Right, I am well aware of the fact that this could be a whole can of worms and it might be something that I regret touching with a barge pole, but it's all over Facebook, it's making me mad and I would rather put all my thoughts down into one place and it not be somewhere that I'm going to get into arguments with keyboard warriors and internet Karens because it just adds to the fact that I sometimes feel highly triggered by the notification sound on my phone which is why it spends much of it's time on silent, much to the annoyance of basically everyone around me.
One thing I want to preface this with is that I'm not claiming to be an expert in any of it, and I'm happy to be proven wrong on many aspects of that, but when I say proven, I don't mean other people being satisfied by their own argument that their right, and that they don't need to think about it any longer.
Girlguiding. It's an organisation I was part of from when I was five, in Rainbows, and I left when I was about nine or ten, because it wasn't for me. My particular groups didn't really do pack holidays - no shade, they take a lot of work, they take a lot of planning time and time being away and most Girlguiding leaders are mothers with their own families, and taking that time away just isn't a possibility for everyone - and that contrasted so much with my brother's experience of Cubs and Scouts, and I wanted to go and join that instead, because they went camping and they did adventurous things and from my perspective, I was just sitting around doing craft things and though I am a crafter now - I've always enjoyed cross stitching and knitting but had varying degrees of engagement with them over the years - I was never a fan of paper and glue kind of crafts unless it was papermache (sorry, I can't spell that) and getting dirty.
I joined Scouts into a group that had about two or three other girls, from memory, and a lot of boys, and most of them were boys from my school. And I loved it. I loved it so much. We went camping, we stayed in tents, we lit fires, went on rope swings, and we ran through Boggy Wood nearly falling over every step because it was soooo boggy (hence the name) and I just loved it. I was around nine and a half, ten ish when I joined which was why I went straight into Scouts instead of Cubs and I stayed throughout Scouts, into Explorers, though only as a young leader, and when I was finally living somewhere that I was stable - i.e. not moving every twelve months and possibly going to a whole new area - I went back as an adult volunteer and I had always intended to do that.
Now, I will admit that I knew leaders as a child that would say things like "Brownies get badges for blowing their noses" and the expected camradery between the two organisations that exists elsewhere and that you might expect from the significant shared history we have wasn't something I really saw as much, and by my own experience it was something where Girlguiding was more for girl-y girls and Scouts was for lads and "Tom-boys", but that is something different across units depending on all of the people involved. I'm including all of this because I think everyone involved in this debate/ conversation has their own personal biases and I don't want to be accused of hiding mine or trying to deny it. It's there and I know that. My view was less limited than some people's where it's Scouts is boys, Guides is girls and that is a very definite line in between. I've had this said to me recently about Scouting and our charter was changed 30-40 years ago at least to say that girls were to be allowed into every section (solely talking about the UK and TSA here as that's my experience).
I believe it was in 2017 that Girlguiding admitted their first trans female member, and this whole "controversy" has kicked off from there, and honestly, I both get and don't get why. In this time a lot of other things have changed, including reducing the age for starting Rainbows to four years old, the Supreme Court decision that has informed the current decision and many, many other things and the trans rights debate has rumbled on with very vocal and emotive arguments on both sides, and honestly, when it comes to youth organisations, it's crap.
Scouting is not immune from this. We are really lucky in some ways, because we aren't limited by our charter into being a single sex organisation and the guidance we are being given is we are open to everyone, as I believe we should be, but does that prevent issues at a local level? No, it doesn't. Does it mean leaders feel prepared when they encounter a child who is trans, or curious, or queer? No, it doesn't, and to my knowledge there are no specific and overarching policies other than that we are inclusive. As a Cub leader (eight to ten and a half year olds), I have had a couple of children in the group who wouldn't all necessarily say they identify as trans, but who are expressing that they aren't comfortable in the gender of the sex they were born into. That's the best way I can say it. For that age group, it's slightly less difficult, because there are times when camping that they're all in together, because of numbers, because of tent sizes, because of space, because of a multitude of reasons and the only thing to be managed in that is safe and private spaces for changing (which actually needs to be managed appropriately even in single sex spaces) and the reactions of the parents, and it's about that dialogue. I think the biggest difference we have there though is that parents of girls bring them into an organisation where they know there will be boys, and so they've hopped that mental harder before they start.
The two things that Girlguiding have had to contend with, in the first instance, is the language of their charter (not sure if they call it that, but the document where they set out who they are and what they do) and they specify that they are an organisation for girls, and the language of the Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 which sought to clarify the Equalities Act of 2010 in it's definition of women and girls. The clearest thing for me is that Girlguiding as an organisation has been forced into making this decision and it's a decision that doesn't sit right with everyone, but because of those documents and rulings, one of three things had to change and that was either the policy on trans girls, the constitution/ defining document or the decision by the Supreme Court. I would think it's obvious that the last one of those is going nowhere, but it's also something outside of the sphere of control of Girlguiding, so they were left with two decisions: policy or constitution. Honestly, I understand the decision to change policy at that moment, because I think changing the constitution would have been far too inflammatory at this stage, but also would have opened up way too many cans of worms.
Honestly, this new policy does not make sense, because it's saying that trans girls, who present as girls and want to be involved in girls activities etc cannot be admitted, but trans boys, who present as boys and would presumably want to be involved in a community of boys, can be admitted. Maybe I'm looking at it from a retro-normative perspective and assuming these kids are wanting to conform to the gender they identify with, but that's my view of it, and it does not make sense at all, but like I said, I don't think this decision is one that has been made willingly, so maybe the lack of sense in it makes sense in a way.
