interesting push, misguided feminists want everything that guys have. It's sad really, they will never be satisfied.

Can you express an opinion about women or feminists that does not sound incredibly hateful and sexist? I don't even disagree with you, it's just that I can feel the waves of Disdain for women rolling off of you. Because some girls want to join Boy Scouts does not mean that all feminists are misguided, want everything that men have, and that they will "never be satisfied".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2017 11:57AM by midwestanon.

double post



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2017 12:06PM by midwestanon.

Instead of trying to get girls into the Boy Scouts, they should be trying to get boys out of that messed up organization.

Girls have been in the boy scouts in Oz since the late eighties. I resigned as scout leader because of it, I didn't want to be responsible for mixed camps of young hormonal teenagers.
Boys need opportunities to be boys girls should have equal types of programs for themselves and have opportunities for mixed events with adequate supervision.

Can I join a "women's health club?" Can I join a "women's business networking group?" If I lose my home, can I bunk in a women's homeless shelter?

Boy Scout cookies don't have the same cachet. Would you buy Boy Scout cookies?

OT - Has anyone tried the new GS s'more-flavored cookie?

All for equality, but I can't support this. This is just people trying to rock the boat.

+1

Dunno, works well in Canada. It is now Scouts Canada.

Call me old fashioned, but I think there's a place for boys and girls only clubs. Those who want co-ed clubs have plenty to choose from. I was in 4H for years.

What's wrong with girls?

Nothing!

Then why are girls constantly trying to be boys, like it's some plague to be born as a girl?

It's OK for girls to act like girls and boys to act like boys.

A cat acts like a cat, and a dog a dog.

It's nature.

Boys are better at some things than a girl, and girls are better at some things than a boy.

It's just the way it is.

Why can't people embrace their differences?

Do we all have to be metrosexuals?

If we were all the same, how boring would that be?

I like diversity in race, gender, nationality, etc... it keeps life interesting.

If I went to France, I would want to eat at an authentic FRENCH restaurant and enjoy the FRENCH culture... not go and stay at a Holiday Inn, and eat at McDonalds.

Let people be the way they are. Is this too much to ask?

I'm not a fan. The Boy Scouts already have some coed programs. And I have a deep respect for the Girl Scouts.

What I don't understand about this is that there is an organization called Girl Scouts, and if you advance through the ranks and get the merit badges, you can earn an award that is the equivalent of an Eagle Scout. I don't think the organization gets the same kind of promotion and an advertisement that the Boy Scouts get, especially at the teenage level, but people are certainly aware of The organization that exists for little girls – for girls between the ages of seven and 10. My sister in fact, I think both of my sisters were girl Scouts when they were seven or eight, but like most girls, they became disinterested by about the fifth grade or so. I remember that our family both buy Girl Scout cookies from them.

I don't know anything about the organization of Girl Scouts, if it's equivalent to the Boy Scout program in that you go from webelos/tenderfoot/2nd class/1st class/star scout/life scout/eagle but with equivalent Girl Scout rankings. I do know that there is a female equivalent of an Eagle Scout for Girl Scouts, like I said above. I don't know, maybe it's so unpopular that it can't even be found in huge parts of the United States and that's why some people want to join boy Scouts. Or maybe they want to join it because of the perception that it is tougher, or more involved, or that the activities are more masculine, who knows. I guess I don't know what to think, I think in certain situations I don't see what the big deal would be. I guess the older you get the more risky coed situations get, but at the same time there is the expectation that teenagers would be more mature and would be able to handle those kind of coed situations. Lots to consider.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2017 12:10PM by midwestanon.

scouting is coed throughout the rest of the world. Only in the US and muslim countries do they have a problem with coed units.

and, for the record, GSUSA is extremely under-resourced, compared to BSA in terms of available scout camp grounds and the ability to send urban youth to summer camp at discounted rates.

girl scouts sell cookies. boy scouts camp. that's the difference, but it is a difference.

any equivalence is false.

and the fact that you can name the Eagle Scout rank but can't name the equivalent for Girl Scouts speaks volumes in an of itself.

