Girl Scout calls for boycott of cookies...

[Boogalou]

The UN has "anti-population goals?" I'm pretty sure if they did that, they would be out of a job eventually , , ,

Fundies believe this because the UN is for birth control and vaccinations (which means less kids die, so people have less kids). I don't actually know if that is part of what the UN days, but this is what some believe.

[Nothing2CHere]

Geez, how did I not notice that - the Brownie wings and rainbow bridges always stay with you once you get them; when I went from Junior to Cadette/Senior, my mom had to re-sew them on my vest! There wouldn't be any reason you wouldn't have any on your sash. Like all of you and this blogger, I'm detecting bullshit.

Oooh, I'm going to have to pull out my old sashes now, too, to compare! She doesn't have a Troop Crest on her sash, either. Although, in all fairness, maybe not all troops pick one?

I was in Girl Scouts until the end of 10th grade, and as someone else mentioned happened to her, I was the only one left in the troop by then. I would have had to join a new troop with girls I didn't know to continue on at that point. I was also a "late entry" to Girl Scouts. I was too shy to attend an informational meeting back when I was in kindergarten, so I didn't join Brownies until 3rd grade.

[DarkAnts]

The honest girl scounts website is full of crazy accusations. Seems like someone needs to go to the funny farm.

http://www.honestgirlscouts.com/index.html

[emmiedahl]

Some of their accusations toward the curriculum are spot-on. Girls *are* indeed encouraged to find and support a cause, to take control of their own bodies, to look at sources when evaluating information.

srsly, you have to be a real douche to see anything wrong with that curriculum. Calling the book on friendship "groupthink", wtf? Yeah, they are being asked to be good friends and consider the people around them... smh.

[Sinister Rouge]

From honestgirlscouts.com:

"Girl Scouts introduces teen Girl Scout delegates to the concept of 'sexual rights' for children without parental consent!"

"They rewrote all badge books to include radical activists and gay role models!"

"Girl Scouts Council of Greater Minneapolis and Soy Unica! Soy Latina! Conference: This conference for girls ages 9-14 saw Girl Scouts side-by-side with pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, "encouraging them to feel good about themselves and proud to be Latina."

"The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy / The National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 2011 Partner"

"FACTOID:

Did you know that radical feminist Betty Friedan, founder of NOW (National Organization for Women) and NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) was on the National Board of GSUSA for 12 years?"

Seriously? That sounds awesome! How soon can I sign my daughter up? :D

[mockingbird]

I've been lurking for maybe a month or so (I found the board when you were all discussing Frankie) but I had to de-lurk for this! I was a Girl Scout from 1st-12th grades and have my Gold Award and read about the transgender girl being allowed back into the troop when that happened. I was proud of GS for being progressive and accepting.

I had NO idea there were so many GS protest groups and offshoots. The "Keepers at Home" one sounds particularly disturbing, just from the name...

Love how she's the daughter of one of the Honest GS founders, according to the blog.

I don't know if I would put any future girls in GS, but my hang-ups have nothing to do with their social policies. My council was beyond disorganized and ruined a lot of my experiences. I also don't like how they have changed it so much. I'm all for updating the requirements and materials (especially to reflect a more accepting and inclusive attitude like Honest Girl Scouts is protesting) but when I "graduated" it was almost unrecognizable from the organization I had joined in first grade. They were on the cusp of switching away from badges, totally revamped the requirements for the awards to include their new programs (which they have done again and I want to say that was only about 5 years after mine), basically got rid of uniforms besides the vests/sashes, and had added another "level". I think there is something to be said for tradition and consistency, too. I had looked forward to some things for years and it was sad to see it change so much. But, these are mainly my own issues, especially the experiences with my council (just left a bad taste in my mouth). I loved our troop and the activities I did with them. I still buy cookies from individual girls. They taste good and some of the money goes back to the individual troops.

[notmystyle]

Oooh, I'm going to have to pull out my old sashes now, too, to compare! She doesn't have a Troop Crest on her sash, either. Although, in all fairness, maybe not all troops pick one?

I was in Girl Scouts until the end of 10th grade, and as someone else mentioned happened to her, I was the only one left in the troop by then. I would have had to join a new troop with girls I didn't know to continue on at that point. I was also a "late entry" to Girl Scouts. I was too shy to attend an informational meeting back when I was in kindergarten, so I didn't join Brownies until 3rd grade.

