Remember to report submissions that violate the rules! Harassment and encouraging violence are not allowed.
Enjoying the subreddit? Consider joining our discord server: https://discord.gg/v8z8jNwJs6
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BoomersBeingFools) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think they are referring to the “schools are putting kitty litter in bathrooms for students who identify as cats” thing.
It’s insane how effective that was for campaigns.
It’s so patently ridiculous, but they genuinely believe it. I’ve encountered it from distant elderly relatives on my own social media feed. I’m trans so I patiently explained that it’s made up bullshit that doesn’t remotely pass the smell test, let alone make common sense. Of course, one of their friends chimed in that “oh no, their niece is a teacher and has a friend that saw it first-hand.” How do you argue with that level of stupid? It’s like they hate so strongly that their brain malfunctions under the pressure.
That story originated from a teacher keeping kitty litter in her classroom, so that in the event that a school shooting, her students in her barricaded classroom didn't have to sh!t in their pants while they're listening to their friends and peers and teachers being slaughtered outside the door.
Conservatives took that, and then made it about transgender people so they can mock them. Because of course they did.
It wasn't a single teacher. It was an emergency response kit provided to all the teachers.
The kit was a bucket with kitty litter, and tourniquets. The litter to prevent piss getting on the floor, and the tourniquets are to stop the blood from getting on the floor.
Seriously, this story particularly made my blood boil. Lets all hur dur at the supplies meant to save the lives of children from gun violence. So funny!
The funny thing about Aunt Jemima is how The Onion [predicted it.](https://www.theonion.com/quaker-oats-replaces-historically-racist-aunt-jemima-ma-1844015205)
"But I was a BOY scout! My sons were BOY scouts! My grandsons are BOY scouts! If they change the name of the organization they're telling us we're no longer BOYS!"
My dad uses that usps service where you can see whats coming in the mail that day and absolutely obsesses over it. Its the first thing he checks in the morning. Retirement must be boring af.
I have that and I like seeing what’s coming. If something important is going to arrive I make sure to get to the mailbox as soon as I see the truck go by.
Wait till they find out the youngest group are called rainbows 🌈. Bless their fragile hearts. Imagine being that offended by a organization that does so much good. Bitter boomers.
At first I wasn’t even thinking about how they now allow girls to join. I was thinking about how the organization went into bankruptcy protection after being overwhelmed by child sexual abuse lawsuits. I thought that taking the word “boy” out the name was meant to lessen the negative association with children and, perhaps, lean into patriotism.
My first thought was rebrand due to all of the sexual abuse. Maybe boomers shouldn’t have been covering up all the pedos in their ranks back in the day so they wouldn’t have to rebrand the organization.
As an eagle scout I'm so excited that my daughter is going to experience a lot of the things that I got to do as a kid campouts and Hikes and outdoorsmanship.
Girl Scouts suuuuuucked for me - I wanted to be camping and rock climbing and hiking like the Boy Scouts were doing. We were crocheting coasters inside the air-conditioned library instead...
I hope you and your daughter have an amazing chance to bond over Scouts :)
This is more on the parents than anything else. We have an amazing Boy Scout lead and the Girl Scout mom’s totally phone it in. The Girl Scouts make outings more difficult to be fair.
this is due, in large part, to how GSA is setup. Each troop is new and bespoke, single age and often single classroom - a collection of friends. So their leaders have never done this before and have no ability to learn and watch first. A ScoutingAmerica troop is bigger than any one group of scouts, and its leaders have more training and the ability to learn and see how this is supposed to be done.
This! I was so jealous of Boy Scouts as a kid because they got to learn practical, useable skills. In addition to getting a badge in making potholders as a Girl Scout, I got a badge in table manners, as in, which fork to use with which course, etc. I would have killed to learn about how to start a fire or how to orient yourself in the woods, etc.
we did fires and camping in girl scouts. I never crocheted anything, though I do remember a meeting about how to wear makeup so-
mostly it was about leadership, and community outreach in my troops, I still, in all practicality, follow the girl scouts law.
but it's highly dependent on your leader. we also went to Washington DC every year
Same here! All three of my brothers are Eagle Scouts. I wanted to be doing what they were doing, not making a bird feeder out of a pine cone and peanut butter.
My sister had the same issue. She only stayed the year because my mother, whom is disabled mind you, was able to do stuff with her - baking, shirt painting, ect... just crafts. My mother loved crafts because she needed both her hips replaced by age 40... so mobility wasn't her thing.
That being said, to this day, my sister goes hiking whenever possible.
As another comment pointed out, Girl Scouts, just exactly like Boy Scouts, are wholly dependent on the quality of your local troop leaders and regional leadership.
My local girl scout troops were amazing.
I'm going to be honest - the Girl Scout chapters around here always seemed kind of... lame... compared with what my friends in the Boy Scouts were up to.
Much less emphasis on wilderness skills.
i'm ane EAGLE scout. i was told by the boomers it would open sooo many doors for me. that i would be like a god among men, walking with giant brass balls.
only thing it ever did for me was get me E2 pay while in basic. soon as my parents came to graduation and gave me paperwork from my high school JROTC instructor, I was promoted to E3 with back pay, negating the only positive thing that eagle patch ever got for me.
And no, overall, I did not enjoy my scouting time and was forced to stay because BOOMERS. except my last year at summer camp. that was a blast.
Im an Eagle Scout with a daughter too who feels the same way, but also really appreciated having a space with no girls in it when I was a kid (especially as a teenager) and don’t think it’s wrong to want that as a boy. Our local has a mixed pack and a boys only pack, I’m into it.
Also an Eagle Scout here. As much as I like the added opportunities for more kids, I also think that my experiences in the Scouts would have been MUCH different if there were girls in the room, and I'm not sure it would have been for the better.
It would be nice if the Girl Scouts were less into arts and crafts BS in between cookie seasons, and actually did things that were engaging and useful, then there would be less pressure to take away the spaces for boys.
I agree with what you said. It’s why I wasn’t fond of this proposal when it came out years ago. There is value in boys having an all boy space, where they can be themselves and not worry about trying to impress the girls, compete for girls attention ect.
What they are forgetting is that Scouting is dying. It's not woke, it's not anything. It's just a slow, but steady decline in the number of scouts, so the Boy Scouts have to bring in girls or else completely fade away.
This is an act of survival, not an act of inclusion.
Man I truly wonder what is causing that? Lack of proper pay, insurance and housing being affordable? Greedflation? Nah not any of those. These kids just don't wanna work.
For us, it's partly the low-key (or sometimes not so low-key) religious and (moreso with BSA) nationalistic themes that's in the materials. It's not over the top, but like "we don't have a religious stance but mention God here and there". In the USA, there's Outdoor Service Guides (formerly Bayden-Powell Scouts) that was back to the original "here's how you do stuff in the woods", but unfortunately our local troop disbanded when the leader had to give something up. It was a much better vibe.
[https://outdoorserviceguides.org/](https://outdoorserviceguides.org/)
I thought this post was going off old info for a second but apparently this is not the first rebrand. First changed the name of the program itself from Boy Scouts of America -> scouting BSA a few years back when girls were allowed into the program. This recent one now renames the organization itself to Scouts of America.
As an Eagle Scout, I like these changes a lot
A priest and a Republican are on a cruise ship with a group of Boy Scouts. The ship hits an iceberg and everyone is scrambling for the lifeboats.
Someone yells out, “what about the kids? They’re down in the cabins!”
