Girlguiding UK's cognitive dissonance on IWD

[JessicaLangoustine]

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

Ah I remember the gobsmacking response from GG at the time.
The question was, what about girls whose family beliefs means they can't be in a mixed sex org, and so admitting males is a prob. GG response, and I was really surprised, as it was so straightforward, was the girls should look elsewhere.

There were threads on it at the time if anyone wants to search.

The other thing that is a problem is that GG are allowed to be a single sex org, as a charity, and exclude males, due to their aims etc. It is a specific exemption. They have no grounds to admit some male children but not others, and some female children but not others. And yet, they are doing this.

The problem with all these rules and laws is that if no one is able to/ willing to/ can afford to challenge them then they are meaningless. Like how the employment equality laws don't magically stop pregnant women being discriminated against etc

Jessica
I totally get what you are saying.
But, I think the principle of accepting there are conflicts is a really important start point and one which has been denied so far.
There were no actual issues re trans to discuss as presumably there were no trans children in any of the units present. I think it's a totally translatable principle though.

Beamer - I would be surprised if there are no transgirls or transboys in any units.
I don't know if any in the groups around here but I'm only a lowly leader so wouldn't be aware. However a local scout group has a transgirl and I know they went on the residential. The scouts are mixed sex so that's same issues do not apply plus I know the sleeping arrangements was dealt with sensibly and sensitively to all the group. The girl guides basically states that they wouldn't inform the other parents at all so they could theoretically be sending off their daughters to camp thinking only girls would be present when that isn't true.
I should clarify that most guide leaders have far more common sense than GGUK management seem to have so not actually that worried in reality.

I said I didn't think that there were any in the units represented at that training event. I'm not sure sure how many trans kids there are in GG overall, but actually I would be surprised if it were very many. If you asked me how many gender diverse girls are in GG then I'd say quite a few.

Ah, I misinterpreted your post.
Lots of gender diverse girls who don't fit into the stereotype obviously as there always has been. I was one myself back as a brownie back in the 70's.

I should clarify that most guide leaders have far more common sense than GGUK management seem to have so not actually that worried in reality.

Scouts were sued 2 or 3 years ago for allegedly excluding an autistic child. I have no doubt whatsoever that Mermaids and their acolytes would be all over any incident where a trans girl was seen to be excluded. They would have no scruples about putting unpaid volunteers through the mill via the courts. The Scouts completely shafted the Scout leaders in the above mentioned case. The Guides have completely shafted Katie Alcock and Helen Watts and shown their attitude to anyone showing "far more common sense than GGUK management".

Whilst Guide leaders might try to exercise their common sense in the event of an overnight trip, just how would they do this without excluding or marginalising the trans girl, or breaching the privacy rules to give the parents of anyone sharing a tent/dorm with the trans girl informed consent?