Tuesday, November 23, 2004
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GS Image
Girl Scout leaders are in an uproar - Oprah did a show about suburban middle class couples who "swing", and one of the women on the show mentioned that she is a Brownie leader. Let me be clear on this - the uproar is not about her lifestyle, but that it has, by association, given the impression that GSUSA accepts and endorses that lifestyle.
What GSUSA endorses is keeping your private life private. It is not in the practice of "witch-hunting", but if a person goes on network television and screams "I'm a witch! I'm a witch!", I would imagine there will be some repercussions. It's basically don't ask, don't tell, which is fine with me.
The whole debacle made me think about my weblog I used to think I could post anything about anything, until one day, and I don't even remember what the original post was about, I got a comment from a xangan saying that she didn't think I was the sort of person that young girls should be exposed to, and if I was a Girl Scout leader, she wasn't ever going to let her daughters be in Girl Scouting.
It isn't often that I get a comment that hurts my feelings, but that one did. I got plenty of reasurrances that she was alone in her opinion, and that most people thought I was fine as a GS leader, but it made me really wonder what kind of impression I was giving of the organization by association. I decided that I would no longer post anything that I wouldn't want the girls in my troop to read.
No I'm no longer a GS leader, but I know that my daughter reads my weblog, and so does my mother. My mother thinks that at our ages, we should be able talk about anything, but that really isn't true. There are things she's told me that I really didn't want to know from anyone, much less her. I live in fear that one day she might make me meet Wiley, a male friend of hers. I probably won't be able to look him in the eye.
In the same vein, as a general rule, I know how physically intimate most people who are married or live together can be, and don't need it spelled out for me, especially if it is a lot different than the norm. I generally don't need to hear about those encounters with people one likes well enough to sleep with, but not form a relationship with. I know it happens, and I don't particularly endorse or condemn it, I just don't need details.
I just like keeping private lives private, I guess. Of course, it makes it hard to find other couples to swing with.
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Comments (2)
I'm flabbergasted! What on earth 'kind of person' are you? Are we getting into labels here?
From what I've experienced of leaders, they can be many things, many different 'kinds of people', but the most important is that they have the girl's best interests at heart & they attempt to keep them safe, and not influence them in negative ways. From what you recently blogged about, you have kids & leaders pushing Christian values, which in this day & age should not be acceptable. Girl Guides has withdrawn any association with Christianity - it supports spirituality & gives every girl the right to their own faith right in the girl's Promise.
Whatever you may say here wouldn't have any bearing on what you do at scouts, and it is your blog. I personally think this is a private enough place to express yourself without harming Scouting. Swinging with Oprah? That's rather public, and with the recent religious fervour across the nation (as seen in the recent election) not a good venue to flaunt membership in a wholesome organization for kids.
From what I've read here, you are a far better role model for kids than most leaders I've worked with. I guess I'd have to say - there's ignorant, intolerant people everywhere. Don't restrain yourself because of them.