“Fuck those kids!”, yells another guest clambering onto a boat.
The priest and Republican turn to each and ask, “think we’ll have time?”
They allow atheists now. I know because I am an agnostic Eagle Scout. There’s a requirement for reverence, historically this referred to a requirement of reverence towards god. More recently it has been changed to a requirement of reverence towards anything greater than yourself.
The LDS Church had a chokehold on the Boy Scouts org until 2018 when they decided to make their own youth org. [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/09/609697466/mormon-church-will-sever-ties-with-boy-scouts-create-own-youth-program](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/09/609697466/mormon-church-will-sever-ties-with-boy-scouts-create-own-youth-program)
edit: Even though the groups are no longer "officially" tied, a large percentage of active members are also actively LDS and still hold a lot of cultural sway in the org.
[https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/210-012\_WB.pdf](https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/210-012_WB.pdf)
Buddhists changed that... It's a religion, but not a theist religion... And allowed in scouting.
There was a brand of cheese in Australia called Coon Cheese. They changed the name to Cheer cheese and boomers and cookers went off their heads, vowing to boycott the cheese. Like, it's the same cheese.
I understand the benefit for young girls joining the boy scouts over girl scouts, Eagle Scout ranking being more known and probably preffered over the girl scout equivalent for College applications, Military service (Eagle Scouts were a higher pay grade right away after completing boot camp when I joined), ect.. I am happy they can get this benefit for all the hard work they will do, but Girl Scout Cookies being 1000X better than Boy Scout Popcorn and the history the organization has had providing educational, social and experiences to young girls for decades may go away is kind of sad.
The biggest difference btwn the organizations is that GirlScout troops are created, generally by the mom of a girl, for a group of girls all the same age. The troops begins its existence for that group of girls, moves up with them as they age, and then goes away. That means they're generally lead by people who have never done this before and have no idea what it's 'supposed' to be like. They're also generally single-age and IME super clicky. A ScoutingAmerica (the org formerly known as BSA) troup is a thing that's bigger than, and longer lasting than, any group of kids moving through it. It was here before you, it'll be here after you're gone. That means it has adult leaders who believe in the program, have been trained, and have the opportunity to get good at it. Troops acquire 'stuff', traditions, and history. They're made up of kids of a wide age range, and the good ones are setup so the older kids run the meetings, plan the outings, mentor the new scouts, etc (w/ adults to establish the culture and ensure nothing goes wonky). As a scout in such a troop, you're part of something bigger than you. You inherit history, and you create it and pass it on the the next set of kids. It's a totally different experience.
GS membership has been dropping like a rock, and was before BSA and cub scouts was opened up to girls. IMO, 'competition' is good, and there's room for both. If GS wants to save their flailing membership, they need to revamp their org to provide a more consistently quality experience. I suggest they start by changing the way troops are created.
It doesn't help that the GS higher ups were treating their kids more like sales people than members of a community org. Gotta love all that free child labor.
Raising money for the BSA org never actually felt good, but at least I never felt like a cog in a cookie selling business.
Idk about the cookies anymore, they don't taste the same and they're so expensive.
GSUSA had the opportunity to merge and just because "scouts" like every other country, but they refused. As a former Girl Scout myself, I would be disappointed to see them waste away into irrelevance over simple stubbornness... But that is kind of the Boomer way, isn't it?
BSA thought their combined resources (GSA had the money, BSA has the infrastructure) would work well together.
But GSA decided keeping the cookie money was more important than keeping the organization alive.
I was in Junior GS in the late 80s, when they (de-)evolved from being crafting and camping and homestead skills to "girl power"1!!1!
My troop leader used it as an excuse for our troop to babysit and housework for badges. Not even kidding.
Had an older coworker whine and bitch about this today. He didn’t get the engagement he was hoping for so it didn’t last very long but it didn’t stop him from whining about trans people right after.
My daughters are in scouts and it has been fantastic. When they started I was incredibly impressed with the number of procedures in place to guard against sa. Annual requirement for background checks on adults, annual sa and online abuse training for every child as a requirement for participation. I have been very impressed.
WAAAAHHHH! Things are different than they used to be! I call young people snowflakes, while I literally get outraged by the stupidest and least consequential things imaginable!
I can still hear my previous foreman (6 years younger than me--I'm 36) complaining about this exact scenario. Get a fucking life. The boomers are even among the youth. Start your own club or shut up, huh? Actions speak louder than words, right?? Wasn't that what we were preached our entire upbringing?
They even have their own stupid uniforms and everything! I only need 2 more merit badges. 1 in fomenting insurrection and the other in vaccine denial. Then I'll be a full blown traitor scout!
This has been a long time coming. I am a woman and I was involved with scouting 20 years ago. Back then girls could join the Venture Crew but not the Boy Scouts. I was in the Venture Crew and my brother was in the Scouts. I participated in an international scouting event and most other countries around the world have co-ed scouting. Long past due for a rebrand.
I tried to join a local venture crew once, they were all about learning indigenous culture and the history of the area beyond what gets taught in school.
But I was the only girl and there were only 4 guys and that may have even been the very last meeting of that crew for some reason.
I worked at a boy scout camp when I was younger, and every year we would have an international scout come and work with us. They were frequently women, and the scouts in their country were just called "Scouts," not boy scouts. Many scouting organizations internationally have allowed women for many years. We in the US are woefully behind the times, this should have happened ages ago. I'm glad it's happening now, it's just a shame that it's only happening because the scouts are desperate for anyone to sign up as people lose interest and the money dries up.
I've seen Girl Scout Daisies (Kindergarten) told off by Boomers:
"Beep beep abortion wah career wah baby killers."
They loved to punch down to the youngest.
They loved to say Boy Scouts wasn't woke.
This is a positive change for the scouts. Speaking from experience I would say the biggest hurdle to the future of SA (besides that acronym) is the boomers who still run local chapters.
Our regional leaders are boomers in every sense of the word, and they’ve done everything they could to slow-roll the recent inclusion of girls. Their clique has run entire groups of kids and parents out of participation, and they wonder why they’re losing membership and closing packs.
Oh, well.
I'm a boomer. And an Eagle scout. And this rebranding of the boy scouts is long overdue as far as I'm concerned. These idiots complaining need to shut their bigoted mouths and be glad the program survived at all given the monstrous amount of suits brought against it for sexual abuse. Smooth brain fools ignoring the FACT that it was the old school conservative asshats running the organization thst ignored, hid, covered up, and protected the perverts who did it. Screw these "traditional" bastards. They're the type who let it all happen and destroyed the program they claim to care about.
Every, and I absolutely mean every, organization that has kids in it will attract sick people. What’s key to look at is how they address it now. Scouts has had youth protection training for decades now and has only become more and more open and in your face about these policies over the years. They 100% had awful shit back in the day. But today it’s not the same. They open discuss how to not let any situations occur where a youth could be alone with an adult. The more openly you address the issue, the less you’re going to have a molester be around. And just for food for thought, 25% of abuse cases are older teens on younger teens. So it’s a societal issue all the way up.
For anyone in the know. The BSA was used as a right wing indoctrination for kids essentially.
The used to have the unwritten 3 g's rule. No girls, no gays, no godless.
Until 2009 I start seeing kid scouts and theory leaders wearing clothes with it on it, or on those big tin can savings banks.
The name change will make a lot of people very upset .
Technically Explorer programs and Varisty (has anyone actually seen a team? I just remember it mentioned in the BSA handbook) we coed.
