Readers React: Young women have a much better option than the scandal-ridden Boy Scouts: the Girl Scouts

To the editor: Scouting is undoubtedly better with girls, but are girls better off Scouting with boys? Within the first two paragraphs of Spencer Windes’ op-ed article, “The girls at my Boy Scout camp made us better young men,” he refers to the socializing influence of females and mentions their physical appearance not once, but twice.

Girls should be added to turn boys into humans and provide them viewing pleasure? How empowering for those girls!

His conclusion that everyone deserves Scouting is not an endorsement of including girls, as girls already have a superior option in the Girls Scouts of America. While the Girl Scouts were advocating for human rights for all, the Boy Scouts of America was hiding abuse scandals and refusing to include any non-heterosexuals.

While it is admirable the organization is finally waking up to the 21st century, this should not be done on the backs of girls and young women.

Susan Allen, Thousand Oaks

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To the editor: As an Eagle Scout, I would like Windes to know that his unfortunate experiences with the Boy Scouts is not the norm or what Scouting is all about.

His description of his troop as being “under supervised” and homophobic sounds more like a street gang than the Boy Scouts.

My experience with Scouting in 1960s Ohio involved no such cruelty. Our troop was led by caring fathers, and we treated each other like brothers.

If Scouting today has devolved into the abyss that Windes describes, bringing girls on won’t solve the problem.

James Hornbeck, Van Nuys

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