She has a project to oppose racism, and one of her goals is to acquire a thousand signatures on a pledge.
The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can recieve. I decided to title my project "Rani’s Roses Against Racism", because I have experienced racism, and I wanted to make a change. The petals consist of: White, Beige, Brown, Black, Tie-Dye, and Red. All represent the skin color of people. There are 7 total colors used in making this rose.
Please sign my pledge "I Promise To Honor Myself And Others". You can click on the website that will show up after you sign the pledge, and make one of your own. :)
That’s it. I think we can fill up her pledge page fast.
Done.
While it may be a worthwhile cause, I’m afraid I can’t support it. I steadfastly refuse to give up my dislike of tie-dye coloured people.
Done!
I am glad to give my name for the cause.
I am deeply intrigued about the idea of tie-dye-colored people.
I suspect the tie dye is meant to represent people of mixed race?
I think the tie-dye is used because she could find the right shade of something, so she made her own color.
Do tie-dye colored people have to wash themselves separately from other people, or is that just the first time they take a bath?
I love the girl scouts more and more every week.
Not being very familiar with scouts organizations in general, but occasionally reading bad things about Boy Scouts, I assumed Girl Scouts weren’t any better. With them supporting trans girls and now this, I’m nicely surprised.
A lovely idea. Signed.
Done, with pleasure!
Done.
Done, with pleasure.
Done. Will we be told how many pledges she’s received?
Oh yeah, I am in on this too.
…and I for one welcome our new tie-dyed overlords. I’d like to remind the dyed-in-tied that as an occasional Pharyngula commenter I can be useful in rounding up the non-tie-dyed to toil in their underground sugar caves.
And I signed the pledge.
Signed!
I clicked through and watched the video, even though I have no sound at the moment. Some thing about it made me cry. The strangest things reach into me.
Jadehawk:
I think I am a tie-dye person. :D
Signed.
Done.
Caine, Fleur du Mal #18
In that case, I have no problem signing.
Signed!
I imagine she will be pleasantly amazed at the great number of supporters. Done.
‘Tis:
:D
I think it was a creative way to represent mixed race. I like the idea of being a tie-dye person.
Tie-dye might also represent chromatophores….. :-D
Signed. I approve wholeheartedly!
I’ll have to check my local grocery stores to see if they stock Girl Scout Cookies. Unfortunately, I don’t know any Scouts personally to request an order from.
You’ll be disappointed. Despite the name, they are not made of girl scouts.
I do, my boss’s daughter. Must purchase some coookkkkies…
Red, but no yellow?
Neither being an accurate representation of a skin colour, and both being somewhat offensive, but why use one and exclude the other?
Some Girl Scouts have been doing a lot of good recently.
signed
they are called girl guides here tho
Signed.
@ Caine
=8>)
My reading glasses must be malfunctioning.
Kamaka:
I had that feeling too. Obviously, the Girl Scouts aren’t anything at all like the Boy Scouts.
As someone who was in girl scouts from age 6 to 16, I’m not surprised about the inclusion of transgender girls, for two reasons. First, GS has always been very inclusive, making a particular point of including girls with disabilities. (The founder of GS, Juliet Gordon Lowe, was either partially or wholly deaf…don’t quite remember the details.) I remember that any picture of a group of girls in any GS literature always included girls of various races, and usually had someone with a visible disability (someone in a wheelchair or on crutches).
Second, to my knowledge, GS has never actually excluded boys. I’m pretty sure if non-transgendered boy wanted to join a girl scout troop, it would be allowed. My father was registered as a girl scout for years, and would come on our camping trips to help out.
So kudos to the Girl Scouts–while I’m not surprised by their current policies, it’s nice that it’s being made explicit, and getting some publicity. And good luck to Rani–the Gold Award is a great achievment (and something I never did, despite my 10 years as a girl scout).
