Posted by:
AnonNowatthemoment
(
)
Date: February 11, 2017 05:05PM
I've wondered about this issue myself and learned the reasons.
The Boy Scouts of America had and has a straight-arrow, conservative, no-gays, paramilitary, patriotic image and reality, that TSCC found no fault with; and so the church has long encouraged BSA membership by Mormon youths. I'm sure that the number of LDS "Eagle Scouts" (top rank) is way out of proportion to the number of Mormons in the general population.
The GSA, by contrast, of its very nature (getting girls outside and into Nature! and promoting female leadership) has an inherently feminist direction. I'm going to quote from an article on Slate.com.
"Boy and Girl Scouts have much in common, but from the beginning they diverged in fundamental ways, and these differences linger in the organizations to this day. The founding of Boy Scouts in 1910 stemmed from a larger turn-of-the-century crisis in Anglo-American masculinity, according to historian Susan Miller, author of 'Growing Girls: The Natural Origins of Girls' Organizations in America.' Increasing urbanization caused Americans to worry that young men were becoming soft and emasculated; organizations like the Boy Scouts promised to restore virile masculinity. 'American men were supposed to get their manhood by struggling against nature,' says Miller, pointing to how Boy Scouts learned skills useful to westbound adventurers and colonialist explorers.
"Two years later, Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts, which faithfully replicated Boy Scout protocols, but for girls instead of boys. Changing the gender of the scouts, however, shifted the cultural meaning of scouting. While scouting for boys was about preserving the tradition of rugged, outdoorsy masculinity, scouting girls looked to the future, shucking off Victorian models of women as delicate flowers and replacing them with physically capable and adventurous women. (The Boy Scouts had previously backed another girls' organization, the Campfire Girls, which incorporated some elements of scouting, but with more of an eye towards domestication. Not so surprisingly, the national leadership of the Boy Scouts reacted poorly to the Girl Scouts, which had girls acting more as the Boy Scouts imagined boys should act.)
"These origins set the two organizations on strikingly different paths, despite their common emphasis on physical activity and volunteerism. The Boy Scouts still employ a nostalgic worldview, while the Girl Scouts focus more on keeping with the times. A quick overview of the Girl Scouts website shows the organization's pride in its lobbying efforts on behalf of girls, and a wide range of published research addressing 21st century concerns such as body image, bullying, and yes, sexual health—with an emphasis on waiting for sex until maturity. (The Boy Scouts by contrast produce publications that shy away from these more provocative concerns and instead emphasize themes such as respect for elders and church attendance.)"
In our times right-wing "Christians" have accused the GSA of being a covert radical-lesbian-feminist conspiracy in league with other demonized groups such Planned Parenthood, so also pro- premarital sex, pro-contraceptives, pro-abortion (in fact the Girl Scouts has no relationship with Planned Parenthood). For many years the Girl Scouts inclusively accepted non-hetero Scouts and adult leaders, and over twenty years ago gave non-believing girls the option not to mention God in the Girl Scout Oath. These are also in strong contrast to the BSA's tenacious resistance to such changes.
Instead of course TSCC has "Young Women," designed to keep the girls securely within the fold; led only by approved active sisters; and largely teaching conventional femininity, submission to the Priesthood, domestic skills, firm compliance with the Church's "moral standards" (only one piercing per ear!), longing for a Temple marriage to a worthy RM, etc., etc. This keeps the young women safe from the radical feminist agenda of the GSA.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/09/the_girl_scouts_allegedly_radical_feminist_lesbian_agenda.html