proceeds to benefit pro life organizations in lieu of Girl Scout cookies.

Also, of course, Girl Scouts very much prepares girls for university and to be strong career women and global leaders. Not a virtue that all conservatives value, as only some do.

Not to mention, GSUSA is atheist friendly whereas BSA is not. Girl Scouts may substitute God for any relevant word of choice when reciting To Serve God and My Country the Girl Scout Promise, whereas Boy Scouts may not replace God in the Duty to God part of the Boy Scouts of America Scout Oath. Theists of all religions are allowed in both organizations in America, whereas atheists are not allowed in BSA and are in GSUSA.

That was a sore subject in my life because I wanted to be in Girl Scouts and because the church refused to allow it, my mother would not let me join any of the girl scout troops at school.

I will never forget the evening that the Young men and Young women had an activity. My daughter was there that evening and I kid you not; the activity consisted of the girls watching the boys receive awards for all of their achievements.

I was very jealous of my brothers getting scouts and I got YW. I loved camp but the rest of it wasn't very fun. Oh, and your daughter's YW/YM activity, awful! I guess someone just felt it would be a great idea to remind the girls of their second class status.

I will never forget the night that the YM/YW activity at church was the girls watching the boys get awards. My daughter was in a french immersion school and by the time she was eight, she was completely fluent in French.

They actually had several non-member boys in scouts who were also getting awards. One boy in particular was given a special award for learning a second language. We were dumbfounded when my
daughter asked the question. How come he get's an award for learning a second language and I don't. He isn't even a member.

That was a question that had no answer. I tried asking the bishop and he didn't have an answer.

I have a vague memory that this happened in my ward. That the YW came to watch us get awards. BIG SIGH

I asked my bishop about Girl Scouts when I was in YW, he said, "It's too feminist of an organization and we are teaching you to be mothers!"

I noticed as an adult in a family ward though, about 99% of the girls were in Girl Scouts, the moms usually were super involved as well.

I think it's partly because Girl Scouting is indeed a very feminist organization. The program teaches girls to be strong, assertive, and independent. To give you some examples, the GS camp that I worked at offered hiking, rowing, canoeing, kayaking, sailing, swimming, fishing, cookouts, and archery along with traditional craft work. Very young girls were taught sailing using little Sprite sailboats. Young teenage girls were taught how to skipper and crew ocean-going sailboats. Those girls were confident!

Also Girl Scouts as an organization is not about to let some church dictate to them how they will do business.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2015 05:49PM by summer.

I always thought it was a really weird comment coming from that particular Bishop. He had one son and several daughters and all of his children had graduate degrees and his wife had a PhD and had worked outside the home for many years.

Weird for such a guy to make a remark about feminism.

There are no GS in the LDS church because then YW program wouldn't be as big. And God knows we need a brainwashing program all about getting married more than a program that would teach life skills. It's just another way the church makes the genders unequal. The boys get scouting—a fun, rewarding activity. And the girls? They get a program that's not recognized outside of the church. One that enforces the ideal of just a homemaker on girls and discourages thinking.

We had brownies when I was in grade school. My mom was a brownies leader when we lived in Concord, CA. Later, after moving to southeastern Idaho, I went to brownies with girls from my ward and school. Another girl's mother was the brownie leader, until their family moved to Texas for work.

Then there was the "bluebirds" organization for girls. Nothing official from church. As teens we went to girls camp, where we learned survival skills. But we didn't get awards like the boys did in scouting.

Yeah, we were learning the arts of cooking, home interiors, sewing, 4-H was big. No one complained at the time, because we were programmed from early childhood to not ask questions or complain.

Girl scouts even while I was growing up was considered a feminist organization for young women. So that is understandable why LDS Inc disallowed that on its watch.

In addition to the program being too feminine and detracting from such an amazing experience of YW; it is a money issue. The church refuses to pay funds to associate with Girl Scouts. And then there is the mandatory selling of their cookies and then the girls would have to go on a fun trip. Why would the church want that when they could go to the temple for free.

The same reason there are no women in the Book of Mormon, or mentioned by Joseph Smith as complainers, or mothers of "____."

Women have not even spoken at conference for how many years?

YW is compared to Scouting, but who gets their photo in the paper for an Eagle award...? No comparison in opportunities.

One time I went to mutual and YW girls were forced to make felt Santa Claus light switch covers. Um, no. I walked home a mile in the dark.

I can't imagine going to the temple and being told to veil your face...

Mormonism is a slow, suffocating death for females, and toxic for males also.

I asked this question a few years ago:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,58720,58720

Can't have them wimmins' being independent.

Girl scouting teaches Leadership skills ..... And we can't have that now can we.