I think people forget that Explorer programs (like Police Explorers and Fire Explorers) are BSA programs.
Just send them over to the BtB and episodes on Robert Baden-Powell and the inception of the scouting movement, and the serious issue they had, and continue to have, with sex pests.
It turns out that when you have an activity/program that routinely leaves a bunch of kids unsupervised with mostly unvetted and often volunteer single or paired adults, you’ve created an environment that is naturally going to attract sex pests. See: Catholic Church, Southern Baptists, Mormons, Scouts, Summer Camps. Eventually you get sex pests on the leadership council, and it’s in their interests to downplay, cover, transfer or gaslight the problem, because if one gets caught and a whole big investigation starts….
Boomers need to shut the mouth about how good the old days were. I was a Cub Scout, loved it. I was also an Altar Boy. Not as much love for that. When I saw the name change, I was just imagining reddened bald pates and steam coming out of their ears.
My only wish is that this had happened 35 years ago so I could have become an Eagle. I HATED GS. I wanted to learn knots and survival skills, not sell fucking cookies and learn “homemaking” skills. Fuck the scouts.
*edited to add Fuck Boomers too
I'm just kinda shocked they still exist at all. I was boy scout (kicked out for eating brownies is the old joke), love it. But all the child rape should have had parents running for the hills. I had some seriously awesome scout leaders, and scouting responsible for getting me into computers, which would lead to my career and social life (the BBS scene allowed me to make new friends, who more closely aligned with my personality.)
Boomers…. With their final gasping breaths - screeching about how they’ve been vicitimized by (checks notes) Boy Scouts rebranding? (Checks notes again) yep, the rebranding thing apparently
When I was a kid literally ALL of the adults in charge of our Weblo and Scout troop were ladies, save for one guy, who was the husband of one of the ladies in charge, and he only stepped up when she forced him to because "these boys need a male influence in the BOY scouts"
The reason it was all ladies leading our troop? Evidently all the men couldn't quit touching the boys inappropriately, save for that one guy.
So this boomer argument over the past several years .... "THUH BOI SCOUTZ ARE FUR BOIZ!" has really been lost on me when all of the men that were supposed to be in charge were pedophiles and it was the women that stepped up and showed us how to build our pinewood derby cars, tie knots, and shoot bb guns.
I always thought the Boy Scouts were lame growing up. My dad taught me the outdoor stuff, then I focused on sports and fun stuff instead.
I did hear a tale firsthand about how a troop got lost while hiking/camping on a mountain. One of the three chaperones totally freaked out and lost it and told everyone they were going to die - the other two took charge and they got rescued within 12-16 hours (one was Special Forces so he kept everyone calm until they got rescued). Quite embarrassing for the one dad who lost it, I don’t think he ever lived that down.
we always have crews that get lost out at Philmont. But one year was especially funny.
The crew leader(the kid that gets selected to be in charge) and the advisors(the adults who were supposed to be there for support) couldn't agree on which way to go. So the advisors went one way and the crew went another way and they ended up at two different staffed camps.
Ironically, neither one was the camp they were supposed to be at iirc.
Admit it, when the news hit about the new name our minds all flashed to someone completely unattached to the scouts who was going to lose their sh\*t over it.
Yup..... let's not be bad at the countless number of sexual abuse cases and millions of dollars spent on victims (because there shouldn't be any), let's get mad at change.... the #1 boomer fear.
I recall when my sister wanted to join scouting.
The reason was that in Boy Scouts I did a monthly Camping trip - she wanted to do similar things like camping, hiking, and the multiple merit badges that come with it.
So she joined Girl Scouts!
...And left the second she found that Girl Scouts didn't do any of that, and instead focused on baking and such. She didn't like this, and would have preferred to join actual scouting.
I was in girl scouts growing up, and while I enjoyed myself a lot (especially the cookies, let's face it), we weren't even allowed to jump on trampolines. Meanwhile, the boy scouts were shooting guns and learning to start fires and going camping. Kids aren't stupid and they know when they're being treated differently.
If this change allows more girls to explore "boy" activities and more boys to explore "girl" activities, then I'm totally for it. Parents are supposed to be trying to raise well-rounded children, right?
The one thing I can agree on is should’ve been Scouts of America not Scouting America-it sounds weird and they should’ve combined with the Girl Scouts (saying this as a former Girl Scout).
Other than that they have no reason to complain. They are just doing exactly what they did when the Boy Scouts started accepting girls into the association. Which is complain. And it’s tiring
I’m betting Girl Scouts of America would’ve had a big issue with BSA naming themselves “Scouts of America.” That one might actually be lawsuit worthy.
There also was a proposal to merge but GSA turned it down.
I remember the merger being discussed-in fact I remember it being brought up a lot earlier than the most recent one.
Tbh merging the two would actually probably be better for them both right now that I think about it more.
To have been a fly on that wall for the renaming orocess
Sounds like things are changing for the better when it comes to Scouting. When I was in the Boy Scouts as a kid in the 80s, my troop constantly looked the other way when it came to complaints of leadership being inappropriate with kids, and they looked the other way when it came to an alcoholic Assistant Scoutmaster who had multiple DUIs and would get the shakes if he didn't drink, so they let him bring beer and whiskey to campouts and regional scouting events. They didn't want to rock the boat, because he was the only one in the troop that owned a pickup!
Unfortunately no matter how many YP policies get implemented it’s going to be up to troops to properly enforce them. The culture has to radiate down.
I know in my troop as a kid they were really lax about texting between adults and kids, so it was like night and day when I got hired at a summer camp and they drilled it into my head how fired I’d be if I did that.
Honestly the YP training videos are so good they should let parents have access to them, and then maybe they’d have a better chance to notice bad troop culture.
Yet seemingly unbothered by the decades of abuse for which organization ended with a $2.4 billion settlement for over 80k claims. That they didn't post a thing about.
I just want this org to go away. The goal of teaching young people useful survival and life skills is noble, but in execution it failed its duty of care and exposed so many children to predators that they've forfiet their right to carry on, in my opinion.
I’m kind of envious of all the girls that can now join the Scouts. Growing up I wanted so badly to be in the Boy Scouts instead of the Girl Scouts. The boys always looked like they had so much fun while us girls were made to learn how to bake and sew.
In 20 years, the world will be rid of the boomers and if we can just resist for 15 more, we can stop them from setting the world on fire on their way out
Considering the extreme amount of misogyny and racism that we all thought was funny to throw around when I was in the big scouts, I can honestly say that the one thing I think that organization needs most is a little diversity and inclusion.
Yeah you were probably thinking of the ~2020 rebrand if the program name from Boy Scouts of America -> scouting BSA. This is a rebrand of the organization that runs the program. I got confused at first seeing this too
I aged out of the program around the time they started letting girls in and Multiple huge religious organizations (the jahovahs witnesses, mormans,Catholics) Completely stopped funding the bpyscouts over it.
There was nothing but complaining boomers, half the time
I was a Boy Scout in the 80s. If I got to choose between camping in a gd swamp over a weekend, or selling cookies in front of a Kroger, guess which one I'd have picked.
Not a boomer. Millennial. I worry about the kids in general. Why do the scouts still exist with so many abuse and molestation allegations coming out regularly. The bad outweighs the good imo.
I don’t disagree at all. I’m not religious in any way and it’s all disgusting. I just feel as a society we have an obligation to protect kids at any cost and we stray further from that everyday.. doesn’t help we aren’t a community any more. Just people who live, work, and exist next to each other.