The other big thing that Girlguiding has had to contend with is the attitude of parents and volunteers and this is something which is really hard. I've written before about the divides between parents, particularly mothers, on the strangest of battle lines, but it really is a people thing and the arguments inside of Girlguidings parents and volunteers simply reflect the ideas, concerns and arguments of people in the wider trans rights debate, but in a more inflamed way because we're primarily talking about children. It's about what children are "exposed to" and who children are around. Girlguiding has specified that this ruling doesn't change things for their volunteers as these are open roles, so if we're talking about girls being "exposed to" trans people, it can and will still happen, because trans women and trans men can still volunteer (as far as I understand it).
If people's concerns are that trans women (or trans men) are volunteering in Girlguiding to be close to young girls, they really need to be more assured that Safeguarding practices and vetting processes are robust, and they are constantly being checked and developed. Safeguarding policy is something that has been questioned in Scouting as well, and it's always developing. You can question whether training keeps up with these developments fully and whether more can be done in this area, but that doesn't mean you need to exclude trans women and girls.
I've seen a good number of people questioning how children at "such a young age" can know they are trans, to which I would say they might not have the language to express it, but they do express feeling different, and they express their personalities and their feelings. The choice as to whether to put a label onto that isn't much about a label, but giving them a vocabulary that expresses what they are or may be thinking and feeling, but that doesn't mean you need to exclude trans women and girls.
Additional to that, people like to misgender to force the idea that people are either a boy or a girl, ignoring that it's something like 1% of the population are intersex and that might be expressed heavily in traditionally masculine or feminine features, body types etc, but what qualifies that person to agree or disagree on what or who a person feels that they are? There is a structure by which people can change their gender and they have to, as I understand it, satisfy professionals that they are trans and not coached or abused etc, but that is a process available to adults and not, or at least not typically, to children, so that doesn't mean you need to exclude trans women and girls, particularly when you're talking about youth sections.
Parents demonise other children, because they think a trans girl is only saying she's a trans girl to get access to their daughters, which is just gross anyway, but particularly when we're talking about the younger sections that feels more like adults sexualising children and their actions and their motives than anything else, and honestly, it suggests that things like abuse and bullying don't happen in single sex environments, which they absolutely do, and organisations like Girlguiding have policies in place to be aware of it and address it, no matter where it's coming from, so again, it doesn't mean you need to exclude trans women and trans girls. This whole thing is just further marginalising a marginalised group and removing them from positive social experiences in childhood. It shouldn't matter if a young child who initially expresses that they "want to be a girl" later realises that they were just confused and they actually just like pink, or like fashion design, or whatever it is that made them think that, because at least we haven't made a child who is potentially really struggling with something, or could be really struggling if you constantly force them to be something they feel that they aren't feel more isolated and more ignored than they would if we just accept it at face value and let that guide the decisions we make for them. Just let kids be kids, and let them have the positive interactions and social development that these youth organisations bring rather than focusing on something that shouldn't be other people's business.
I am gutted for Girlguiding having to make this decision, because I realise there will be backlash from it, and they don't deserve that, but they've been getting backlash for this policy since it came into effect, and they didn't deserve that either, and the simple fact is they're sitting in an impossible position having to deal with a problem that couldn't have been anticipated when they were created over 100 years ago and they're trying to deal with it the best way that they can. Obviously I don't agree with every decision they ever make or have made - I think the decision to sell their activity centres was a bad one - but with this one I can't say anything about other than it's disappointing but I can see where it came from.
I mentioned before that this is in part because of Girlguiding's charter or constitution or whatever it is that they call it, I'm not sure, and I want to clarify that I'm not saying that that can't be changed because it can, obviously, but the fundamentals of who we are in organisations (whether Scouting or Guiding) are in those documents and though Scouting has changed many many times over our lifespan, we've also lost factions because of those changes, so I can see why there would be significant reluctance to change in a way that could essentially tear the organisation in two. There are regular debates online about whether modern Scouting is too soft or whether leaders are expecting too much when we say that camps are a tech free weekend.
There are some who expect that they can set a menu including cuppa soups and spaghetti bolognese and kids that are hungry will eat and the picky kids will eat when they get hungry enough, even though that doesn't fit with the variety of dietary requirements we have, might not suit the religious needs of some in the group or might even go against a number of allergies, particularly because of the number of cuppa soups that have gluten in them. Some kids need to have their phone because of their Dexcoms to treat their diabetes. Society and parenting look very different now than they did in 1907 when BP did the first Scout camp that was pretty much the catalyst for who and what we are now, so there is a clear need to be able to adapt and change to things that weren't an issue then or things that no one expected to come down the line, but there are no easy answers to any of it, and I personally think it's really important that we try and stay as united as possible as organisations as we navigate those challenges, but I also realise that issues such as trans rights can make that feel really difficult because of how polarised people are on the subject.
I only decided to write this after today's blog was already published and it's the first one in a while that I've written and wanted to post on the same day, so I will, but I'm going to knock everything else back a bit, partly because it'll help me in building a buffer for days I'm exhausted and also when I do eventually end up in hospital. I'm saying that as though changing the ones currently scheduled isn't going to be a pain in the butt, but I would like this post to be the latest one for at least a little while, because I do think it's important.
No comments:
Post a Comment