To be fair, there were a few times in my Girl Scouts experience where I never received the appropriate transitional patch... and a few more times when I simply neglected to sew the previous ones on. Also, none of the troops I was a part of ever had a troop crest. (I guess we were just lazy!) So that doesn't bother me much. HOWEVER! You'd think that somebody with a Bronze Award would be wearing a numeral guard - or at the very least, some badges!

[DarkAnts]

Apparently the girl in the video is the daughter of the people behind the honest girl scouts website

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/unmasked-anti-lgbt-group-behind-girl-scout-cookie-boycott/politics/2012/01/12/33104

The parents are hiding behind their 14 year old. I would be be surprised if they wrote the speech for her.

[JesusFightClub]

I was a girl guide and a girl scout for the few years I lived in America. I got really into it in the US because the camps were better. And I sold the most cookies of anyone in my troop! It's all the same organisation. For some reason the UK & Aussie guides do a lot more traditional handicraft / art stuff and there is more emphasis on 'domestic skills' they now call 'life skills'. Girls who hate art in Australia usually join the boy scouts, which is just the outdoors part. Both guides and scouts were really welcoming; the god/ queen part are optional for kids who don't want to say it. At the Brownie level I suspect it might have been a case of a lazy leader making all the little kids say the same pledge.

Those thin mints are an abomination though, they're only redeemed by the samoas or whatever the godly coconut/ caramel choc ones are.

What are these biscuits like? I am now desperate to know. And if one freezes one, does one reheat it?

That's so interesting about the cultural differences. I remember in Brownies it was all knitting, sewing etc. Guides was a bit more adventurous but we still had cooking and the like. "Looking after children" which you got for babysitting, basically.

[Rowan]

Does anyone know if Samoas (Partner's fave) freeze as well as Thin mints? Are there any that don't freeze well?

They all freeze well in my experience. Have 1/3 of a box of Samoas to finish tonight actually (need to clean out the freezer from last year's to make room for this year's!

[BlackHawk]

What are these biscuits like? I am now desperate to know. And if one freezes one, does one reheat it?

That's so interesting about the cultural differences. I remember in Brownies it was all knitting, sewing etc. Guides was a bit more adventurous but we still had cooking and the like. "Looking after children" which you got for babysitting, basically.

Oh JFC.. they are amazing. It's hard to explain.. but take a normal cookie and make it amazing.. thus a GS cookie. Not sure why they are so good, but they are.

I've never had samoas (or caramel delights in some parts of the world) because of the coconut... but the thin mints are a chocolate mint cookie with an outer layer of Milk chocolate on it. No, you do no reheat them, as they'd melt, but eating them cold is better, imo, than eating them at room temp.

[emmiedahl]

[

What are these biscuits like? I am now desperate to know. And if one freezes one, does one reheat it?

That's so interesting about the cultural differences. I remember in Brownies it was all knitting, sewing etc. Guides was a bit more adventurous but we still had cooking and the like. "Looking after children" which you got for babysitting, basically.

There are a lot of different kinds. There is a lot of good information on flavors and the history here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scout_cookie. The thin mints are a thin mint chocolate wafer covered with dark chocolate. They are my favorites and the most popular flavor. The shortbread are basically just shortbread, baked in the shape of the Girl Scout logo. These are nice with tea or coffee and freeze well; we once found some in the back of the freezer that had been there for years. We ate them anyway and they were delicious! The other favorites in my house are Samoas, which are caramel and toasted coconut with chocolate stripes on them.

I don't reheat them, I just let them thaw on the countertop. It is hard to buy enough to freeze, though. They are quite tasty and a bit expensive, so I usually buy ten boxes during cookie sale season and they disappear within days.

One of my beefs with Girl Scouts: the Boy Scouts make it really easy for people to buy popcorn (their equivalent to GS cookies) from a website and credit it to the scout. So if grandparents in another state want to support their grandchild's efforts, they can buy the popcorn and have it delivered. The Girl Scouts have no such program, so out-of-state people cannot buy from them unless the Girl Scout parent wants to pay out of pocket for shipping. They told me that they want the girls doing all the selling, to learn business skills, but I wish they would get with the 21st century already.

[Renting with Raggles]

That's so interesting about the cultural differences. I remember in Brownies it was all knitting, sewing etc. Guides was a bit more adventurous but we still had cooking and the like. "Looking after children" which you got for babysitting, basically.

This has to do with the history of Scouts/Guides - they began in the early 20th century when people were worried about "traditional crafts" -the knitting, sewing, metalwork, woodwork - dying out. If you read Baden-Powell's original book, Scouting for Boys ( :lol: ) there's a great deal of the masculine arty stuff, and he even thought that boys should be able to sew well enough to make simple costumes for their dramatic productions.

