Girl Scouts being boycotted

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Moonlit_Angel

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Found this rather interesting...

Some Texans Boycott Girl Scout Cookies

By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer

CRAWFORD, Texas-Some families are boycotting Thin Mints and Do-Si-Dos and other Girl Scout cookies. Troop 7527 is down to just two members after the other girls were withdrawn by their parents. And Brownie Troop 7087 is no more.

Why are folks in this conservative Texas town where President Bush has his ranch so mad at the Girl Scout organization?

Planned Parenthood and sex education.

The furor was started a few weeks ago by the leader of the anti-abortion group Pro-Life Waco, who sent out e-mails and ran ads on a Christian radio station urging people to boycott Girl Scout cookies because of the "cozy relationship" between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood.

Parents were upset to learn that the local Girl Scout organization had given a "woman of distinction award" last year to a Planned Parenthood executive. And they were disturbed to find out that the Girl Scout organization has been giving its endorsement for years to a Planned Parenthood sex-ed program in which girls and boys are given literature on homosexuality, masturbation and condoms.

"It's not that we're a bunch of activists. We're just a bunch of moms who care about their kids," said Lisa Aguilar, who took her 10-year-old daughter out of her eight-member Girl Scout troop. "For us, it's the morality. Where is Girl Scouts going?"

The two troops in Crawford, population 700, decided not to deliver the cookie orders that they had already taken.

But cookie sales have skyrocketed this year as many people bought cases just to show their support for the Girl Scouts, said Becky Parker, a troop leader who is the cookie distributor for Waco-area troops.

"People thought the boycott was ridiculous and was one man's extremist views," Parker said.

While the cookie boycott may have backfired, the furor prompted the parent leaders of the two Crawford troops to quit.

"You're telling these girls to raise their fingers up to pledge to honor God and country, and yet you're handing out materials saying homosexuality is OK," said Brownie leader Donna Coody, who disbanded her five-member troop.

Because of the uproar, the Bluebonnet Council of Girl Scouts, which oversees troops in the Waco area and 13 other counties, announced last week that it would not be affiliated with Planned Parenthood sex-education programs this year.

In an editorial in Friday's Waco Tribune-Herald, Pam Smallwood, the Planned Parenthood of Central Texas executive director who was honored by the Girl Scouts last year, complained that Girl Scouts had thereby demonstrated that "bullying tactics are more effective than an informed democracy."

The Waco-area Girl Scout organization has been putting its name and logo on brochures for the Planned Parenthood sex-education programs but said it does not contribute any money and does not send girls to attend.

Some 400 to 700 fifth- through ninth-graders attend the half-day Nobody's Fool conference in Waco each July. The program never mentions abortion, according to Planned Parenthood. The youngsters receive a book with chapters on homosexuality and masturbation, as well as illustrations of couples having sex, people examining their naked bodies and a boy putting on a condom.

Some Girl Scout mothers called it soft-core porn. "It embarrassed me to look at it with my husband," said parent Shannon Donaldson.

Pro-Life Waco director John Pisciotta, an economics professor at Baylor, the world's largest Baptist university, said his call for a cookie boycott "was a way to bring attention to the issue and wasn't really about cookies."

The Girl Scouts national organization, which is based in New York and has 2.9 million girl members and 986,000 adult members, takes no position on sex education or abortion and has no national relationship with Planned Parenthood, according to the Bluebonnet Council.

The Crawford mothers are forming their own girls organization and will use a Christian-based curriculum. Beth Vivio, director of the Bluebonnett Council, declined to say if parents in any other troops had taken their daughters out.

Some parents decided to explain abortion to their girls. Others gave only a vague explanation about the uproar.

"Our girls have been through a lot these past three weeks," said Jennifer Smith, who quit as leader of Girl Scout Troop 7527 and removed her daughter. "After I told my 10-year-old daughter that they are supporting some things that are not morally right, she understood."

******

So...it's immoral to become educated about sex? :confused:. Geez, if these people are so deadset against abortion, wouldn't you think that they'd want their kids to become educated about sex? My god... So do these parents give their kids "the talk"?

And as for the homosexuality issue...:sigh:...

This is just ridiculous.

Angela
 
:rolleyes:

I'm so amused by the sentence "[it] wasn't really about the cookies."

As you said Angela, if people are opposed to abortion then that's all the more reason for them to support teenagers being well informed about contraception so they are never in a position to have to consider having an abortion. The fact remains that even if young people are cautioned against having sex, some of them will ignore the "advice." In that scenario it's ridiculous to deny teenagers information about contraception, STDs and more.
 
