Girl Scouts suing the Boy Scouts?

[Bluegoat]

2 hours ago, SKL said:

But why do we accept the idea that "scout" is a word that can be trademarked?

 

This is a big question, a lot bigger than scouting organisations.  

[ScoutTN]

We have Sea Scouts here in middleTN! Any large body of water will do, and we have a huge reservoir and multiple rivers. Ocean/coast is a plus, but not required. ?

[Carrie12345]

On 11/7/2018 at 9:40 PM, HomeAgain said:

I will say this - the Girl Scouts haven't listened to outgoing families for a long time.  They have gone far away from scouting, imo, and many of their badges are silly and should be retired in a basement of shame.  I don't think this is going to help them any.  I think a serious analysis of the program is in order, especially on how to support and structure each step so that girls can be successful.

Yes, yes, yes!

<—— 12 year scout, Brownie leader while still in high school, didn’t sign my own kids up.  (Not eligible for BSA.)

[Janeway]

First, there was only Boy Scouts. Then along came Julliette Flowers and she came up with "Girl Scouts" to mimic the Boy Scouts but be for girls and made a big deal of girls being omitted from Boy Scouts. Then, people sued the Boy Scouts to allow all variety of people, including girls. Boy Scouts decides they will include girls and to make it inclusive, they drop the word "Boy." Boy Scouts had the name Scouts before the Girl Scouts. Now, Girl Scouts are angry that the boy scouts have dropped the word "Boy" from their title. Frankly, Girl Scouts is so bad here, I have no desire to have anything to do with it. They are rude and nasty and catty. I think every parent I knew who was involved in it last year dropped it this year and talked about how bad it was. I know it might be different elsewhere, but it is just not good here, where I live. Now, at the Veteran's Day ceremony, a variety of groups marched to represent the various branches and carry the flags. But one group of girl scouts who were carrying a flag for one of the branches walked because the girl carrying the flag with an additional banner that was much bigger than the flag that said something about Power of the Girl. I thought that was disrespectful of the honor they were given to carry the flag for that branch to carry a huge banner like that. Can you imagine if the Boy Scout group carried a big banner at the Veterans Day ceremony saying something about Power of the Boy? Veterans were both male and female and it was disrespectful to the veterans. Personally, I think GSA is suing because all they care about is their product, Girl Scout cookies, and not the children. They have no honor. The mere fact that they sell GS Cookie products in places, for profit, that does not benefit the girls should be a huge, in your face demonstration that it is not about the children.

[Bluegoat]

I'm pretty sure that a girls division came pretty early on in the scouting movement?  Am I wrong?  As in, Lord BP wanted one and got his sister to take care of it?

[wathe]

3 hours ago, Bluegoat said:

I'm pretty sure that a girls division came pretty early on in the scouting movement?  Am I wrong?  As in, Lord BP wanted one and got his sister to take care of it?

Very early.  My understanding:  Scouting for Boys published by Robert Baden-Powellin UK in 1908.  Unofficial girls' scouting groups crash scouting rally at the Crystal Palace in 1909 in UK.  Girl Guides unofficially started in UK the same year, officially Girl Guides Association registered in 1910.   Juliette Gordon Low involved with Guiding in UK in 1911 and found GSUSA in 1912 (I have no idea who Juliette Flowers is).  BSA officially exists since 1910.   In Canada official Scouting groups for boys date from 1908, and for Guiding for girls since 1910.  Guiding for girls in UK and some other countries pre-dates BSA.

[Alice]

On 11/7/2018 at 1:26 PM, Margaret in CO said:

I think one of the weaknesses of GSUSA is "available" troops--that there's a cap on numbers in a troop. I think BSA has a better system--just keep adding patrols. Most troops split at around 50-75 Scouts, which I think is a good thing. I hate it when a parents tells me they couldn't join GSUSA because there wasn't room in the one in the only troop we have here. The parent may want their girl in GSUSA, but may not be able to form a new troop. The girl loses out. 

 

This is why we didn’t do Girl Scouts. My boys do Boy Scouts and when dd was in 1st or 2nd grade she was interested in being a Girl Scout. So I contacted a couple of different local Girl Scout Troops and was basically told I had to start my own becuase they were all full. I’m happy to volunteer and have been very involved in Boy Scouts and all our kids activities. But starting my own troop was way more daunting than just being an adult leader or volunteer. I couldn’t take it on at that point. So I told dd we’d wait a year or so and see if we could find another troop and maybe I’d look into what it took to start one. She then lost interest. We now have friends in other troops who have been actively recruiting her as I think their numbers are low but she’s busy with other stuff and not interested anymore. That’s fine but I really felt like it was a weakness of the GS system. Within other organizations, I’ve seen the value of growing volunteers. You give the new person an easy job, then something more involved, then put them in charge when they know the system. But to just say you have to start from scratch is kind of overwhelming. 

[chiguirre]

12 hours ago, Janeway said:

First, there was only Boy Scouts. Then along came Julliette Flowers and she came up with "Girl Scouts" to mimic the Boy Scouts but be for girls and made a big deal of girls being omitted from Boy Scouts. Then, people sued the Boy Scouts to allow all variety of people, including girls. Boy Scouts decides they will include girls and to make it inclusive, they drop the word "Boy." Boy Scouts had the name Scouts before the Girl Scouts. Now, Girl Scouts are angry that the boy scouts have dropped the word "Boy" from their title. Frankly, Girl Scouts is so bad here, I have no desire to have anything to do with it. They are rude and nasty and catty. I think every parent I knew who was involved in it last year dropped it this year and talked about how bad it was. I know it might be different elsewhere, but it is just not good here, where I live. Now, at the Veteran's Day ceremony, a variety of groups marched to represent the various branches and carry the flags. But one group of girl scouts who were carrying a flag for one of the branches walked because the girl carrying the flag with an additional banner that was much bigger than the flag that said something about Power of the Girl. I thought that was disrespectful of the honor they were given to carry the flag for that branch to carry a huge banner like that. Can you imagine if the Boy Scout group carried a big banner at the Veterans Day ceremony saying something about Power of the Boy? Veterans were both male and female and it was disrespectful to the veterans. Personally, I think GSA is suing because all they care about is their product, Girl Scout cookies, and not the children. They have no honor. The mere fact that they sell GS Cookie products in places, for profit, that does not benefit the girls should be a huge, in your face demonstration that it is not about the children.

The Boy Scouts decided to include girls in order to bolster their membership. Both BSA and GSUSA have lost members over the last 20 years as more kids opt for other activities that have grown exponentially in that time. The GS cookie licensing deals fund the national organization. It they didn't, GSUSA would have to charge much more than $25/year for membership and wouldn't be able to offer financial aid. BSA sells popcorn for the same reason.

[Lady Florida.]

People often think that Girl Scouts was an offshoot of Boy Scouts when the history is much more complicated. The oft ignored Camp Fire USA (formerly Campfire Girls) actually has a much more connected history with BSA than Girl Scouts does. I don't know why that program didn't really take off and GS did, but Juliette Gordon Low wanted to merge the two early on. It seems Camp Fire was a bit too arrogant and turned her down. Camp Fire started accepting boys in the mid 1970s. 

Ds joined Camp Fire after leaving Cub Scouts. He left Cub Scouts before moving to BS because of the ban against atheists. He didn't want to hide who he is.

http://alicemariebeard.com/campfire/history.htm

Edited November 13, 2018 by Lady Florida.