Yes, when I was a Girl Scout leader, it was all about girls taking responsibility for the planning and organization of activities together.
It was the leader's job to facilitate this. Critical thinking was always encouraged. Strong, independent young women were what we aimed for.
It was pretty obvious that we weren't aligned with what the mormon church wanted girls to be.

I agree with ificouldhitokolob. That is what I was always taught.

In the 60's I asked my mother if I could join the girl scouts.

Her reply was that the church already had a program for girls, and I was lucky to have that.

I failed to see the comparison. The friends I had that were in GS were having a good time. They were bonding with each other and doing fun projects. None of that was happening at church. My best friend lived 25 miles from me. I wasn't allowed to talk to her for more than 15 minutes a day. I saw her once a week at church.

MadAlice,

my situation was identical to yours. My mother's words were almost identical to what your mother told you. It was also in the sixties.

I had been in Brownies and absolutely loved it.

Girl Scouts teaches girls that there are plenty of options besides being a stay at home wife and mother. That's seen as a threat to patriarchal organizations such as TSCC who want women to be nothing more than breeders. While the GSA does teach girls that they have options, they would say that if someone freely chooses to stay home and raise children, that's a viable option in life.

I don't think the Catholic Church sponsors a Girl Scout program either.

My Catholic friends pulled their girls from Girl Scouts and put them in them in the American Heritage Girls Program. The reason? They thought Girl Scouts was in bed with Planned Parenthood.

Girl Scouts is based on a foundation of "empowerment" of girls and young women. I just read through a bunch of their literature and I think that every article mentioned "empowerment" multiple times. The VERY LAST THING that the LDS church wants for women is empowerment. In fact, they require the opposite. They want their women to be malleable, compliant, and susceptible. The Girl Scouts organization is in direct opposition.

The Catholic Church has Girl-Scouts, in Europe I know it for sure. The Scout associations of the country I come from have been coed since 1974 (the Catholic association) and 1976 (the other association non affiliated with the Catholic Church). It means cub-scouts in a pack are all together and the leaders are also mixed. "Akela", the cub pack leader, can be a young man or a young woman. Scout troops are also mixed, but the patrols within a troop are homogeneous. Also Rover groups (Scouts between 16 and 18 years old) are mixed.

We have been doing scouting like this for forty years, and it has been working very well.

In a large international ward I was asked once if I would take a calling with the cub scouts. I answered a big NO, because I don't like church scouting (in my opinion they are fake Scouts anyway) and because they don't allow girls to join, so thanks, but no, thanks.

In the US, Scouting has co-ed Venturing Crews for 14 to 21 year-olds, but it doesn't have the same popularity as Boy Scouts or Girl Souts. Many Mormons are blown away by the realization females can be Scoutmasters in Boy Scouts AND that there are girls in the scouting programs that are NOT Girl Scouts.

Girl Scout groups in the USA aren't "chartered" by organizations like Boy Scouts. The organization is independent and self-run, mostly by women. They have one set of standards, and they wouldn't allow an LDS-specific version like the Boy Scouts did.

Girl Scouts definitely works to empower girls. In my many years as a leader and adult trainer, we did everything from multi-day bike camping trips to learning how to do make-up. The key is that the girls decide what they want to do, not the adults. The adults are there to facilitate and get the resources needed, not to control.

In addition to the above, the Girl Scouts wouldn't allow the church or any other organization to change its program the way the church has modified the BS program to meet its doctrines.

When I was young I asked my mom about Girl Scouts and she said it was because the Girl Scouts supported Planned Parenthood so the church wouldn't support the Girl Scouts. She also told me that the Girl Scouts wouldn't let the church structure their program the way the Boy Scouts did.

I always thought that was such BS.

I remember my YW leaders complaining about how the YM program got all the ward budget for Boy Scouts, and how they had to beg to get the piddly amount for the YW program to do anything. YW camp was always looked forward to because we got the chance to be rugged and do outdoorsy things. We didn't get to go to a camp with a swimming pool or lake, though, so no swimming for us. Side note- when my younger cousins have gone to Girls camp, they're staying in cabins, they have their meals prepped and served in the kitchen, and all sorts of luxury items that doesn't seem like camping to me.

Anyway, my mom put me in 4H and Bluebirds for a short time, but the leaders flaked for both things, and we never got involved with that again.

Yeah, I got my YW medallion, but there was no Court of Honor with a big party to celebrate, and the goals that you had to do to earn it was nothing like the requirements for Eagle. It was all spiritual stuff, of course.

My daughter is in Girl Scouts now(I don't care what our current church thinks of it, but our pastor buys GS cookies from her ;)), and she'll be joining Venturing when she's 14.

If theyre off camping whos gonna make the boys sammiches?

It's the opposite: The Girl Scouts didn't want the Mormons.

I only know that our troop would have welcomed any mormon girl who wanted to participate.

Those dam cookies make the bishop too fat.