Dude, my post was by and large in favor of coed scout participation. And not being a girl, or having any children, Why the fuck would I know specifics about girl scout ranks? What little I do know is, in my experience, more than the average person. For example, most people I talk to are not aware that there is even a Girl Scout organization that exists past the point where Girl Scouts go around and sell cookies. And I certainly do not consider myself an expert in any way, far from it. Although I can't seem to recall many instances when it was discussed.

Anyway, there is no need to be an ass about it. I wasn't aware that scouting international was co-ed.

How you read my post as anything but generally supportive of Co-ed scouting is beyond me. Any other issues I raised were just general contemplations- and valid ones at that. Any Co-ed organization is going to be fraught with inherent risks. Hell, any organization at all is going to be fraught with risk. And I pointed that out.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2017 03:15AM by midwestanon.

The equivalent award for the Girl Scouts is the Gold Award. My GS troop in high school had the use of what I would describe as a luxurious camp ground. The GS camp that I worked at owns waterfront property along with a full complement of rowboats, canoes, kayaks,and sailboats. Nowadays the camp also offers horseback riding. I taught many urban girls to swim at that camp.

GSUSA is also havily involed in working with urban girls. The organization brings programming directly into urban schools, including the one I teach at.

In the UK, girls can join the scouts. There is an equivalent organisation for the girls called guides that only takes girls. I cannot see how that is right, how that is not sexist.

Boy Scouts offers a lot of great opportunity Girl Scouts does not so much anymore. A lot of nature events have been pulled out of Girl Scouts and it has become very commercialized. My daughter is having a lot of fun in her troop, but I don't feel like she's learning tons (aside from being part of a social club...which does have its advantages) so I'm slowly trying to find other activities that are more fun to fill her time up with so she makes the choice to quit on her own (will NOT miss selling cookies).

That said, I don't see *why* learning to camp, set up a tent, or say the Scout promise requires you to have a penis—and if it being a coed organization in Canada/Australia work—why not here? But I guess I'm just *weird.*

I can see the advantage of separating girls and boys for some things (ex - girls who attend all-girl schools actually end up being more confident *do* better in math because they don't have to deal with discrimination...strangely the opposite is true for boys). At the same time, it seems strange the Scouts does it.

I think the problem here is structural: how the BSA and GG are organized, what are their programs, if they still have any relation to the original structure thought by BP. I have the impression that they are very separate and different from each other.

Some have pointed out that coed Scouting has been succesfully practiced in several countries for many years. I agree and add to this my Italian experience.

Scouting has been coed in Italy since 1974 in the Catholic association AGESCI and since 1976 in the CNGEI (Corpo Nazionale Giovani Esploratori ed Esploratrici Italiani), the non-denominational association. Before then, the boys' and girls' associations were already very close to each other and similar in many things - names, grades, programs - cooperating occasionally in different activities.

Cub-Scout packs have been mixed since even earlier. Scout patrols are still homogeneous, all boys or all girls, but the troops are mixed. Mixed is also the group of the 15-19 year-olds (in Italy they are called Rover.)

I joined the scouts (CNGEI) at 12, right in time for summer camp in a still all female troop. The boys were camping a few yards from us. Each troop had its own activities, but basically they were of the same kind, and it was OK. None of the girls complained of the long hikes, the tiring assignments and missions to accomplish, or the crappy toilets. That was Scouting and we did scouting.

A year later the two troops were joined together and we were all happy. I had two more years, with two more summer camps, with the coed troop as a girl-scout and a few years later I was in the leadership of the same troop for four years. I remember eveything working fine, there was never a problem with the girls doing outdoor stuff like the boys, or with the boys doing activities with the girls, we never had problems with hormonal teenagers, at least nothing more than holding hands while around the fire in the evening.

I couldn't think and cannot think of being in the scouts only among girls, it would be very boring. The best memories and the best friends I have are from my scout years. Many friends have found their spouse within the scouts, which certainly is far better than within mormonism.

So, all in all, I am for coed scouting. But, instead of girls wanting to join the BSA, a reorganization of both associations, creating a new coed one would probably be the better solution. Maybe it is too difficult, because of the enormous number of scouts in the US and possibly other aspects that I don't know, or it would just sound like anathema in the ranks of the BSA...