Re: Guys in the Girl Scouts

My own experience with the Girl Scouts was less than cordial. I was
stationed in Virginia with the Coast Guard at the time and my daughters were
in Daisies and Brownies. My wife was the co-leader of the Brownie troop. I
registered with the GSUSA as a generic helper. I had no desire to be an
actual troop leader, 01 or otherwise. As my earlier posts state, I believe
these programs work best with same-sex role models. I may be obstinate and
opinionated, but at least I'm consistent! ;)

Their version of youth protection made sense to me at first, not being alone
with the girls, etc. But then I began to get the sense from the wording
that any man registered with the program is ASSUMED to be a pervert at the
outset. They go to great lengths to make sure male contact is limited and
STRICTLY supervised by women. Fathers were not even permitted to be alone
with their own daughters at GS functions.

My suspicions really came home to me when I went camping with the girls. I
had assumed at the time what I was subjected to was GSUSA policy; from what
I've seen in this thread, maybe it was just local. I was required to set up
a separate camp just for me, a LONG way a way from and out of sight of the
girls' site. I even had to move my tent once because, even though it was
out of sight, the girls had to walk past it to get to the latrine, which was
unacceptable.

I know a lot of you think I'm sexist, but there is NO WAY I would permit a
woman to be treated like this at a Boy Scout outing!

I will point out that the leaders of the troop I was with were delighted to
have me around and did everything they could to make me feel welcome. It
was the policies imposed upon them from above that made me feel like an
outcast.

Bob Morehead
ASM, Troop 381
Copley, Ohio

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