Moonlit_Angel said:
Found this rather interesting...

Some Texans Boycott Girl Scout Cookies

By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer

(snip)
Some Girl Scout mothers called it soft-core porn. "It embarrassed me to look at it with my husband," said parent Shannon Donaldson.

(snip)
******

So...it's immoral to become educated about sex? :confused:. Geez, if these people are so deadset against abortion, wouldn't you think that they'd want their kids to become educated about sex? My god... So do these parents give their kids "the talk"?

And as for the homosexuality issue...:sigh:...

This is just ridiculous.

Angela


The first line above says it all, "It embarrassed me...."
I agree with you Angela, fully. I commend the Girl Scout troops for doing that, at least SOMEONE in that place is. I wonder if they have "those classes" in school there.
Both my girls have known about that stuff since they were 9. It's best to give knowledge that can save your life as well as prevent unwanted pregnancy.
 
Imagine a world full of Rods and Tods (the Flanders children from "The Simpsons")...

Knowledge never hurt anyone, and the best thing someone could do is to tell their children why this stuff was wrong to them, rather than try and pretend that it doesn't exist.

But maybe the rest of us should boycott Texas instead.

Melon
 
How is putting on a condom, porn? If this is porn, then porn is a very wise decision.
I agree with you Angela. I can see why some might be mad if they'd rather do this education themselves as I'm sure most parents have their own ideas on how to educate their children and to know that their kids are in an environment they can't control would be worrying.

Still...what causes young girls' unwanted pregnancies and disease spreading etc is not tv or celebrities or the media, its ignorance combined with the immaturity to make decisions wisely.
 
Doesn't Texas have the highest rate of unwanted teenage pregnancy in the country? I remember reading that GW cut out sex education from schools when he was governor .

:down:

(I am say I'm relieved to see that this thread wasn't about the Girl Scouts having an incident like the Boy Scouts had regarding gays!)
 
Do they "maternity" Girl Scout uniforms - or would they kick a Scout out for getting pregnant in Texas because "she would be a bad influence on the other girls"?

The good old U.S. of A is so backwards.
 
This is insane. Our kids need to know certain things about sex and their bodies. My mother told me everything there was to know about sex, period, where babies come from, etc, etc. I met my first gay friend when I was fourteen, and didn't have any trouble. Keeping kids in the dark like this is the way to keep on getting teenage pregnancies. This is not the way to stop abortion. This is crazy.:mad: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:
 
verte76 said:
This is insane. Our kids need to know certain things about sex and their bodies. My mother told me everything there was to know about sex, period, where babies come from, etc, etc. I met my first gay friend when I was fourteen, and didn't have any trouble. Keeping kids in the dark like this is the way to keep on getting teenage pregnancies. This is not the way to stop abortion. This is crazy.:mad: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:

The problem is not all parents are doing their job like yours did. That's why we need these programs, but people like this are so scared that programs teaching their kids or supplementing their education about sex is going to somehow promote sex. It's the stupidist argument in history.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
The problem is not all parents are doing their job like yours did. That's why we need these programs, but people like this are so scared that programs teaching their kids or supplementing their education about sex is going to somehow promote sex. It's the stupidist argument in history.

This is a parent's job. Is it fair to say that a parent who is pulling their child from the program will handle sex education at home? Given the choice to teach my own children about sex or letting Planned Parenthood do it, I'll do it myself. I don't see why this choice is the subject of such outrage or indignation.
 
nbcrusader said:


This is a parent's job. Is it fair to say that a parent who is pulling their child from the program will handle sex education at home? Given the choice to teach my own children about sex or letting Planned Parenthood do it, I'll do it myself. I don't see why this choice is the subject of such outrage or indignation.

First of all lots of parents aren't doing their job or are not doing a good job. Secondly it's not the choice that's being met with outrage. If it was just the matter of the parent's pulling their kids out of a sex ed program that would be one thing, but to boycott the girl scouts for doing something that overall is needed in this country is just ridiculous. If they want to teach their children and feel their teaching will be negated by that of the planned parenthood, then fine that's their choice(not one I would make because I would feel confident in my teaching and would only think that any additional teaching would be supplementary) then take your child out of that paticular event, but to take their child completely out and boycott? What is their fear?
 
It is *better* if the kid's parents teach them these things, the way mine did. The problem is that some parents don't fulfull their obligations. Why is teenage pregnancy such a problem? I can understand why parents would rather teach their own kids, but in the cases where the kids simply aren't being taught, that's where the dilemna is. What to do?
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
What is their fear?