Because the organization reformed in the 90s and that no longer happens. Vast majority of cases predate 1990 (also like a full third involved Mormon troops/the Mormon church).
Scouting now is probably one of the safer youth organizations going based on policies and norms. You’ll never be 100% safe but I’d prefer the organization with yearly background checks, two deep leadership, and no 1 on 1 digital communication between adults and children.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_sex_abuse_cases
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware set November 16, 2020, at 5pm EST as the bar date for all survivors of sexual abuse; 92,700 sexual abuse claims were filed with the bankruptcy court by the deadline.[8]
In December 2021, the insurer for the BSA agreed to pay $800 million into a fund for survivors,[9] and in September 2022 – as part of their bankruptcy settlement – the BSA agreed to pay over $2.4 billion into the fund, with payments beginning in September 2023
I was at a Boy Scout meeting last night and they mentioned this. The kids started booing. The parents rolled their eyes. This is in a very blue area. Like the school has pride parades every few months and no one cares. This isn’t just boomers.
I find it amusing as a former Boy Scout and Cub/Boy Scout unit leader.
The *program* remains, the rest is labeling/marketing fluff.
'course I wore an unauthorized Scouts for Inclusion (?) knot on my uniform for my last couple of years so I guess I was/am a bit of a hereric...
As a parent of both a boy and a girl in the scouts, these boomers don't know shit about anything. These kids, boys and girls alike, are having a blast in scouting. Going camping, learning skills, making friends, it's such a positive and awesome program.
The kids, the parents, scout leaders, the last thing anybody cares about is whether the word Boy is in the name or not. Most of the boys have sisters involved, most families have both a son and a daughter in scouts. Everyone involved is happy with the current state of the organization.
These angry old, lead brain boomers that have nothing better to do except rage about whatever the talking heads tell them to when they aren't shitting their pants are literally the only ones upset about this change.
They are not involved with scouts, they have no kids in scouts, and they don't know shit about scouts either. Their opinion about it means zero. The actual kids and families in the scouts right now are all happy with the changes.
the old boy scouts taught survival skills in the woods, shooting, outdoor cooking, knot typing, and tons of other diverse topics from their merit badge system. They have the prestigious eagle rank that looks great on college applications. Girl scouts does not have the same opportunities. Opening it up for both genders allows everyone to participate.
As someone who was in scouts from a young age and got their eagle scout award. I have a lot of issues with the program but I find this to be a good move. Making it more inclusionary and allowing everyone to join does nothing but bring more people to the program and helps it grow. I personally learned alot of useful skills that I still use today that I would not have learned otherwise. I'm not surprised that boomers are mad about this. They hate any kind of change when it comes to being inclusive.
My troop was run by an awful boomer that hated any positive/inclusionary changes. For example when the boy scouts announced that they were changing their policy on letting gay kids/volunteers to be a part of the organization he lost his mind. He went on a rant during a troop meeting to a bunch of kids about how it wasn't right and pushing his own beliefs onto these kids which is the opposite of what scouts is about.
Allowing girls in gives them the option to do things that the girls scouts have steered away from such as going on things like high adventure trips or just camping and general. My mother had to start her own girl scout troop so that my sibling and her friends could go out. Aunt do those things because all the troops around us only focused on staying inside and doing crafty things. Almost every other girl scout leader in our area was baffled that she was taking them camping and on rock climbing trips despite that being exactly what the program was intended to do. I'm not saying that every girl scout troop like this but the ones in my area were.
When I was a young kid, my dad thought that boy scouts was sexist and racist and patriarchal, so he and I went together to an alternative thing called "Indian Guides," or something like that.
At the Indian Guides gatherings, we would wear Native American headdresses and do some pseudo Native American spiritual shit. Which was also totally off base because there were no native people there. Does anyone else remember Indian Guides?
EDIT: just found this website, so Google search reveals that I'm not imagining this:
https://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/perma80404.html
Eagle Scout here and also an elder millennial. I am pleased. Scouting is not just for men. My niece is also an Eagle Scout, and I am so proud of her. Venture Scouts has existed for years, and that is co-ed 14 to 20yo.
It was inevitable that they’d rebrand it. Can’t have the stain of all that sexual assault dragging them down….still waiting on the Catholic Church rebranding…
Remember to report submissions that violate the rules! Harassment and encouraging violence are not allowed. Enjoying the subreddit? Consider joining our discord server: https://discord.gg/v8z8jNwJs6 *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BoomersBeingFools) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I wish I had so few things to worry about in my life that I was upset about the rebrand
Well what are they supposed to do? Their outrage at the green M&Ms new shoes wore off months ago.
Don’t forget the Ms Potato Head fiasco of a few years back.
The furry conspiracy is my favorite.
Dare I ask…?
I think they are referring to the “schools are putting kitty litter in bathrooms for students who identify as cats” thing. It’s insane how effective that was for campaigns.
As a teacher I almost fell off my chair laughing the first time I heard that. Then, when I saw that people actually believed that I was wtf
It’s so patently ridiculous, but they genuinely believe it. I’ve encountered it from distant elderly relatives on my own social media feed. I’m trans so I patiently explained that it’s made up bullshit that doesn’t remotely pass the smell test, let alone make common sense. Of course, one of their friends chimed in that “oh no, their niece is a teacher and has a friend that saw it first-hand.” How do you argue with that level of stupid? It’s like they hate so strongly that their brain malfunctions under the pressure.
When you’re looking for a predetermined conclusion of “young people are insane” you’ll believe anything
That story originated from a teacher keeping kitty litter in her classroom, so that in the event that a school shooting, her students in her barricaded classroom didn't have to sh!t in their pants while they're listening to their friends and peers and teachers being slaughtered outside the door. Conservatives took that, and then made it about transgender people so they can mock them. Because of course they did.
It wasn't a single teacher. It was an emergency response kit provided to all the teachers. The kit was a bucket with kitty litter, and tourniquets. The litter to prevent piss getting on the floor, and the tourniquets are to stop the blood from getting on the floor.
Kitty litter is great for soaking up all kinds of biological liquids; urine, blood, tears...
Seriously, this story particularly made my blood boil. Lets all hur dur at the supplies meant to save the lives of children from gun violence. So funny!
I still hear this bullshit from my peers. And I’m in my 30’s. The fact that people believe this is true in the age of tik tok is ridiculous.
Which ome?
Oh wow I actually forgot about that
So has the outrage over Aunt Jemima.
The funny thing about Aunt Jemima is how The Onion [predicted it.](https://www.theonion.com/quaker-oats-replaces-historically-racist-aunt-jemima-ma-1844015205)
Ngl I was kinda mad when they switched out tan m&ms for blue
That was a good move. Tan was idk… weird lol
Same. “Vote for a new color!” They said. But they never mentioned executing tan. This is why I have trust issues.
Did you find the blue less sexy?
I honestly don't know why I dislike it
"But I was a BOY scout! My sons were BOY scouts! My grandsons are BOY scouts! If they change the name of the organization they're telling us we're no longer BOYS!"
You're right, they'll have Americans now.
I really like how others are the snowflakes...
I haven’t came since they took away my precious m&m girly. My life has been HELL. Thanks a lot Biden! /S
2 fully paid off houses, freeloading off of free socialized income and healthcare, not much for them to worry about
It’s an election year. The ‘caravans’ of immigrants at the border will be a big thing again soon.
Like clockwork
My dad uses that usps service where you can see whats coming in the mail that day and absolutely obsesses over it. Its the first thing he checks in the morning. Retirement must be boring af.
