Just A Rebel

Maybe we could include gay girls...that makes them boys, right

Exactly, Rick. They DON'T want to do things generally associated with a female gender stereotype to the exclusion of other things. They see the boys doing 'fun' things and want to do them too. And Alex, I hardly see continuing 1930's stereotypes as productive. I have to keep coming back to the mission and vision statement. In this modern day, don't we owe it to these girls to give them the exact same skills these boys have in order to be successful? And let's not forget that the VALUES are the real goal of Scouting, not that one can start a fire, or whittle a stick...but how to make life choic

Pack18Alex: The whole point of what I observed is that these girls didn't necessarily WANT a different program. They wanted to do what the boys were doing, and they were perfectly capable of doing that program. In my mind, no program changes are even necessary, because those girls WANT to do the same things the boys are doing. There is NOTHING gender-specific in the Cub program that boys and girls can't do, and looking at the Boy Scout program, nothing gender-specific there either. I had heard that GSA had gone more 'liberal', and that AHG had started up as a reaction to that, but in m

King... You're right, CS is family-oriented, BS is not. So the solution is to NOT create a donut hole and just allow the natural progression from CS to Scouting, for both male and female. Boy Scouts is not an outdoors program. It is a VALUES program, which is taught using the outdoors as a classroom. All of these skills are nice to learn, but the point is not to learn how to tie a square knot, the point is to learn how to live and breathe the Scout Oath and Law in everyday life. The Square knot is just a tool to learning those values. The Mission and Vision statement don't say anything at al

I have a 20 foot sea container, and about 80% of it is filled with Scout stuff...Now, if I could only get a tax writeoff for that

Wow...Spaceballs flashback...'Ludicrous Speed....NOW!"

Take a look at the Mission and Vision statements...no mention whatsoever about boys...its 'Young People' and 'Youth'. No gender mentioned at all. And inclusion of girls would allow them to gain those exact same skills, and would also help boys adapt to the modern world where they will have to cooperate, and compete, with members of the opposite sex, something that wasn't necessary 50 years ago.

Then you are very fortunate. I look around at Roundtable, and we are probably about 70% women. Women play a very active role in our area, and to be honest, step up and volunteer to do things more often than the men do at times.

I suspect that a few carefully placed words to the boys would have helped that situation. Just like we do with parents, when a youth moves up to be a Boy Scout, its time to teach the parent the 'Scoutmaster Position' (hands in pockets, just making sure they don't go over a cliff'.

Took me a couple of minutes, but I finally understood your thing about 'uniforming'. Here's my point. We live in a world with male and females in it, and to be successful, one must learn to deal with the other gender. Is it not better that we start to prepare these boys for an adult world with women in it, than to shelter them in the Iron John mythos? These boys will need to both cooperate, and compete with these women in school, college, careers, and adulthood. And I'm not sure I agree with your 'blurting out of boy thoughts'. How is a boy's thoughts different from a girls? Each of us has

I detect a hint of sarcasm there, but you really do hit the nail on the head. My wife, a uniformed leader, somewhat frequently gets asked 'Aren't you wearing the wrong uniform?' To which she replies...'I don't have girls, I have boys'. And the ever-popular 'You don't belong in Boy Scouts'. Well, if enough men would step up, she wouldn't have to. But they don't, so its better to have a female leader, than none at all.

The problem with segregated units is that families will be separated. Means multiple weekend activities, one for the Boy unit, one for the Girl unit. Parents are so torn today due to lack of time, I just don't see it working if a family has a Boy Cub, and a Girl Cub too.

Some local units do all kinds of things, and some local units shouldn't be Boy Scouts if they don't want to do things as proscribed. Boy Scouts exists because all over the Western world at the turn of the century men took an interest in the plight of young boys who weren't even their own, and decided to invest in them uniquely. They came from every background, from rough frontiersmen to clergy to wealthy progressives to cult of body idealists, not because they were setting out to "discriminate" or segregate, but because they saw a need for a particular sympathetic creature, the boy, and pick

I followed up with this group, and they have found a workaround solution...Its certainly not ideal, but does allow girls to legitimately be registered with BSA for insurance purposes through the Learning for Life program.

Wonderful discussion, everyone...And I never really had to truly activate the asbestos underwear...phew! I've been sitting back, just watching and listening, and there are many valid points. I'm going to start back at the beginning and start responding to some of these points, so you may have to wade back through some posts you have already read, totally your choice.But I am going to sum things up here. Honestly, I hadn't even considered girls in Scouting until this campout where they were just as actively engaged as the boys were, doing the same activities as the boys and watching as we

/ So now that the one issue is apparently coming to a vote, let’s look at a new issue. Let’s allow girls in all levels of Scouting, not just Venturing. Stay with me, and you’ll see why I am even considering this. A few weeks ago, my Cub Scout Pack, my Boy Scout Troop, and a local Girl Scout Troop did a joint Family campout. We had boys from Tiger through 15 years of age, and the Girl Scouts were Brownies (6-8 year olds I think). During this entire weekend, at least ½ of the girls wanted to do everything our Cub Scouts were doing, and having a blast at doing it.