[21036] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] BSA & APO
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brown Michael-EMB021)
Mon Jul 24 13:40:19 2000
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Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 13:39:54 -0400
Reply-To: Brown Michael-EMB021 <Michael_Brown-EMB021@EMAIL.MOT.COM>
From: Brown Michael-EMB021 <Michael_Brown-EMB021@EMAIL.MOT.COM>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
Both the BSA and the GSUSA allow people of either sex to be leaders. I know
the BSA has since the 1984 or so. I believe its a little harder for a male
to hold certain GSUSA positions, but could be wrong. I know from exchanges
on line that many fathers had problems being a GSUSA leader. This may very
from council to council.
You see girls trying to get into Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs, just as
you see girls trying to get into all male schools. You never see boys
trying to get into the GSUSA or go to women's colleges. In our society the
idea of all-male organizations is somehow evil. But no one seems to get
upset about all-women organizations. Why is that? Sounds like a double
standard. If S4A is going to slam the BSA for being "boys-only", then in
fairness then need to slam the GSUSA for being "girls-only". :)
About the strenght/weakness of the Senior Girl Scout program. I was
speaking in generalities. In some areas it is very weak or nearly
non-existant. In other areas it is strong. When Exploring went co-ed in
1971, it very much weakened the Senior Girl Scout program in many areas,
because the Explorer program was a strong(better?) program. From 1969 to
1971, Girl Scouts could be participants with Explorer Posts. After 1971
they could be full members. Many of them went over to Exploring instead of
staying/going into a Senior GS troop. In fact, there are/where Exploring
Posts that were almost totally female. Am sure its true today with
Venturing Crews. As they say "Your milage may vary".
Michael Brown
> ----------
> From: Sarah Pauline Finch[SMTP:sfinch@roanoke.edu]
> Reply To: Sarah Pauline Finch
> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 1:27 PM
> To: Brown Michael-EMB021
> Cc: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
> Subject: Re: [APO-L] BSA & APO
>
> ">Also, Scouting for All also makes an issue of the BSA
> barring females from the Cub Scout and Boy Scout
> programs (the Venturing program is co-ed). What
> > they fail to realize is that the GSUSA is the
> scouting program for girls, and that both the BSA &
> GSUSA have agreed that the BSA will NOT open up Cub
> > Scouts and Boy Scouts to girls. The GSUSA was not to
> happy when the BSA opened up Exploring to girls in the
> 70s, nor with Venturing being co-ed, as a result their
> own older girl programs are very weak. If Scouting for
> All is going to attack the BSA for not accepting girls,
> they should also attack the GSUSA for not accepting
> boys, and for holding the BSA to barring girls."
>
> -----------------
>
> I might be wrong (since I am still young and so I
> missed alot of the old issues that are circulating) but
> I don't recall anything being brought up about boys and
> Girl Scouting. When I was younger we did have a little
> boy who was what we called a "Tag-a-long" which were
> active preschoolers or siblings who came to all our
> events.
>
> We also have "Men in Green" I will look to see if that
> is open to children or just adults but it is there and
> MiG is recognised by GSUSA. In fact my father has been
> a Girl Scout as long as I have. (Going on 14 years)
>
> There are many men with roles in Girl Scouting, they
> are just not prominent figures. It might be more true
> for just my area but I know leaders of different level
> troops that are male and although I have heard debates
> as to whether or not it is right, the fact remains that
> they are still there.
>
> And as far as older girl programs being weak, my senior
> girl scout troop was 22 strong at its peak and 17 at
> its low point, and that was only one or 3 senior troops
> in the area, also with high numbers. And this was as of
> 1999. Maybe co-ed programs were a problem in the 70s,
> but I don't think that it as bad now. And if when
> troops have low membership it isnt neccessarily from co-
> ed programs, in fact I wasn't even aware those programs
> were co-ed, the only people i ever knew to participate
> were boys.
>
> As I said once already, "I think that....that the if
> organizations are not equal (for better or worse) [then]
> in many ways ...trying to equate them as such isn't
> right."
>
> As always, I want to reiterate that the above tatements
> are my opinions, and feel free to rebut.
>
> In LF&S,
> Sarah-Pauline
> Alpha Beta Psi
>
>
>