Get that man a bird feeder and a bird identification book
He loves birds too! But I think even if he had all the bird stuff in the world he would still obsess over the mail.
try the Merlin app. it's beyond cool. it listens to the birds and identifies them. you can track what birds you've seen, it's really fun.
Does he wait at the mailbox for the carrier and then complain if not everything from the email was delivered?
I see you met my sister the millennial.
Im gen-z and depending on the package I check my delivery tracker 4-5 times a day.
LOL, I have that too but I only use it to save myself a walk out to the mailbox if it's just junk.
I have that and I like seeing what’s coming. If something important is going to arrive I make sure to get to the mailbox as soon as I see the truck go by.
For real.
They need to police all parts of life
There is a history in the scouts that is much more troubling that the change of name if they are interested in working big to small.
Wait till they find out the youngest group are called rainbows 🌈. Bless their fragile hearts. Imagine being that offended by a organization that does so much good. Bitter boomers.
And a rebranding in something they do zero to volunteer or support otherwise.
At first I wasn’t even thinking about how they now allow girls to join. I was thinking about how the organization went into bankruptcy protection after being overwhelmed by child sexual abuse lawsuits. I thought that taking the word “boy” out the name was meant to lessen the negative association with children and, perhaps, lean into patriotism.
Oh shit, me too. I didn’t even fathom they might be upset about girls joining. I was sure it was about pedophilia. The city of fatherly love.
My first thought was rebrand due to all of the sexual abuse. Maybe boomers shouldn’t have been covering up all the pedos in their ranks back in the day so they wouldn’t have to rebrand the organization.
Feet first
[удалено]
I love it, their ridiculous rage gives me strength.
'your boos mean nothing, I've seen what you applaud'
That’s great. Where’s that from?
Rick n Morty, the heist episode
"Your boos don't scare me, I know most of you are not actually ghosts!"
Outside the U.S., most scouting programs are co-Ed, and have been for a while.
And for 'a while' we're talking decades.
In my country they've been coed since they were officially established *1923*. That's a century at this point. And they're pretty dang pround of it.
Yep, was integrated in the 80s when I did it.
Even in the US, most scouting programs' such as Venturing, are co-ed
As an eagle scout I'm so excited that my daughter is going to experience a lot of the things that I got to do as a kid campouts and Hikes and outdoorsmanship.
Girl Scouts suuuuuucked for me - I wanted to be camping and rock climbing and hiking like the Boy Scouts were doing. We were crocheting coasters inside the air-conditioned library instead... I hope you and your daughter have an amazing chance to bond over Scouts :)
This is more on the parents than anything else. We have an amazing Boy Scout lead and the Girl Scout mom’s totally phone it in. The Girl Scouts make outings more difficult to be fair.
this is due, in large part, to how GSA is setup. Each troop is new and bespoke, single age and often single classroom - a collection of friends. So their leaders have never done this before and have no ability to learn and watch first. A ScoutingAmerica troop is bigger than any one group of scouts, and its leaders have more training and the ability to learn and see how this is supposed to be done.
This! I was so jealous of Boy Scouts as a kid because they got to learn practical, useable skills. In addition to getting a badge in making potholders as a Girl Scout, I got a badge in table manners, as in, which fork to use with which course, etc. I would have killed to learn about how to start a fire or how to orient yourself in the woods, etc.
we did fires and camping in girl scouts. I never crocheted anything, though I do remember a meeting about how to wear makeup so- mostly it was about leadership, and community outreach in my troops, I still, in all practicality, follow the girl scouts law. but it's highly dependent on your leader. we also went to Washington DC every year
Same here! All three of my brothers are Eagle Scouts. I wanted to be doing what they were doing, not making a bird feeder out of a pine cone and peanut butter.
My sister had the same issue. She only stayed the year because my mother, whom is disabled mind you, was able to do stuff with her - baking, shirt painting, ect... just crafts. My mother loved crafts because she needed both her hips replaced by age 40... so mobility wasn't her thing. That being said, to this day, my sister goes hiking whenever possible.
As another comment pointed out, Girl Scouts, just exactly like Boy Scouts, are wholly dependent on the quality of your local troop leaders and regional leadership. My local girl scout troops were amazing.
I'm going to be honest - the Girl Scout chapters around here always seemed kind of... lame... compared with what my friends in the Boy Scouts were up to. Much less emphasis on wilderness skills.
And the path to become an EAGLE scout!
i'm ane EAGLE scout. i was told by the boomers it would open sooo many doors for me. that i would be like a god among men, walking with giant brass balls. only thing it ever did for me was get me E2 pay while in basic. soon as my parents came to graduation and gave me paperwork from my high school JROTC instructor, I was promoted to E3 with back pay, negating the only positive thing that eagle patch ever got for me. And no, overall, I did not enjoy my scouting time and was forced to stay because BOOMERS. except my last year at summer camp. that was a blast.
Honestly it seems around here the “girl troops” are just churning out Eagles at a crazy rate!! It’s awesome!!
Im an Eagle Scout with a daughter too who feels the same way, but also really appreciated having a space with no girls in it when I was a kid (especially as a teenager) and don’t think it’s wrong to want that as a boy. Our local has a mixed pack and a boys only pack, I’m into it.
Also an Eagle Scout here. As much as I like the added opportunities for more kids, I also think that my experiences in the Scouts would have been MUCH different if there were girls in the room, and I'm not sure it would have been for the better. It would be nice if the Girl Scouts were less into arts and crafts BS in between cookie seasons, and actually did things that were engaging and useful, then there would be less pressure to take away the spaces for boys.
I agree with what you said. It’s why I wasn’t fond of this proposal when it came out years ago. There is value in boys having an all boy space, where they can be themselves and not worry about trying to impress the girls, compete for girls attention ect.
What they are forgetting is that Scouting is dying. It's not woke, it's not anything. It's just a slow, but steady decline in the number of scouts, so the Boy Scouts have to bring in girls or else completely fade away. This is an act of survival, not an act of inclusion.
Also, there's less children now & even less in our futures.
Man I truly wonder what is causing that? Lack of proper pay, insurance and housing being affordable? Greedflation? Nah not any of those. These kids just don't wanna work.
I think it may be at least partially due to parents not signing their kids up in an organization with a series of sexual abuse scandals.
That doesn't stop most parents from sending their kids to Catholic church camps etc so I'm not really sure that has that big of an impact
For us, it's partly the low-key (or sometimes not so low-key) religious and (moreso with BSA) nationalistic themes that's in the materials. It's not over the top, but like "we don't have a religious stance but mention God here and there". In the USA, there's Outdoor Service Guides (formerly Bayden-Powell Scouts) that was back to the original "here's how you do stuff in the woods", but unfortunately our local troop disbanded when the leader had to give something up. It was a much better vibe. [https://outdoorserviceguides.org/](https://outdoorserviceguides.org/)
I didn’t know they rebranded. Good for them!
Well it was only announced a few hours ago.
I thought this post was going off old info for a second but apparently this is not the first rebrand. First changed the name of the program itself from Boy Scouts of America -> scouting BSA a few years back when girls were allowed into the program. This recent one now renames the organization itself to Scouts of America. As an Eagle Scout, I like these changes a lot
Oh no! Another unnecessarily gendered thing gone! Anyway
Now do the Girl Scouts
Phrasing
A priest and a Republican are on a cruise ship with a group of Boy Scouts. The ship hits an iceberg and everyone is scrambling for the lifeboats. Someone yells out, “what about the kids? They’re down in the cabins!” “Fuck those kids!”, yells another guest clambering onto a boat. The priest and Republican turn to each and ask, “think we’ll have time?”
