There are those who will hate me after this, they will say that I am anti-feminist and that I don't support women's right... to them I say, Bye Felicia.

I think that this is a little ridiculous. There is an initiative for Boy Scouts that are now allowing girls to join. As a past Girl Scout, I have opinions.

I personally didn't like Girl Scouts, I didn't like the sleepovers or the tea parties, I didn't like how feminine it was as a kid. That doesn't mean that I would've rather been in Boy Scouts. I also hated the idea of camping and outdoors and bugs. I hate(d) bugs. Here is the thing about Girl Scouts, the group was started to encourage the learning of useful skills for young girls, that means sewing and manners and pet care, how to use a computer, etc. The handbooks and manuals for being a Girl Scout are constantly changing and evolving, they are always adding badges and camps and initiatives. Recently, I've seen them add a coding badge amongst other STEMS topics. {yay women in STEMS, go us}

Girls Scouts has transformed into a group that promotes ALL types of girls, the ones who want to camp and explore and finds salamanders in the stream, and the girls who literally cry when they see a tent, (me circa 2001). It is important to note that every single troop of girl scouts is different. I had very little in common with my little troop of weirdos. They wanted to camp and learn how to have a tea party, they wanted sleepovers and hikes. I just wanted to play on a computer and ride horses. Literally the only badges I earned also a camping one, I cried the whole time.

The parents and kids who are so adamantly for their daughters joining a Boy Scout group are the parents and kids who don't want to find a troop that fit their kids' needs. I'm from relatively nowhere, and there were at least 15 Girl Scout troops in my area. Let me repeat that for a second. In an area, where it takes 15 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store, there were at least 15 Girl Scout troops in a ten-minute radius. FIFTEEN. That was over 15 years ago, now there are at least 30.

I personally just didn't want to do Girl Scouts, If I had, my mother would've probably driven me 45 minutes into downtown Charlotte if that was the troop that I fit with; if that was the closest troop that just rode horses and played on old desktop computers all day.

All I'm saying is that the idea that a young woman should have to spend her primary years with guys just to learn how to camp and hike and make things is ridiculous. If your child can't get along with any Girl Scout troops (who offer camping and robotics and building badges) around you, find a robotics club, take them on hikes yourself, or find someone in your community that will. There is no reason that women should have to squeeze their way into a boy's club just to learn those things, just like boy's don't have to squeeze their way into the girl's club just to learn how to bake or knit or have manners.

Many of you now think that I am anti-feminism. I'm for equality and women empowering women. If women can't provide for younger women and little girls all the support they need to feel like their interests are important, then we have an issue. Every girl deserves to grow up feeling like they don't need a man's help or directions to do something or to learn something.

If you're daughter wants to learn how to code, or how to make a cake or how to speak to adults without being treated like a child, and you can't do those things, and the local Troop leader can't do those things- surely you know someone somewhere that can teach her those things.

So to the newest members of my haters club- I'll set you up with the club president's number.

#Ivolunteertoteachcode #equalopportunitysupporter #womenempowerwomen