GGUK's theme for IWD2020 is "Help Girls Bust Gender Stereotypes". Blog attached below.
Extract:
The idea that girls should be emotional and caring, with a love of all things sparkly, while boys are more active and practical, creates cartoon-like versions of what it means to be a girl or a boy.
This sounds pretty harmless, but for a girl who wants to play football, or a boy who hates team sports, it makes them feel they can’t express who they really are. Gender stereotypes try to put limits on what you can do and who you can be.
Are they fucking kidding? They have told us that girls who display "masculine" interests need to be managed out of Guiding. They have told us that we have to accept boys who think they are girls (presumably because they like pink and sparkly things), let these boys share tents, showers and toilets with girls and not tell parents that this is happening. They have told us to accept these "cartoon girls" or be thrown out of Guiding.
The cognitive dissonance blows my mind.
GGUK IWD2020