Caine,
No…the girl scouts are not at all like the boy scouts. While there is a loose affiliation, and occaisionally some crossover in events (e.g. my older sister’s troop was once invited to a boy scout jamboree), they are entirely separate organizations. I’m not sure why girl scouts ended up without the religious tones of the boy scouts, but I’m glad of it. Now we just need to push boy scouts that direction. Maybe if they started selling some form of pastry…
You know, I must say that all of the goodness coming out of the girl scouts surprises me a bit. I joined when I was around 13 or so, and left rather quickly once I found it was entirely inundated with religion and, most importantly, anti-feminist undertones. No emphasis on being strong and equal; all of the emphasis on being pretty, stupid, and weak- we went camping and brought along boy scouts to do all the “tough work” for us (which pissed me off- they were setting up the campfire when there were girls signed up to do so) while us girls went and colored little paper purses. Made me wish I could have joined boy scouts.
But with the recent awesomeness from the girl scouts I suppose I just had a very bad experience with my specific troop, at least religion wise. Though a question for those who were in girl scouts and enjoyed it- Is it simply not a thing for girls who tend towards androgyny/masculinity more than femininity, or was that just another bad experience on my part?
cactuswren, I was in the Girl Scouts for a short while about a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, our troop was tightly allied with the Catholic Church & School I was trapped in at the time, so I didn’t stay long.
Grimalkin,
There is a lot of variation between girl scout trooops. Each troop is fairly autonomous, and while I was never in a troop with any mention of religion, I’m sure there are troops with religious zealots as leaders who bring religion into it. Also, I’ve been in some girl scout troops that were only interested in doing arts and crafts and selling cookies, and I’ve been in troops that were all about camping. (Actual camping in tents…not just going to “a girl scout camp” which is basically just a slumber party that happens to be in a cabin.)
As far as I know, there’s no nationwide policy banning troop leaders or girl scouts from bringing religion into their meetings, but there’s also no particular encouragement to do so. (Though I just remembered there is a line in the girl scout pledge about “serving god and my country”, so there is some official lipservice to religion, if nothing else.)
I haven’t been involved in girl scouts for over a decade, and I’m sure other people have had very different experiences with it than I have. My general experience was positive and religion free, but clearly that’s not always the case. Sorry to those of you who were turned off by a religious troop!
Signing is great, but the girl scouts have been under attack from various forms of bigots for being rather cool with all sexual orientations and gender identities and for encouraging girls to take control of their sexuality and make safe and responsible choices that are right for them.
So while your at go buy some tasty cookies or throw them some money. They need it.
having been a Girl Scout for many years, I can attest that proper camping is totally normal. my town had a big campout every year (little ones in cabins, older girls in platform tents), plus there was loads of other activities and weekends, including normal tent camping, at various points.
it’s very dependent on what your troop wants to do (when you’re little that means what the leaders want to do) as there’s badges for outdoor stuff, and for more traditionally girly stuff. i stayed throughout high school, so it got the point where the girls did the planning more than the leaders – so we started doing things like day trips into NYC.
as far as i know, it’s no boys allowed, but male leaders are absolutely fine (my dad was one – he just had to have his own room/tent on sleepover events).
there’s is a bit about god in the pledge, though i don’t think it’s a problem to leave this out.
however, all the awesome inclusive stuff comes from the top and it’s no guarantee that an individual troop won’t have bigots.
The Girl Scout Promise does say “I will try to do my duty to God* and my country” but the asterisk leads to a note that says that girls may substitute a more appropriate word for god. There are no religious requirements to advance through the ranks, although most of the major “faith traditions” have badge requirements that girls can complete for their religion to get a religious badge if they want.
As opposed to the Boy Scouts, which have a religious requirement to advance and whose promise lacks an asterisk. Thus far, my Cub Scout son has gotten by, because I consider myself the head of our religious tradition which declares that there are no gods. We will see what happens when we get to Boy Scouts.
