Woodcraft folk

[Kit19]

Anyone sending their children to this lot might want to have a read

woodcraft.org.uk/trans-inclusion

Thread - dr Em is on the case

twitter.com/djandyhealey/status/1275387597167177728?s=21

They used the Gender Unicorn!!!!

Not envy.

Oh god that is shocking. Why are they even getting involved in this gender nonsense?

I’m glad my husband is no longer a cub leader. I can just imagine the sort of gender woo he’d have been expected to sign up to

Gosh thanks for posting this OP as we had favoured woodcraft folk over cub scouts for DS aged 7 and had been looking into this just before lockdown. How worrying, will steer well clear I think but it does seem such a shame.

I have never heard of this association outside of Mumsnet! I assume it’s a rich middle class Home Counties kind of thing?

Erm no, it's a long-established, geographically widespread, atheist, humanist, nature-loving thing.

I obviously live under a rock.

It is middle class though. Hippy version of guiding/scouts. Parents are the leaders though so they take it in turns to run the sessions.

Ah okay. So it is a middle class thing then? That makes a bit more sense.

While it is widespread, I only know about it because a friend went when we were children (not in the home counties). But I've never known anyone go to those junior military things - air and sea cadets (is there an army one?) and didn't know as a child that they existed. So I suspect that's a narrow social bubble thing really.

I suppose WF are middle class but the point is that, unlike cubs and Brownies, they're not religiously-affiliated (I know that's softened), or pseudo-militaristic in origin. I imagine there might be some nature-based woo but it would be hard to have more than the Brownies, with their sprites, pixies, owls, magic ponds and mushrooms. Not a big step from there to magic unicorns really.

It's definitely not only middle class in my experience.

I'd love to hear from any other parents whose kids go to Woodcraft? I chose it especially because I thought my kid could do with an environment different to their school, which has very rigid gender stereotypes.

I'm really pissed off that what should have been a safe space is now another threat, simply because my child doesn't conform to stereotypes.

I have never heard of this association outside of Mumsnet! I assume it’s a rich middle class Home Counties kind of thing

Do you have children? Woodcraft folk have clubs all over the country and in every town and city, and have been around for many decades. They were always an alternative to Brownies/guides/scouts etc

Ah okay. So it is a middle class thing then? That makes a bit more sense

In what way does it make sense? I'm not sure what you think 'middle class' is, or means? Middle class seems a very much over-used phrase in recent decades, and it seems to mean different things to different people.

My brother went to woodcraft folk when he was a kid. I'm sure it was mixed sex anyway. So why would "trans inclusion" even be an issue?

I see there are guidelines on including trans adult leaders. THAT is where the problem here lies. If some adult needs to make a song and dance about their gender as a kids activity group leader, that's surely sign they're in the wrong place.

But I've never known anyone go to those junior military things - air and sea cadets (is there an army one?) and didn't know as a child that they existed. So I suspect that's a narrow social bubble thing really

My son was in the army cadets ( he's an adult now, though) His school ran a branch. I'm in Liverpool, and I see quite a number of children in both army and navy cadets.

They're certainly not in every town round here. I'm in West Sussex and there's one in the whole county! Far too far from me for my kids to attend. The nearest one is actually in Surrey. There seem to be lots in Brighton though.

It was something I looked into when mine were younger, but as I said, not local enough. Mine all went to scouts instead.

I used to take DS to woodies and they don't separate the sexes on camp anyway so I don't see why they need to do this other than virtue signalling.
At the last camp we went to the oldest group ran the camp and their theme was inspirational young people. They had laminated photos of young people tied to trees etc around the camp with a blurb about them - Malala Yousefzai was one, but I was stunned that out of about 10 YP 2 of them were trans (jazz Jennings and that marvel superhero actor) and obviously both males. Proper organisational capture/virtue signalling spiral.

I went to WF occasionally as a child. Not middle class. Although it might have drifted more that way - it's been around a long time but perhaps much less well known than Brownies, cadets, etc.
It's mixed sex anyway so trans inclusion is going to be less problematic than a single sex club.

I'm not sure middle class is even right. Just alternative/hippy really.

Middle class people I knew went horse riding, violin lessons and tennis lessons, that kind of thing. Maybe brownies when younger. The only people who I have met who have been to woodcraft were dirt poor vegans

Army, sea and air cadets seemed to be quite working class though or kids who's family had a military background

I went to a group as a teenager circa 1998-2000;it was at the time a very middle class thing.I Unfortunately was bullied mercilessly by some of the kids in the group because I lived in a council house on a council estate.Some of the parents of these kids complained because I was admitted to the group because I wasn't from their area (quite an affluent area).

I also got deemed a slag because of my background and yet most of the bitches in the group that deemed me that had literally snogged&been groped by most of the boys in the group.