9 July 2008
GL Magazine. Kinda Depressing.
Posted by admin under: Uncategorized .
Update: I seem to have been a little hasty in my review of the magazine below. Girls’ Life is not actually a Girl Scouts of the USA publication. It is a partner with Girl Scouts and features a section that links in the Studio 2B program. That makes me feel better. I’m still not thrilled by this partnership, but at least GL isn’t a Girl Scouts magazine. For the actual online site for girls that is associated with Girl Scouts, go to http://www.studio2b.org/. My original rant is below.
*Sigh* Okay, I realize that boy and girls are different. I also realize that if Girl Scouts of the USA tried to ignore what is popular with girls then the Girl Scouts would be ignored, but I can’t help being a little depressed at my first read of the Girl Scout online magazine GL. It reads almost exactly like any of the puff-piece magazines in the checkout aisle at the grocery store. You know, the stuff my wife and daughter buy all the time. It has simultaneously an anime style of illustration and articles about how to shave pubic hair on your bikini line.
I guess I’m just a little disappointed that the Girl Scouts isn’t using more judgement in what they present. Okay, the bikini shaving thing is uncomfortable, but it’s a real-world issue that might as well be handled in a delicate way. A review of Vanessa Hudgens album seems really out of place to me. Maybe the parents of Girl Scouts might not know that this star of Disney Channel’s High School Musical franchise took naked pictures of herself and sent them to a guy she liked, but I know the girls are quite familiar with it. What does it say when someone who engaged in behavior that parents don’t want for their daughters and is probably something they’re trying to shield them from by having them in Girl Scouts is then featured on the Girl Scouts’ magazine website? Aren’t there enough other singers and actresses who keep their clothes on and might benefit from the publicity of a website for an organization with millions of members?
The main topic list: Advice, Girl Talk, Entertainment, Fun Stuff, Style, Quizzes, and G-Life. Gear? Nope. Camping? Nope. In fact, a search on the website for the term “camping” yielded an article about playing in the swimming pool, another about making a scrapbook for your dad, one for workouts to keep you in shape, and a bunch of quizzes. Another search for “archery” yielded nothing. Zero. Nada.
It’s fine that Girl Scouts want to stylize their magazine to appeal to normal girls. However, they’ve styled all of the Scouting out of Girl Scouts. Is this the new direction of Girl Scouts? If it is then we’re going to have to rename the organization Girl Chicks of the USA. Even a search on leadership, the new focus of the organization, yields only 1 relevant result with 4 other results that are horoscope articles. Argh!
Thankfully, Girl Scouts of the USA is still mainly a volunteer organization with a lot of control of the program directed at the local level. While the national leadership puts up links to books about boy crushes and flavored lip gloss, we can still take our daughters out in the wild to learn an appreciation for the natural world and to learn that they are stronger and smarter than the national media portray them to be.
Excuse me while I go take an angry coffee break.
- Girl Scouts National Geographic Diversity
- GSUSA: Weekly Troop Meeting
- Girl Scout Scholarships
- WAGGGS Wants to Talk About Sex
- New Girl Scouts CyberBullying Prevention Partnership with Microsoft
One Comment so far...
Vanessa Hudgens Becomes Honorary Girl Scouts in Los Angeles | BoyandGirlScouts.com - News, Opinion, Advice Says:
10 August 2009 at 7:02 pm.
[...] previously questioned the use of Miss Hudgens as an appropriate Girl Scout role model and it seems as if some sort of karmic joke has brought to light another round of drama with some [...]
