A Local Newspaper Just Shamed Girl Scouts And, Big Surprise, We Have Sexism To Blame

On Sunday, December 3, La Jolla, CA held their annual Christmas parade. Among their marchers were local children, including Girl Scout Troop 4779 and Boy Scout Troop 4. The La Jolla Light, a local newspaper, covered the festivities with photos of different groups along the parade route, including the two troops. All of this appears to be a fairly standard piece about a parade until one looks to the captions that were placed beneath the photos.

On the left, there are three Daisy Girl Scouts (kindergarten or first-grade girls) holding their parade banner with the caption, "Drama unfolds among the ranks of Girl Scouts Troop 4779." On the right, however, there is a very similar picture of some older Boy Scouts holding a banner, with the caption, "Boy Scout Troop 4 leads the festivities by, as per tradition, toting the official parade banner."

So why, La Jolla Light, did you consider it okay to write about "drama" amongst these young women while talking about the leadership of the young men? I understand that this could have been an attempt at being witty, but do you think these girls find it funny that their photo is depicting "drama" while the other, which also shows two children talking to each other, is showing their leadership?

This was a low blow to the entire Girl Scout community and one that has not been resolved.

There has been no apology given to the troop or the parents of the girls, but on December 8, 2018, the rating for the newspaper has gone down to a 1.9 out of 5 after a picture of the newspaper was posted in a Girl Scout group on Facebook.

I wonder if the writers of this newspaper know how exciting it is for children to see themselves in a newspaper (I remember a few times thinking I was famous for being in a picture from a parade in my town, just like the one shown here) and if they know how disappointed these girls will be seeing such a disrespectful caption under their photo.

It is impossible to know what exactly they were talking about because they are little girls, but that's exactly the reason why it was most likely not "drama" and a conversation between Scouts as they represented their organization to the best of their ability.