Re: Man vs. Woman in Scouting
Westerhof T (T.Westerhof@BIOLEDU.RUG.NL)
Thu, 29 Apr 1999 15:33:24 MET
"I want it left that way. I can only imagine the
scenes if my sons and daughter were in the same unit. God help us
all! I am sorry this is long, but we Americans have this tendency,
when something is gong good, to go in and mess it up. I am female,
but I believe in the old school. Laura Hix"
BACK to basics, the Girls at Crystal Palace were into Boy Scouting.
They were who started Scouting for Girls, did not choose for a girl
only movement, they chose Scouting.
What is going good?Does nobody realize what a bloody nasty thing
it is that there is no option to choose from. You think that it is better
to be in a single sex environment, with only adults of the opposite
sex. I do think that is probably true for the boys "stupid enough to
become an American football player" and some girls, others will
hate it or just fail to manage being themselves, for some an
environment with kids of both sexes is exactly what they need, and
most will do as fine in a single or a dual sexual environment.
Scouting has to be in my view just a place, a sanctuary if you want,
to play with their friends away from school and prejudice, the total
different environment in which a uniform takes away things like sex
and problems with speaking, the colour of your skin, your
handicaps, your religion or the school you attend. So if the BSA,
(really a name(not organisation) to be hated in my view) and the
GSUSA can not cooperate to offer both two single sex programs
and one for everybody, there has to be an alternative in Scouting, if
Scouting is there for the kids. So why stick with two if you can have
three or more options?
"Do I believe that girls should be in Boy Scouting NO WAY? These
boys have enough problems at school and in life general dealing
with things. Let them have a sanctuary, where they can just come
out and be "boys." Girls need that sanctuary, where they can just
be girls also. I personally would not let my son in an organization
like scouting, that was coed at the age of 12 or 13."
Why do you think sharing their troop with their sisters in Scouting
will make it one u more difficult for the boys, OK, having 20 girls join
at once the good ol' troop is really gonna upset everybody. But are
the boys you work with all mindless sexists or what? There are
differences between Americans and Yankees, 12 year olds and 14
year olds, but is Scouting not about respecting those differences
and cooperation?
This might be a surprise to you, but I think it I can be said for sure
that growing up to be a man or a woman is not what all kids are
doing at that age, rather a lot in Scouting are trying to grow up into
a good human being, and believe me, if a girl chooses for a co-ed
environment she does not need an all female sanctuary, there
simply has to be a choice"Where do I want to be a Scout".
OK, I do apologize, I cannot imagine how it is to be living in a
country where a mother can not feed her child the normal way in
public.
