Farewell BSA: The Death of a Great Male Space

Hello fellow woke gentlemen,

I'm a lurker when it comes to reddit, but TRP has truly helped me a lot in life and the material I've shared with friends has had very positive and tangible effects on their lives as well. Moderators, I know my account is a bit inactive, but please acknowledge this post. Thank you's aside, something has very recently occurred that I need to share, and this appears the place to do it.

That event: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/05/02/boy-scouts-drop-the-boy-as-they-welcome-girls-to-scouts-bsa/?noredirect=on

A few days ago, it was announced that the Boy Scouts of America is dropping "Boy" from its name, as it allows girls to enter its cub and boy scout ranks. The campaign to allow in girls has been raging for years now, from my perspective beginning because some girls (or more likely their parents) want the prestigious title of Eagle Scout, the highest rank and honor of the former BSA, on their resume. It has already lost a bit of its shine in recent years as standards/checks have faltered, but just wait to see how it will diminish going forward. Mommy's little girl will get that rank, or else.

There does exist the Girl Scouts, a comparatively boring and uncool organization, as well as Venture Scouts, an excellent organization under the same people that's coed and is often involved in BSA activities, sharing resources (They are the ones that wear the green uniforms). The Girl Scouts complained the other day about their membership being stolen. I don't blame them, maybe they should let boys in!

This is, above all, an invasion of male space on a new level. This organization will not survive it: it WILL fundamentally change because of girls' entry. Some of the involved activities; construction service projects, shooting sports and training, war games, survival endurance competitions and tests, hands-on first aid training, peculiar, near fraternal, initiation rites among internal troops and OA groups; are doomed with the inflow of girls. They, particularly the resume-builders, will not want any part of these 'difficult' and 'testing' things. They will critique them, embarrass the boys doing them, and make them unpopular. The coming of age rituals, at least what's left of them, will be interrupted. That's how females operate in society. We have just opened the BSA and its young, developing males to be closely judged. The BSA is no longer a place for young guys to be themselves and relax in the outdoors with other males.

It will now devolve into a messy, coed summer camp with drama and worry. Uniforms will become mere fashion statements. Just look at the picture circulating now of the girl cub scout with an untucked dress-uniform shirt, ridiculous. Imagine how the summer camps will need to segregate the showers, tents, and changing areas; prevent underage intercourse or even the extreme of statutory rape (13 YOs and 18 YOs in same troop); and how awkward in general inter-troop dynamics will become. Things will go from tribes of boys to conflicts between tribes of both sexes. Let your mind run wild for a sec. Why add this confusion and upset to a happy organization? Welcome to corrosive progressivism.

Some may ask if the current BSA leadership will enforce strict rules and hold the girls up to the male standard. I will say now that this will not happen. The leadership, many of whom are the parents of these little snowflakes, will cave to the crying girl every time. We have already had the problem of female adult leadership in the Scouts, which has often led to issues involving the vested interests of mothers and the weaknesses of their momma's boys.

There are a few alternatives for boys now, but none are as national, respected, and funded as the BSA. I do not know how I will ensure my future sons will have the experiences, training, and wholesome fun I have had as a scout. The BSA has existed for the past 100 years to provide military/draft-ready men, with traditional values, who could survive on their own in a variety of situations, from infrastructure collapses to small emergency situations. The motto is "Be Prepared."

As an Eagle Scout and Brotherhood member of the OA, less than two years out of the organization, I am beyond disheartened by this. One of the last bastions of hope fell this week. We know how impossible it is for things to regress these days. America has just lost one of her finest institutions. I guess I'm just old patriarchal history now. I will forever be a proud former member of the BSA, but never of the 'Scouts BSA.'

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EDIT: (fixed some grammar) It is nice to see so many old scouters on TRP, thank you for giving my thoughts a read! It's very true, some of the most intense, nostalgic experiences thousands of others and I have had have been in scouting; some of my closest friends are old troop buddies. Those nights in the woods and myriad of injuries/challenges made me tough. Also, I learned to appreciate the trades, something forgotten about in our "everyone goes to college" society. We all can hardly wait to see the female response to the lifesaving, wilderness survival, pioneering, and automotive maintenance merit badges. Or the fact that the cooking one is mandatory...

My grief begins with the lack of a fight against this change. The Mormons are allegedly withdrawing 180k boys, but otherwise the majority of the membership is against it, yet no one is very audibly speaking out. Is there censorship? Hidden interests? Very possibly, and our male youth will lose out on a hell of a lot of the needed seeds of virility as a result. A point was made in the comments that needs to be repeated: this decision came as a demand from above. Local councils, scoutmasters, the scouts themselves were never asked for their say. This was an order from the progressive executives on top of the organization. A scary metaphor for what could come in our other institutions...