It crossed my mind last night as I lay in bed, that this could only happen BECAUSE people are willfully insisting that people are something they aren’t.
I mean, if you had decided, as a group serving girls, to introduce men as leaders, you’d do it with enormous caution. You’d create new rules to ensure that those men were very carefully checked, even if you didn’t make it obvious you were doing so. You’d be aware that what you were doing was potentially contentious, and you’d make sure when you did start the introduction, that any men you introduced were squeaky clean. You’d probably do extra checks on their social media, because you’d want the whole thing to go without a hitch.
Only here they’re presumably intent on treating this person “like any other woman”. It goes without saying that you can’t do any extra checks, because that would be an insult and you’d be transphobic for even thinking such a thing.
When you are living in denial of what you’re doing, it’s then that you’re really going to make some spectacular cock-ups. And this looks like one.
The bigger problem is if they had kept their social media private, it would be the same person but no one would be any the wiser.
It really is Boulshired. But part of the reason we’re where we are, and part of the reason the wheels are coming off, is because any decent man, however he identified, would pause for a moment before rushing in to a girl’s organisation. I mean why would anyone male choose a girl’s organisation when there is a perfectly good mixed-sex organisation where you could volunteer to work with children? That in itself is a huge red flag, that girlguiding have tossed aside because they are so keen to show their open-mindedness.
I can just about understand someone transitioning from male to female wanting to join (for example) the WI. If you want to spend time with women, then joining a women’s organisation is a way to do that. And you could reason to yourself that these were adult women who could look after themselves.
But why would any man specifically want to join the guides? If it’s for validation (somewhere you weren’t welcome before might be a temptation) then that’s all about the person and nothing to do with wanting to help girls, which is surely the normal reason for women to volunteer. And the only other reason I can think of is wanting to be close to young girls. Which is something that would be a red flag in any male.
I think those at the top of girlguiding must be so busy being kind and feeling virtuous, that they haven’t thought at all about the other person in the equation and what is motivating them. Because the moment you do that, the pitfalls are so obvious that only an idiot (or worse) would go there.