The real divide between the activities for boys and girls in the UK / Empire was caused by the first and second World Wars: scouts were thought to need skills for soldiering, guides for the homefront. I don't know why they didn't continue to evolve like the GSUSA did.

[SamuraiKatz]

Oh JFC.. they are amazing. It's hard to explain.. but take a normal cookie and make it amazing.. thus a GS cookie. Not sure why they are so good, but they are.

I've never had samoas (or caramel delights in some parts of the world) because of the coconut... but the thin mints are a chocolate mint cookie with an outer layer of Milk chocolate on it. No, you do no reheat them, as they'd melt, but eating them cold is better, imo, than eating them at room temp.

The best way to eat a Thin Mint is to let them sit in the freezer for at least a couple of hours. Intensifies the mint flavor...YUM!

I will be buying lots of cookies this year to counteract the boycott.

[hathorlive]

Oh I have to jump into this one.

I was a Brownie and a GS for several years. I'm a bit of a joiner who is disaffected, so I join but I mock. I did the same thing with my college sorority. Aside from having my top seller cookie badge revoked, I have no beef with the GS. They are adaptive and welcoming to different views. There are Muslims groups that have adapted the GS experience to work with their lifestyle. And they have constantly avoided the gay issue by saying they are a scouting group that empowers girls. Which is refreshing if you've read the Cub Scout manual. I work for law enforcement related to child exploitation and see things would shock people. This manual CREEPED me out. It should have been renamed "how to tell if your scout leader is a raving pedo".

When I lived in Chicago, Oak Park (an affluent suburb that has an anti gay discrimination clause in the town by laws) kicked the BS out of the town citing that they couldn't use public buildings when they discriminate based on sexuality. The interesting aspect was that many townspeople, who are of non-white backgrounds, equated the BS's discrimination against gays with that of segregation laws. They were torn about having fought for civil rights and yet letting their kids join a group that discriminates. And that really made me think about what the BS are teaching kids. Hatred, segregation, discrimination... As I told my nephew when he joined Cub Scouts, the Hitler Youth was popular with kids too. But that doesn't make it right.

You take stands in life. I don't see a difference between telling people that you can't join because you are gay and putting a yellow star on someone. It's creating distance and calling another group less than. That makes it easier to dehumanize them. This group teaches kids that it's okay to hate and discriminate.

And this is the speech I give all the little CS and BS who stand outside of Krogers and ask for money. And when the parents get irate, I tell them to stop bothering me in public if they don't want me telling their kids the truth. I know...I'm evil.

BTW, I had my cookie badge revoked because as a good little entrepreneur, I figured that the best place to sell cookies was a place where money was. And in my poor Appalachian county, that was outside of the Welfare office. I would basically roll the drunks when they got their checks cashed and then sell them cases of cookies. Oh well, it was great to be number one until complaints were made.

[ChickeyMonkey]

What are these biscuits like? I am now desperate to know. And if one freezes one, does one reheat it?

That's so interesting about the cultural differences. I remember in Brownies it was all knitting, sewing etc. Guides was a bit more adventurous but we still had cooking and the like. "Looking after children" which you got for babysitting, basically.

You know what? I was going to offer to send you some, but you can buy them off Amazon.com! I swear, you can get *anything* on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Scouts-Thin-Mints-Cookies-28ct/dp/B004SJ8IUI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326530718&sr=8-1

I don't know if it's the same for the UK version of the website, but if it is, you might want to get some. The price ($4) is what you'd pay if you bought them directly from a scout.

[nutella addict]

Well it's a jolly good thing so many of my students are selling them right now, and I have to buy one box from everybody so as to be fair...

I was a girl scout from 3rd to 12th grade, changed troops in time for middle school when my first disbanded. My second troop camped, skiied, went whitewater rafting, went to the beach, travelled to London and Paris (we sold a LOT of cookies and went to see the girl scout lodge in London - but we stayed in the Boy Scout one hahaha) did as many outdoorsy things as we could, and were often taught feminist songs. One, to the tune of "She'll be comin' round the mountain" went a bit like this: "Can a woman fly an airplane? Yes she can, yes she can! Can a woman drive a tractor? Yes she can, yes she can! Can a woman..." etc., alluding to all traditional male jobs in the realms of labor or science or business (and similar male-dominated fields), that the people who wrote the lyrics could possible think of. It took about an hour to get through if you sang all the verses. This one was taught to us at the Girl Scout science day thing at a local DuPont plant, where we got to do sciencey things all day long. In high school. We got to miss school for days at local businesses where they supported women employees, to see what women in the workforce can do nowadays, or something like that.