Why does this sound like a school-yard bully? If a parent does not support Planned Parenthood (and I assume they have this right), they should be able to withdraw from an organization that supports Planned Parenthood.
 
nbcrusader said:


Why does this sound like a school-yard bully? If a parent does not support Planned Parenthood (and I assume they have this right), they should be able to withdraw from an organization that supports Planned Parenthood.

No, no bullying here. Parents have the right to not support Planned Parenthood, they have the right to support or not support anything they want. But why deprive their child from something they obviously thought they enjoyed or benefitted from. The organization is just doing what they feel is best for the girls, the truth is our children are not being educated, and the girl scouts are taking a step to try and prevent that. If these parents are educating their children themselves, good for them. If they think it's the only education they need, they have that right, but what are they accomplishing by boycotting? The girl scouts should go back to not educating the girls? Or just not Planned Parenthood? Maybe an abstinence program?
 
I don't think these people live in reality. The whole thing is creepy if you ask me.

The pamphlets talk about masturbation! And homosexuality! Say it ain't so! The sky is falling! Gimme a break.
 
"It embarrassed me to look at it with my husband," said parent Shannon Donaldson

As someone else said, this quote says it all. My mother gave me an illustrated sex ed book when I was 9 years old and went over it page by page with me...I'm sure she was as embarrased as I was but giving me the facts was more important to her than being uncomfortable.

And if I read the story correctly, this sex ed material was not given to any Girl Scouts...it was given out at Planned Parenthood classes for pre-teens, which I'm almost certain would require a parent's permission slip.

You are now going to deprive your daughters from the Girl Scout experience because an affiliated organization is providing kids with information that could prevent pregnancy and STD's? Get your heads out of the sand people!
 
nbcrusader said:
This is a parent's job. Is it fair to say that a parent who is pulling their child from the program will handle sex education at home?

Does merely stating the extra-marital sex is a sin even count as sex education?
 
Why is she embarrassed to look at it with her husband? :der::confused: Where did their daughter come from? :shrug:

Maybe the parents should go to one of the conferences. :huh:
 
FizzingWhizzbees said:
Does merely stating the extra-marital sex is a sin even count as sex education?

:confused: I'm not sure how that, by itself, will help. How can a child understand the concept of extra-marital sex if they don't know what sex is?
 
meegannie said:
Why is she embarrassed to look at it with her husband? :der::confused: Where did their daughter come from? :shrug:

Maybe the parents should go to one of the conferences. :huh:

LOL, really!

I agree with the lot of you totally. Yes, it'd be wonderful if parents would teach their children about this stuff. Unfortunately, as pointed out many times in this thread, a lot of parents aren't willing to do so. Geez, these parents are acting insane-like I said, I wonder if they ever had that certain talk with their children? And if that one girl's embarrassed to look at that stuff with her own husband, do we honestly think she's talking to her daughter about sex? No.

So that's why this education continues to be put out in other places, too. There is nothing wrong with being educated about sex. Nothing. And as pointed out, the idea that this will promote sex is insane. I've had this information since upper elementary school. And yet, I have not gone out and slept with anybody.

Angela
 
MrBrau1 said:
And the south wonders why it has a bad name. Duh!

There's no need for a blanket comment like this. It reeks of prejudice.
 
I believe that it is the parents responsiblity to teach their children about sex, however I do realize that many fail in this duty. I would be interested in seeing some statistics as to whether these planned parenthood and sex education classes actually are worthwhile in preventing unwanted pregnancies, diseases, etc.
 
Moonlit_Angel said:
The Waco-area Girl Scout organization has been putting its name and logo on brochures for the Planned Parenthood sex-education programs but said it does not contribute any money and does not send girls to attend.

So, why exactly is this such a controversy if the Girl Scouts aren't giving money to Planned Parenthood or sending girls to this program? :( I think a lot of people are overreacting. I'm just glad lots of people were inspired to buy MORE cookies because of this to show their support for Scouting. Girl Scouts rule! (I used to be one - all though high school!)
 
maude said:
I believe that it is the parents responsiblity to teach their children about sex, however I do realize that many fail in this duty. I would be interested in seeing some statistics as to whether these planned parenthood and sex education classes actually are worthwhile in preventing unwanted pregnancies, diseases, etc.

It's out there. I just haven't the time to find it right now. I do know that abstinence-only programs have not been successful in preventing unwanted pregnancies.
 
nbcrusader said:


This is a parent's job. Is it fair to say that a parent who is pulling their child from the program will handle sex education at home?
given the reasons as stated in the article I doubt that they will handle sex education at home

seems to me they're even embarassed to mention penis and vagina
let alone the fun you can have with them
 
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