For many years now the Girl Scouts have been a target of attacks by the Christian Right. Some of the attacks have been quite vicious; all have been lies. Sort of. The specifics of the attacks have all been lies, but there thing which most bothers the Christian Right about the Girls Scouts is essentially true. The Girls Scouts teach girls to be independent, strong, and to value themselves. The Christian Right would rather that girls be taught to be dependent, submissive, and see themselves as inferior.
Conflict is inevitable.
The problem isn't just that the Girl Scouts practice a brand of girl empowerment so middle-of-the-road it's rarely even labeled as feminism, let alone radical feminism. The larger problem with this storyline is the idea that the Girl Scouts' focus on girl empowerment is anything new. Progressivism was baked into the Girl Scouts from the beginning, a fact that's particularly obvious when you compare the organization to its more conservative counterpart, the Boy Scouts.
...The Boy Scouts still employ a nostalgic worldview, while the Girl Scouts focus more on keeping with the times. A quick overview of the Girl Scouts website shows the organization's pride in its lobbying efforts on behalf of girls, and a wide range of published research addressing 21st century concerns such as body image, bullying, and yes, sexual health--with an emphasis on waiting for sex until maturity. (The Boy Scouts by contrast produce publications that shy away from these more provocative concerns and instead emphasize themes such as respect for elders and church attendance.)
So, yes, the Girl Scouts could be described as feminist, but only in the most moderate sense of the term. It's telling that Christian right critics avoid dealing directly with the group's "go girl!" brand of empowerment, choosing instead to promote lurid tall tales. Maybe their tactic amounts to a tacit acknowledgement of just how mainstream the Girl Scouts' feminism is, and just how far from the mainstream the anti-feminist views of the Scouts' Christian right critics have become.
The Girl Scouts focus on building self-esteem, teaching girls to care for their health, and promoting educational opportunities that help the girls' economic futures. Its Christian right critics cling to a tradition where women exist primarily to serve. If this tradition conflicts with the Girl Scout mission to help girls "develop their full individual potential," well, no wonder Bob Knight, the former Concerned Women for America anti-feminist organizer, had to spin that mission as "narcissistic devotion to self."
Source: Slate
It has to be emphasized that the "feminism" of the Girl Scouts is about as minimal as it can get. Indeed, it would only be singled out for the label "feminism" in a society where even the mildest and most basic feminism is still controversial. The essence of feminism is nothing more than the proposition that women are human beings -- equal human beings and not inferior in any way to men.
Sadly, that simple proposition is anathema to the Christian Right.
Now when even the mildest and simplest form of feminism is anathema to the Christian Right, this has to raise serious questions about all their other complaints involving feminism... and indeed, just about anything else. You have to wonder about how much their judgement can be trusted, not to mention their rhetoric and propaganda.
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