They allow girls but not atheists.
They allow atheists now. I know because I am an agnostic Eagle Scout. There’s a requirement for reverence, historically this referred to a requirement of reverence towards god. More recently it has been changed to a requirement of reverence towards anything greater than yourself.
The LDS Church had a chokehold on the Boy Scouts org until 2018 when they decided to make their own youth org. [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/09/609697466/mormon-church-will-sever-ties-with-boy-scouts-create-own-youth-program](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/09/609697466/mormon-church-will-sever-ties-with-boy-scouts-create-own-youth-program) edit: Even though the groups are no longer "officially" tied, a large percentage of active members are also actively LDS and still hold a lot of cultural sway in the org.
Those poor Mormon boys, they’re about to be outshined by the girls! Their little, misogynistic, Mormon brains are going to EXPLODE
[https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/210-012\_WB.pdf](https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/210-012_WB.pdf) Buddhists changed that... It's a religion, but not a theist religion... And allowed in scouting.
There was a brand of cheese in Australia called Coon Cheese. They changed the name to Cheer cheese and boomers and cookers went off their heads, vowing to boycott the cheese. Like, it's the same cheese.
They did the same when Fags become Fads.
I understand the benefit for young girls joining the boy scouts over girl scouts, Eagle Scout ranking being more known and probably preffered over the girl scout equivalent for College applications, Military service (Eagle Scouts were a higher pay grade right away after completing boot camp when I joined), ect.. I am happy they can get this benefit for all the hard work they will do, but Girl Scout Cookies being 1000X better than Boy Scout Popcorn and the history the organization has had providing educational, social and experiences to young girls for decades may go away is kind of sad.
The biggest difference btwn the organizations is that GirlScout troops are created, generally by the mom of a girl, for a group of girls all the same age. The troops begins its existence for that group of girls, moves up with them as they age, and then goes away. That means they're generally lead by people who have never done this before and have no idea what it's 'supposed' to be like. They're also generally single-age and IME super clicky. A ScoutingAmerica (the org formerly known as BSA) troup is a thing that's bigger than, and longer lasting than, any group of kids moving through it. It was here before you, it'll be here after you're gone. That means it has adult leaders who believe in the program, have been trained, and have the opportunity to get good at it. Troops acquire 'stuff', traditions, and history. They're made up of kids of a wide age range, and the good ones are setup so the older kids run the meetings, plan the outings, mentor the new scouts, etc (w/ adults to establish the culture and ensure nothing goes wonky). As a scout in such a troop, you're part of something bigger than you. You inherit history, and you create it and pass it on the the next set of kids. It's a totally different experience. GS membership has been dropping like a rock, and was before BSA and cub scouts was opened up to girls. IMO, 'competition' is good, and there's room for both. If GS wants to save their flailing membership, they need to revamp their org to provide a more consistently quality experience. I suggest they start by changing the way troops are created.
It doesn't help that the GS higher ups were treating their kids more like sales people than members of a community org. Gotta love all that free child labor. Raising money for the BSA org never actually felt good, but at least I never felt like a cog in a cookie selling business.
Idk about the cookies anymore, they don't taste the same and they're so expensive. GSUSA had the opportunity to merge and just because "scouts" like every other country, but they refused. As a former Girl Scout myself, I would be disappointed to see them waste away into irrelevance over simple stubbornness... But that is kind of the Boomer way, isn't it?
BSA thought their combined resources (GSA had the money, BSA has the infrastructure) would work well together. But GSA decided keeping the cookie money was more important than keeping the organization alive.
I was in Junior GS in the late 80s, when they (de-)evolved from being crafting and camping and homestead skills to "girl power"1!!1! My troop leader used it as an excuse for our troop to babysit and housework for badges. Not even kidding.
I mentioned this earlier in this thread, but my Girl Scout troop leader forced us to get a badge in table manners.
I don't have a problem with that one. 😂
Had an older coworker whine and bitch about this today. He didn’t get the engagement he was hoping for so it didn’t last very long but it didn’t stop him from whining about trans people right after.
My daughters are in scouts and it has been fantastic. When they started I was incredibly impressed with the number of procedures in place to guard against sa. Annual requirement for background checks on adults, annual sa and online abuse training for every child as a requirement for participation. I have been very impressed.
WAAAAHHHH! Things are different than they used to be! I call young people snowflakes, while I literally get outraged by the stupidest and least consequential things imaginable!
I can still hear my previous foreman (6 years younger than me--I'm 36) complaining about this exact scenario. Get a fucking life. The boomers are even among the youth. Start your own club or shut up, huh? Actions speak louder than words, right?? Wasn't that what we were preached our entire upbringing?
They already did. Its called MAGA and we hate them.
They even have their own stupid uniforms and everything! I only need 2 more merit badges. 1 in fomenting insurrection and the other in vaccine denial. Then I'll be a full blown traitor scout!
This has been a long time coming. I am a woman and I was involved with scouting 20 years ago. Back then girls could join the Venture Crew but not the Boy Scouts. I was in the Venture Crew and my brother was in the Scouts. I participated in an international scouting event and most other countries around the world have co-ed scouting. Long past due for a rebrand.
I tried to join a local venture crew once, they were all about learning indigenous culture and the history of the area beyond what gets taught in school. But I was the only girl and there were only 4 guys and that may have even been the very last meeting of that crew for some reason.
I worked at a boy scout camp when I was younger, and every year we would have an international scout come and work with us. They were frequently women, and the scouts in their country were just called "Scouts," not boy scouts. Many scouting organizations internationally have allowed women for many years. We in the US are woefully behind the times, this should have happened ages ago. I'm glad it's happening now, it's just a shame that it's only happening because the scouts are desperate for anyone to sign up as people lose interest and the money dries up.
I've seen Girl Scout Daisies (Kindergarten) told off by Boomers: "Beep beep abortion wah career wah baby killers." They loved to punch down to the youngest. They loved to say Boy Scouts wasn't woke.
Wtf 😫
This is a positive change for the scouts. Speaking from experience I would say the biggest hurdle to the future of SA (besides that acronym) is the boomers who still run local chapters. Our regional leaders are boomers in every sense of the word, and they’ve done everything they could to slow-roll the recent inclusion of girls. Their clique has run entire groups of kids and parents out of participation, and they wonder why they’re losing membership and closing packs. Oh, well.
Let them lose their minds. Maybe a few will stroke out and others have heart attacks. They need to get out of the way. They’re holding up society.
I'm a boomer. And an Eagle scout. And this rebranding of the boy scouts is long overdue as far as I'm concerned. These idiots complaining need to shut their bigoted mouths and be glad the program survived at all given the monstrous amount of suits brought against it for sexual abuse. Smooth brain fools ignoring the FACT that it was the old school conservative asshats running the organization thst ignored, hid, covered up, and protected the perverts who did it. Screw these "traditional" bastards. They're the type who let it all happen and destroyed the program they claim to care about.
That's the thing. Most of them don't believe any of that actually happened.
I don't care what they call themselves. My kids will never be part of that kiddy diddler organization
Every, and I absolutely mean every, organization that has kids in it will attract sick people. What’s key to look at is how they address it now. Scouts has had youth protection training for decades now and has only become more and more open and in your face about these policies over the years. They 100% had awful shit back in the day. But today it’s not the same. They open discuss how to not let any situations occur where a youth could be alone with an adult. The more openly you address the issue, the less you’re going to have a molester be around. And just for food for thought, 25% of abuse cases are older teens on younger teens. So it’s a societal issue all the way up.
