My thoughts on Boy Scouts going co-ed

There are a lot of strong feelings about the Boy Scouts of America going co-ed. You’d think that by having a son in Cub Scouts, I’d have a strong feeling, too, but my views are mixed. It’d be easy to be up in arms if I thought BSA was giving in to pressure from left-wing political groups and feminists, but from the ground, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

The official line from BSA is that families today are busy and want the convenience of a single program for their sons and daughters. Unofficially, according to the grapevine an influx of parents approached BSA because they were pulling their daughters out of Girl Scouts and wanted to enroll them in a more active and values-based program. Individual stories tend support this, from complaints to troops being overly focused on cookie sales even in the off-season, to concerns about GSUSA’s ties to organizations also tied to Planned Parenthood. There is no room for doubt that GSUSA has attached itself to the left wing of the political spectrum when it comes to gender issues, as this recent holiday blog post illustrates.

 

Ironically, one of GSUSA’s immediate responses to BSA’s opening up was to create 23 new badges that focus on STEM and outdoor activities. It would appear GSUSA had fallen behind in the movement to interest girls in science and technology.

Looking to the media landscape, the press seems uncharacteristically reluctant to declare BSA’s admission of girls an outright feminist victory.  Slate ran the announcement with the headline “Girls Can Now Join the Boy Scouts. But Should They Want To?” USA Today ran an op-ed about why “There’s no need to let girls into Boy Scouts.” Business Insider did an piece calling BSA’s move “a ploy” and “a disservice to girls.” A TIME op-ed declared: “Boy Scouts Must First Fix Their Problems” above a list of grievances the author felt should be prioritized above admitting girls, such as recruiting more minorities. (About a third of my son’s troop is boys of East Indian descent. I suspect the TIME author has a particular minority in mind.) Mashable mocked the announcement with a list of suggested Boy Scout badges “now that they’re forced to be nice to girls.” These included the Silence Badge for, you guessed it, shutting up, and the Well Actually Badge which is basically the same thing.

This reluctance to call a liberal win may be in large part because, despite allowing gay and transgender members, BSA still maintains an image of a conservative organization. Conversely, GSUSA asserts their liberal-feminist bona fides, touting their emphasis on empowering girls at every opportunity. Why just look at the places each organization calls home! BSA is headquartered in Irving, TX; GSUSA in New York City.

Something else worth considering is that BSA officially admitting girls into Scouting isn’t the coup d'état it’s been made out to be. For one thing, sisters have been “tagging along” on Cub and Boy Scout activities for as long as anyone can remember. Further, BSA has admitted girls age 14-21 into their Venturing program since 1969. Plus, Scouting isn’t going full co-ed as conservative detractors have feared.  Cub Scouts (Kindergarten – 5^th grade) are going co-ed optional and Boy Scouts, to be called Scouting, (ages 11 - 17) will remain gender segregated. (see infographic) And, something of a side note, BSA never officially set a gender requirement for membership, an oversight from a time when certain things were just understood.

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So, as it appears on the ground, the parents with a foot in each circle saw two very different scouting organizations and decided BSA was the better choice. BSA responded in a way that was possible for them. It is sad that boys don’t seem to get anything of their own, but this instance does not look like a feminist storming of the gates.