I got both Silver and Gold awards too, and had a fantastic time. Super program here, anyway, although I hear I had one of the best leaders in my council. I loved comparing camping tales with my BS friends, although as GS we were slightly more sensible about what kind of weather we'd go camping in, and did not come back with frostbite just to get a badge...

One of my friends is from Vancouver, though, and tried Girl Guides for a while but they seemed to think she was the spawn of Satan for once pretending to be a vampire when a scab bled by smearing a tiny bit of blood on her neck, and she left, not sure if she was asked to or not. She claims it was super Christian and homemaker-y and that she wasn't accepted because she wasn't raised Christian. Could've just been her troop though. Or her area.

[JesusFightClub]

Wow! Thanks guys and many thanks ChickeyMonkey for the link! They look like Viscount biscuits from the UK, which I dearly loved (the only kind of biscuits I would ever eat). If someone came here selling those, I would buy them in a heartbeat.

Is it not a wee bit dangerous for GS to sell them door to door though? Do they have supervision?

[m0drnmoonlight]

Oooh, I'm going to have to pull out my old sashes now, too, to compare! She doesn't have a Troop Crest on her sash, either. Although, in all fairness, maybe not all troops pick one?

I was in Girl Scouts until the end of 10th grade, and as someone else mentioned happened to her, I was the only one left in the troop by then. I would have had to join a new troop with girls I didn't know to continue on at that point. I was also a "late entry" to Girl Scouts. I was too shy to attend an informational meeting back when I was in kindergarten, so I didn't join Brownies until 3rd grade.

It looks like her troop number/name is covered with duct tape. As for a crest, I don't think those are mandatory, right? My troop never had one because we couldn't agree on a design XD

[mockingbird]

JesusFightClub, I think they added some rules recently about supervision. I used to sell them door-to-door (just to the neighbors we knew) but I think they have gotten stricter about that. Not sure because it happened when I was in high school and by that time I wasn't that into selling cookies.

I got both Silver and Gold awards too, and had a fantastic time. Super program here, anyway, although I hear I had one of the best leaders in my council. I loved comparing camping tales with my BS friends, although as GS we were slightly more sensible about what kind of weather we'd go camping in, and did not come back with frostbite just to get a badge...

Every time we went camping it rained. I think there was one year where it didn't. Not just drizzling, but pouring so you couldn't even walk outside without getting covered in mud/drenched.

I liked the flexibility GS had. Our troop wasn't that into the outdoors and "roughing it". We only camped in cabins that had toilets, LOL. We also did a lot of crafts and cooking and had a makeup consultant come in but these fit the badges we were interested in and voted for. Another time a bunch of girls wanted to do the high ropes course so we did that, too. The other troops in the area had different interests/priorities based on the members. For us, individual troops didn't usually go on international or "high adventure" trips, but the girls who were interested in them formed a group that planned these trips for the region. I also liked the non-troop activities like one girl from my troop who was interested in business was a girl representative on the council's Board of Directors, I went on a national trip to Philadelphia, there were religious medals if you wanted to get them but GS didn't endorse any set of beliefs, etc.

I like to think I had one of the best leaders in the area but my leader was my mom, so... biased :dance: I still run into people from my troop occasionally and everyone seems to have pretty fond memories of GS.

I don't discuss my camping trips with Boy Scouts because I just get made fun of, haha. Even when I worked as a camp counselor for GS, I worked at the newest campground and the only campsite without electricity was the platform tents for the horse camp girls. Since I wasn't horse trained, I never slept there (which was good because they had a serious mosquito infestation). I spent one night in a tent about ten feet from the activity center but then we had some bad thunderstorms and we decided they would sleep inside for the rest of the week. 8-)

[DarkAnts]

Wow! Thanks guys and many thanks ChickeyMonkey for the link! They look like Viscount biscuits from the UK, which I dearly loved (the only kind of biscuits I would ever eat). If someone came here selling those, I would buy them in a heartbeat.

Is it not a wee bit dangerous for GS to sell them door to door though? Do they have supervision?

The girls are not allowed to go door to door by themselves. They are told that a parent or older sibling needs to go with them. Many girls simply sell the cookies to members of their church. Others have their parents take the order form to work. Some of the troops are starting to do away with door to door selling. Instead, they sell them in front of shops.

[m0drnmoonlight]

Wow! Thanks guys and many thanks ChickeyMonkey for the link! They look like Viscount biscuits from the UK, which I dearly loved (the only kind of biscuits I would ever eat). If someone came here selling those, I would buy them in a heartbeat.