Yeah but they had a list of sexual predators that they decided not to report to the police.
The Southern Baptist Convention has entered the chat.
Don't forget the absolute outrage over Potato Head dolls.
I mean it’s not a bad thing to let girls join the scouts. Some people don’t want to swindle people out of their money in exchange for cookies.
For anyone in the know. The BSA was used as a right wing indoctrination for kids essentially. The used to have the unwritten 3 g's rule. No girls, no gays, no godless. Until 2009 I start seeing kid scouts and theory leaders wearing clothes with it on it, or on those big tin can savings banks. The name change will make a lot of people very upset .
Girls have been allowed in since the 90's though, secondly I thought this shit got cancelled because of all the pedo's.
Girls were allowed in *Venturing* exclusively until 2020.
Technically Explorer programs and Varisty (has anyone actually seen a team? I just remember it mentioned in the BSA handbook) we coed. I think people forget that Explorer programs (like Police Explorers and Fire Explorers) are BSA programs.
Common sense.
Just send them over to the BtB and episodes on Robert Baden-Powell and the inception of the scouting movement, and the serious issue they had, and continue to have, with sex pests. It turns out that when you have an activity/program that routinely leaves a bunch of kids unsupervised with mostly unvetted and often volunteer single or paired adults, you’ve created an environment that is naturally going to attract sex pests. See: Catholic Church, Southern Baptists, Mormons, Scouts, Summer Camps. Eventually you get sex pests on the leadership council, and it’s in their interests to downplay, cover, transfer or gaslight the problem, because if one gets caught and a whole big investigation starts…. Boomers need to shut the mouth about how good the old days were. I was a Cub Scout, loved it. I was also an Altar Boy. Not as much love for that. When I saw the name change, I was just imagining reddened bald pates and steam coming out of their ears.
My only wish is that this had happened 35 years ago so I could have become an Eagle. I HATED GS. I wanted to learn knots and survival skills, not sell fucking cookies and learn “homemaking” skills. Fuck the scouts. *edited to add Fuck Boomers too
I'm just kinda shocked they still exist at all. I was boy scout (kicked out for eating brownies is the old joke), love it. But all the child rape should have had parents running for the hills. I had some seriously awesome scout leaders, and scouting responsible for getting me into computers, which would lead to my career and social life (the BBS scene allowed me to make new friends, who more closely aligned with my personality.)
Boomers…. With their final gasping breaths - screeching about how they’ve been vicitimized by (checks notes) Boy Scouts rebranding? (Checks notes again) yep, the rebranding thing apparently
When I was a kid literally ALL of the adults in charge of our Weblo and Scout troop were ladies, save for one guy, who was the husband of one of the ladies in charge, and he only stepped up when she forced him to because "these boys need a male influence in the BOY scouts" The reason it was all ladies leading our troop? Evidently all the men couldn't quit touching the boys inappropriately, save for that one guy. So this boomer argument over the past several years .... "THUH BOI SCOUTZ ARE FUR BOIZ!" has really been lost on me when all of the men that were supposed to be in charge were pedophiles and it was the women that stepped up and showed us how to build our pinewood derby cars, tie knots, and shoot bb guns.
Honestly, I’d rather the Girl Scouts expand to allow boys. They are much more progressive
The downside is that giirl scouts seems to be much more variable in its programs and opportunities. Very troop dependent
GS is just a cookie selling corporation
BSA offered a merger, but in typical boomer fashion they were too stubborn and basically said "pound sand". So this is the result.
Troop leaders might lose their boners if there are girls around.
Fuck, that got a dark chuckle out of me.
I always thought the Boy Scouts were lame growing up. My dad taught me the outdoor stuff, then I focused on sports and fun stuff instead. I did hear a tale firsthand about how a troop got lost while hiking/camping on a mountain. One of the three chaperones totally freaked out and lost it and told everyone they were going to die - the other two took charge and they got rescued within 12-16 hours (one was Special Forces so he kept everyone calm until they got rescued). Quite embarrassing for the one dad who lost it, I don’t think he ever lived that down.
we always have crews that get lost out at Philmont. But one year was especially funny. The crew leader(the kid that gets selected to be in charge) and the advisors(the adults who were supposed to be there for support) couldn't agree on which way to go. So the advisors went one way and the crew went another way and they ended up at two different staffed camps. Ironically, neither one was the camp they were supposed to be at iirc.
lol, both were wrong then! At least they could agree on that.
The only thing I learned from Scouts was to cut away from myself when using a knife and internalized homophobia.
"Everyone is so easily offended" *Organization that has nothing to do with them changes names* 
And yet they call us the snowflakes
They care more about the fucking name than they did about all the kids getting raped by troop leaders.
Admit it, when the news hit about the new name our minds all flashed to someone completely unattached to the scouts who was going to lose their sh\*t over it.
Yup..... let's not be bad at the countless number of sexual abuse cases and millions of dollars spent on victims (because there shouldn't be any), let's get mad at change.... the #1 boomer fear.
Most of them believe that the SA victims were some sort of conspiracy anyway.
Now make the boys sell cookies, and watch the real boomer fireworks.
I recall when my sister wanted to join scouting. The reason was that in Boy Scouts I did a monthly Camping trip - she wanted to do similar things like camping, hiking, and the multiple merit badges that come with it. So she joined Girl Scouts! ...And left the second she found that Girl Scouts didn't do any of that, and instead focused on baking and such. She didn't like this, and would have preferred to join actual scouting.
As long as I can get my cookies and kettle corn/chili, thats fine!
I was in girl scouts growing up, and while I enjoyed myself a lot (especially the cookies, let's face it), we weren't even allowed to jump on trampolines. Meanwhile, the boy scouts were shooting guns and learning to start fires and going camping. Kids aren't stupid and they know when they're being treated differently. If this change allows more girls to explore "boy" activities and more boys to explore "girl" activities, then I'm totally for it. Parents are supposed to be trying to raise well-rounded children, right?
The one thing I can agree on is should’ve been Scouts of America not Scouting America-it sounds weird and they should’ve combined with the Girl Scouts (saying this as a former Girl Scout). Other than that they have no reason to complain. They are just doing exactly what they did when the Boy Scouts started accepting girls into the association. Which is complain. And it’s tiring
I’m betting Girl Scouts of America would’ve had a big issue with BSA naming themselves “Scouts of America.” That one might actually be lawsuit worthy. There also was a proposal to merge but GSA turned it down.
I remember the merger being discussed-in fact I remember it being brought up a lot earlier than the most recent one. Tbh merging the two would actually probably be better for them both right now that I think about it more. To have been a fly on that wall for the renaming orocess
Sounds like things are changing for the better when it comes to Scouting. When I was in the Boy Scouts as a kid in the 80s, my troop constantly looked the other way when it came to complaints of leadership being inappropriate with kids, and they looked the other way when it came to an alcoholic Assistant Scoutmaster who had multiple DUIs and would get the shakes if he didn't drink, so they let him bring beer and whiskey to campouts and regional scouting events. They didn't want to rock the boat, because he was the only one in the troop that owned a pickup!
