OPINION:
Another week, another headline that has millions wondering what has happened to the America of our youth. “Woke” social engineering by the far left appears to have claimed another victim: the Boy Scouts of America. The organization that had molded millions of boys into leaders who valued nature, personal responsibility and hard work has announced it will rebrand itself as “Scouting America,” removing the word “boy” from its name. It’s a wonder they didn’t remove America too.
The storied institution says that its core mission remains the same, and that its European counterparts have already rebranded to be more inclusive. They say this rebrand to focus on inclusivity is necessary to boost membership.
On the contrary, BSA’s mission is and until recently has always been about the development of boys into responsible young men. It was never some ridiculous commentary on society or the inability of girls to earn merit badges that requires reform. Brand Marketing 101 makes clear you don’t water down your core mission or change your values, especially when you’re already viewed as kowtowing to political pressure. It doesn’t attract more people to your cause.
Last, and for good measure, Americans shouldn’t follow the lead of Europe on anything.
Boys are different. They deserve to feel special. They need to have experiences that are uniquely their own, geared toward how they bond and how they learn.
Today’s boys live in a world where liberals are telling them that girls can be boys and that men can menstruate and even have babies. While we live in an era when a Supreme Court justice says she can’t define a woman because she’s not a biologist, there are distinct physical, developmental and psychological differences between the sexes.
Boys mature slower, both physically and emotionally. They learn differently and explore their world differently. To deny that is to deny a basic truth of our humanity. While that seems to be in vogue by the anti-science, secular left, it is dangerous social experimentation.
As a parent of two boys and a former Scout, I can tell you without hesitation that when you’re in fourth grade, not only do you not care about gender inclusivity, you don’t want to hang around with a bunch of girls. As you enter puberty and become more aware of the opposite sex, it is natural to be more comfortable spending social time with other boys.
This generation of boys has listened to an entire society over-rotate on the issue of gender equality.
They’ve been forced to hear in schools, on television and in movies that girls can achieve anything.
They’ve heard women and girls have power, agency and great capabilities, while they’ve been reduced to Homer Simpson.
Boys have listened to that while seeing men portrayed as abusive, evil and inept in popular culture. It’s not lost on young men, whether they can express it or not, that there is such a thing as toxic masculinity, but not toxic femininity.
BSA’s abandonment of its emphasis on boys is dangerously shortsighted, not only for the future of this important institution, but also for the boys it serves. Now is the worst possible time to buckle to the social agenda that is attempting to erase gender from society.
Society has focused heavily on the impact of social media on girls, including negative body image and self-esteem. Boys are also feeling increased pressure and anxiety from screen time and social media.
Suicide among boys is up 60% from 2011. Drug use, addiction, depression, and use of online pornography among teen boys are all up as well.
As the crisis of loneliness among adolescents increases, socialization becomes even more important. Trying to make the Boy Scouts all things to all kids isn’t what young men need to pull them away from smartphones, iPads and video game consoles.
More young men and boys are also not embracing the culture of service that has kept this country safe and free. The Boy Scouts traces its roots to the military and the hands-on skills and discipline has prepared young men for service for generations.
The discriminatory environment created by diversity, equity and inclusion programs cut against young White men in particular. It’s a prime reason military recruitment is down. As of 2017, 1 in 5 members of the nation’s elite military academy classes were Boy Scouts.
BSA CEO Roger Krone, who took over last year, is a former executive at the defense contractor Leidos. His political giving suggests he personally leans left, though it’s unclear whether his political views affected this radical decision.
After years of scandal and buckling to pressure from the LGBTQ movement, BSA has doubled down on a failed strategy. Now, to allegedly be inclusive of gender-dysphoric kids and girls, they will strip away a core aspect of what has made the organization successful for more than a century.
Canceling gender in the name of inclusion has become a perverse pastime. Certainly girls have not been immune. They’ve been marginalized or canceled by the left when it comes to privacy and sports.
If this move proves fatal to Scouting, it will be yet another admired American institution that has been destroyed by a small minority of activists who couldn’t care less about the urgent need to mold boys into strong men prepared to protect American freedom.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax TV and is a Washington Times columnist.
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