Is it not a wee bit dangerous for GS to sell them door to door though? Do they have supervision?

We NEVER sold door-to-door. Well, I personally didn't, because I was so shy. But those who did always had an adult go with them. Too much horror stories out there.

The real moneymaker is setting up shop at a student union at the local college! I did that when I was younger, then when I was in college, I bought boxes from the troops that would show up at ours! We also tried outside the supermarket and asking teachers and fellow students at school. Though with fellow students, it usually ended with us chasing them down because they forgot to pay heh.

My troop was pretty close-knit, but we had one wet blanket who would always get super moody and offended if she didn't get her way. As a result, camping trips almost always included at least one fight, involving her with at least one other girl. I was Switzerland and always managed to stay out of it. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I didn't really care for camping!

Also - I read that this year the Girl Scouts will start accepting credit cards for payment, so that could make it easier for out-of-town relatives to buy!

Edited for content.

[desertvixen]

I also don't like how they have changed it so much. I'm all for updating the requirements and materials (especially to reflect a more accepting and inclusive attitude like Honest Girl Scouts is protesting) but when I "graduated" it was almost unrecognizable from the organization I had joined in first grade. They were on the cusp of switching away from badges, totally revamped the requirements for the awards to include their new programs (which they have done again and I want to say that was only about 5 years after mine), basically got rid of uniforms besides the vests/sashes, and had added another "level". I think there is something to be said for tradition and consistency, too. I had looked forward to some things for years and it was sad to see it change so much. But, these are mainly my own issues, especially the experiences with my council (just left a bad taste in my mouth). I loved our troop and the activities I did with them. I still buy cookies from individual girls. They taste good and some of the money goes back to the individual troops.

I'm kind of feeling this now - my daughter is a Daisy, and she likes it but our leadership is very disorganized. (We'll see in Colorado how things go.) Like I paid for dues to cover until we leave in March ($16 bucks) and the troop leader seemed annoyed that I wanted change from a $20.

Also, the low-uniform thing makes me a little sad, especially since when we were older scouts we still enjoyed wearing our uniforms. I could see streamlining uniform stuff, but making it go away almost entirely is off-putting.

Re: Online Selling - as near as I can tell, it's totally cool for me to post a picture of my daughter with a sign that says "Ask Me About Girl Scout Cookies" on FB, but people have to mail me checks.

[m0drnmoonlight]

I'm kind of feeling this now - my daughter is a Daisy, and she likes it but our leadership is very disorganized. (We'll see in Colorado how things go.) Like I paid for dues to cover until we leave in March ($16 bucks) and the troop leader seemed annoyed that I wanted change from a $20.

Also, the low-uniform thing makes me a little sad, especially since when we were older scouts we still enjoyed wearing our uniforms. I could see streamlining uniform stuff, but making it go away almost entirely is off-putting.

Re: Online Selling - as near as I can tell, it's totally cool for me to post a picture of my daughter with a sign that says "Ask Me About Girl Scout Cookies" on FB, but people have to mail me checks.

Towards the end of my time in Girl Scouts is when they really overhauled the uniforms. I think the explanation was girls thought they looked too dorky, so they tried making them more fashionable. Ok, so the culottes my mom got for my cadette/senior uniform were pretty bad, but my god. I remember them changing the colors to khaki also from blue. I agree, there's nothing to be ashamed of when wearing your uniform! I wore my Brownie one to school on meeting days and I never got picked on or anything.

A year after I became a Brownie, they redid the uniforms almost completely. So the brown jumper and knee socks with the silly orange flashers on them had to go! I looked on the website, and it looks like the Brownie uniform hasn't changed much from when they switched that (the blue shirt and brown skirt) and that was 1994.

[samithemage]

I loved Girl Scouts! I did it from 3rd-12th grade. I got my silver and gold award and did a Wider Op. In 10th grade, my troop did a two week trip up the East Coast (we were from Arkansas). It was an amazing experience, and I wouldn't have traded any of it. I learned a lot of useful outdoor skills, and a few years ago, manage to greatly impress an 11 year old boy whose family I was nannying for, with my ability to set up a tent (he wanted to "camp" in the backyard, and said he could set up the tent without help, after about 15 minutes, he had to come and ask me what to do :) ). As I've gotten older, I've greatly appreciated how non discriminatory girl scouts was. People's backgrounds never seemed to matter to anyone, the adults or the girls. It was a very accepting place for me. I'll definitely buy extra cookies this year.