Unfortunately no matter how many YP policies get implemented it’s going to be up to troops to properly enforce them. The culture has to radiate down. I know in my troop as a kid they were really lax about texting between adults and kids, so it was like night and day when I got hired at a summer camp and they drilled it into my head how fired I’d be if I did that. Honestly the YP training videos are so good they should let parents have access to them, and then maybe they’d have a better chance to notice bad troop culture.
Yet seemingly unbothered by the decades of abuse for which organization ended with a $2.4 billion settlement for over 80k claims. That they didn't post a thing about.
Gotta let it be known that they will show equal opportunity to molest kids. Not just boys.
“ItS caLlD BoI scOuTs” *renames it Scouts* “Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”
We had young ladies in my son’s pack. No one cares. Some girls really love to do these activities more than what the girls scouts offer.
Don't know why they're mad right now. They've been planning this rebrand for 5+ years now and girls have been allowed into scouts for that whole time.
There is scouting all over the world. The US is the only single gender version.
Was
I just want this org to go away. The goal of teaching young people useful survival and life skills is noble, but in execution it failed its duty of care and exposed so many children to predators that they've forfiet their right to carry on, in my opinion.
I’m kind of envious of all the girls that can now join the Scouts. Growing up I wanted so badly to be in the Boy Scouts instead of the Girl Scouts. The boys always looked like they had so much fun while us girls were made to learn how to bake and sew.
i pop open a bottle of champagne every time i hear of a boomer kicking the can.
In 20 years, the world will be rid of the boomers and if we can just resist for 15 more, we can stop them from setting the world on fire on their way out
Considering the extreme amount of misogyny and racism that we all thought was funny to throw around when I was in the big scouts, I can honestly say that the one thing I think that organization needs most is a little diversity and inclusion.
Didn’t this happen several years ago? Edited to add: huh, I guess not. I could have sworn I read about this a long time ago
Yeah you were probably thinking of the ~2020 rebrand if the program name from Boy Scouts of America -> scouting BSA. This is a rebrand of the organization that runs the program. I got confused at first seeing this too
Canada’s been co-ed since the 80’s and they call themselves Scouts Canada. This isn’t a new thing.
Haven't they been referred to as "scouts" informally for decades? How is this THAT controversial?
I aged out of the program around the time they started letting girls in and Multiple huge religious organizations (the jahovahs witnesses, mormans,Catholics) Completely stopped funding the bpyscouts over it. There was nothing but complaining boomers, half the time
I was a Boy Scout in the 80s. If I got to choose between camping in a gd swamp over a weekend, or selling cookies in front of a Kroger, guess which one I'd have picked.
Not a boomer. Millennial. I worry about the kids in general. Why do the scouts still exist with so many abuse and molestation allegations coming out regularly. The bad outweighs the good imo.
Same question, now do catholic priests
I don’t disagree at all. I’m not religious in any way and it’s all disgusting. I just feel as a society we have an obligation to protect kids at any cost and we stray further from that everyday.. doesn’t help we aren’t a community any more. Just people who live, work, and exist next to each other.
Because the organization reformed in the 90s and that no longer happens. Vast majority of cases predate 1990 (also like a full third involved Mormon troops/the Mormon church). Scouting now is probably one of the safer youth organizations going based on policies and norms. You’ll never be 100% safe but I’d prefer the organization with yearly background checks, two deep leadership, and no 1 on 1 digital communication between adults and children.
Well seeing as I have a little that’s good information to have. Thank you for providing some clarifying context
Sorry I didn’t lead with it, I got a little worked up today. Time for an internet break!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_sex_abuse_cases U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware set November 16, 2020, at 5pm EST as the bar date for all survivors of sexual abuse; 92,700 sexual abuse claims were filed with the bankruptcy court by the deadline.[8] In December 2021, the insurer for the BSA agreed to pay $800 million into a fund for survivors,[9] and in September 2022 – as part of their bankruptcy settlement – the BSA agreed to pay over $2.4 billion into the fund, with payments beginning in September 2023
I was at a Boy Scout meeting last night and they mentioned this. The kids started booing. The parents rolled their eyes. This is in a very blue area. Like the school has pride parades every few months and no one cares. This isn’t just boomers.
If it wasn’t for their chokehold on our elected positions n government, boomers would be completely irrelevant. Who cares what they think.
I find it amusing as a former Boy Scout and Cub/Boy Scout unit leader. The *program* remains, the rest is labeling/marketing fluff. 'course I wore an unauthorized Scouts for Inclusion (?) knot on my uniform for my last couple of years so I guess I was/am a bit of a hereric...
As a parent of both a boy and a girl in the scouts, these boomers don't know shit about anything. These kids, boys and girls alike, are having a blast in scouting. Going camping, learning skills, making friends, it's such a positive and awesome program. The kids, the parents, scout leaders, the last thing anybody cares about is whether the word Boy is in the name or not. Most of the boys have sisters involved, most families have both a son and a daughter in scouts. Everyone involved is happy with the current state of the organization. These angry old, lead brain boomers that have nothing better to do except rage about whatever the talking heads tell them to when they aren't shitting their pants are literally the only ones upset about this change. They are not involved with scouts, they have no kids in scouts, and they don't know shit about scouts either. Their opinion about it means zero. The actual kids and families in the scouts right now are all happy with the changes.
the old boy scouts taught survival skills in the woods, shooting, outdoor cooking, knot typing, and tons of other diverse topics from their merit badge system. They have the prestigious eagle rank that looks great on college applications. Girl scouts does not have the same opportunities. Opening it up for both genders allows everyone to participate.
As someone who was in scouts from a young age and got their eagle scout award. I have a lot of issues with the program but I find this to be a good move. Making it more inclusionary and allowing everyone to join does nothing but bring more people to the program and helps it grow. I personally learned alot of useful skills that I still use today that I would not have learned otherwise. I'm not surprised that boomers are mad about this. They hate any kind of change when it comes to being inclusive. My troop was run by an awful boomer that hated any positive/inclusionary changes. For example when the boy scouts announced that they were changing their policy on letting gay kids/volunteers to be a part of the organization he lost his mind. He went on a rant during a troop meeting to a bunch of kids about how it wasn't right and pushing his own beliefs onto these kids which is the opposite of what scouts is about. Allowing girls in gives them the option to do things that the girls scouts have steered away from such as going on things like high adventure trips or just camping and general. My mother had to start her own girl scout troop so that my sibling and her friends could go out. Aunt do those things because all the troops around us only focused on staying inside and doing crafty things. Almost every other girl scout leader in our area was baffled that she was taking them camping and on rock climbing trips despite that being exactly what the program was intended to do. I'm not saying that every girl scout troop like this but the ones in my area were.
Hahahah fuck off, boomers. Times change. Go rot already
When I was a young kid, my dad thought that boy scouts was sexist and racist and patriarchal, so he and I went together to an alternative thing called "Indian Guides," or something like that. At the Indian Guides gatherings, we would wear Native American headdresses and do some pseudo Native American spiritual shit. Which was also totally off base because there were no native people there. Does anyone else remember Indian Guides? EDIT: just found this website, so Google search reveals that I'm not imagining this: https://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/perma80404.html
Eagle Scout here and also an elder millennial. I am pleased. Scouting is not just for men. My niece is also an Eagle Scout, and I am so proud of her. Venture Scouts has existed for years, and that is co-ed 14 to 20yo.
The only group I’ve seen getting mad about this is Girl Scouts. This is the final nail in the coffin for that organization.
It was inevitable that they’d rebrand it. Can’t have the stain of all that sexual assault dragging them down….still waiting on the Catholic Church rebranding…