I have to believe there is more to her project than getting internet signatures and making duct tape flowers. The Gold Award is a big deal, and needs to be approved in advance by the Girl Scout council to which the girl belongs. It requires hundreds of hours of work and is supposed to make a change in the world.
Otherwise, they would be illegal in Oklahoma.
I signed as well.
I much prefer the Girl Guides to the Boy Scouts. My eldest daughter is a guide, and identifies as atheist – she has been allowed to take part in guides, so that’s good. The guide promise she made was to be true to her beliefs – which are humanist, rather than religious. My son , OTOH, wanted to be in Beavers, and apparently they must make a pledge to serve God, and I was warned not to put atheist on the application form. Scouts have badges for religion in life, and specific badges to identiy your religious tradition.
On the flip side, however, Girl Guides is sexist, allowing only girls and those identifying as girls to join, and males who want to help out simply cannot – they do not allow males to participate in events. Boy Scouts allow girls to join, and have both male and female leaders.
Girl Scout Cookies are sold by individual Girl Scouts who go door to door getting advance orders. They are never available on store shelves, although during the cookie drive, some stores allow the girls to sell at the entrance. Fred Meyer in Alaska supports Girl Scouts!
There should be a phone number for Girl Scouts in your phone book, and a call there can get you a ‘connection’. You may also be able to find your local Council through the Girl Scout website (trigger warning: large photos of yummy looking cookies).
http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/
The cookies are expensive, but most of the cost goes to the local Girl Scout Troop, NOT to a national organization, and here locally at least is used by the volunteer leaders to pay for badges, crafts and for scholarships so all girls who wish to do so can go to camp.
Done, as you command, oh wise one.
My mother’s aunt was an old time girl scout, from back when they used to bake the cookies themselves, and I learned much of what I know of them from her. They seem to be a good group on the whole, and not at all as god-soaked as the boy scouts.
In the US the Girl Scout cookie profits are divided between the troop and the local council. The latter uses the money to support the council owned camps and huts and council wide scout programs and to provide financial support for poorer scouts and troops.
As for why the US Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are different? I suspect several reasons but the primary one is that Girl Scouts was seen from the beginning as progressive. The idea that girls should be self-reliant and learn many skills not all of which were ‘feminine’, that they could and should be leaders. Also the Girl Scouts in the US have a very different structure from the Boy Scouts. A boy scout troop or cub scout pack is owned by a chartering organization often a church and these chartering organizations have a direct vote in local councils and the national organization (one reason for the influence of the Mormon church is they are the single largest charterer of troops and packs). A girl scout troop is owned by the local girl scout council though they may be sponsored by a local organization (usually sponsors provide a meeting space and perhaps some storage space); however, sponsoring organizations have no formal influence on council or national (they can of course withdraw sponsorship). One other difference is the minimum age to be a voting delegate within the council or national organization: for Girl Scouts it is 14, for Boy Scouts only adults over 21.
The various national Girl Scout/Girl Guide organizations differ (as do the national organizations for the Boy Scouts). Canada Guides for instance recently rewrote their promise to have “To be true to myself, my beliefs and Canada” with “my beliefs” replacing a former bit that mentioned ‘God’. Each national organization affiliated with either of the two world Scouting/Guiding organizations is suppose to have in their promise a ‘Duty to God’, ‘Duty to self’, and ‘Duty to country’ but ‘Duty to God’ is defined very broadly [some of the earliest scouting organizations were in Buddhist majority countries and use ‘duty to my religion’ [though I suspect the word translated as ‘religion’ is only vaguely similar to the English word religion] and the Canadian promise falls within the boundaries]. The US Boy Scouts seem to have ignored the broadness and emphasized the ‘God’ bit (the UK Scouts [which has both boys and girls] and I think Guides allow substitution but only from a limited list of words, the US Girl Scouts allow substitution but don’t have a preset list).
Remember cookie season is soon:-)
Happily signed!