Boy Scouts Changing Name

[Holly]

I'm cynical enough to say it's just how things are now.....but then I'm convinced that most human beings are engaged in rapid devolution.

It just seems symptomatic of a bizarre societal drive to erase all distinctions between the sexes; while at the same time accelerating the growing distrust and animosity between men and women. That's just not something I want to take part in.

[J.J.]

I was in the Boy Scouts and I'm mixed. The whole thing really has nothing to do with the PC movement, it's entirely a decision to boost membership. I was in at the time they began allowing women to be leaders, and that was not about being PC, but it was about finding people to supervise when more and more fathers were either absent in their kids' lives, or refused to get involved. My troop was a small troop, and we would have had to pack it in if we didn't have the mothers running it.

It's a fact of life for the Boy Scouts that membership is either flat or falling. Heck it was unpopular to be a Boy Scout when I was in. If it gives the organization a needed boost and keeps it afloat for another century, then it can't be that bad a decision.

I know they took a lot of slack for allowing gay boys to join as people began to think of all the naughty things they would be doing on the camping trips, but the Catholic Church actually had a good take on it when they chose to maintain their support: sex outside of marriage is a sin regardless if it's gay or straight so the Boy Scouts' decision changed nothing.

Really, the biggest problem they'll have is the segregation of sexes when it comes to sleeping arrangements...If a troop camps somewhere with a one-room cabin, what do you do about sleeping arrangements?

[Scout]

I think boys and girls should have separate scouting groups. I've given this some thought, and it sounds like discrimination - but I don't think it is. It's more like preserving the rights of each sex to have a bonding experience without censoring themselves because they might offend someone. Boys should be able to pee in the woods and test themselves against each other and gross each other out. Put a girl into the mix, and you might as well have a tea party. Girls should be able to compete with each other, express themselves, and talk about their issues with maturing. Throw a boy into the mix, and you have a tea party. That's not what scouting is about.

[J.J.]

First of all, I respect your opinion. I know it's a hot-button issue, so while I don't disagree with the decision to integrate, I do understand the rationale for keeping genders separate

Denise wrote: "I don't see many of them being comfortable talking and doing some things with girls around....."

This might be true today with boys seeming to be more "feminized" than ever before, but thinking back to when I was that age, I would say this wouldn't have been the case...primarily because of the kind of girls who would have been likely to join an organization like the one I was a part of...even the boys who weren't the rough and tumble type never joined or quit early on, so (at least 25 years ago) I would have seen more of the tomboy type join if it was a mixed gender organization. I'm not sure I would have felt all that uncomfortable with girls like that on our camping trips. But again, today's kids are a different breed, so I don't know if that would be true if I were in today.


Denise wrote: "And it won't be long before a girl accuses a boy of saying something inappropriate and that boy being dismissed. ....."
This I agree with 200%! I do remember a lot of things when we got away from the leaders that were completely inappropriate. I think where the gender-specific organization comes into play is that you need to let boys act like that, get it out of their systems while they're young, and teach them it's not okay in broader society.

[Nik]

Wonder whether we'll see it in sport too, like NBA, soccer or NHL populated with both men, women, transgender, clones, gay and all? -:)

[Scout]

Well, there you're dealing with adults and sports that are a business. Then it comes down to ability and performance, which is objective. Whoever performs best should get the job.