We need to transition to a troop is a troop

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

1 hour ago, Wyobkr said:

Why the big change?  The answer was 42 reported youth on youth sexual assaults on NYLT courses. 

Welp, that's a problem, and it's got nothing to do with sexual mores. I would argue that liability is a secondary problem, because scouts assaulting other scouts is a direct harm problem as well as a strong indication that we still seriously struggle with upholding the scout law.

Gender separation can help, but if we have a rape and/or other assault problem then that's not a fundamental fix. Obviously, crimes need to be prosecuted and perpetrators need to also be thrown out of scouting. We obviously also aren't doing enough to make it clear that rape, other sexual assault, and sexual harrassment is wrong because it hurts people, not just in policy but socially as a model community. And we need to work towards getting that "dark number" of unreported assaults to zero by creating an environment in which scouts have confidence in that they will be heard, protected, and supported if they report.

I know all that is a steep order, perhaps even sisiphyean when it comes to the dark number. But if we scouts don't do the right thing because it's hard... What does that mean? Who are we, then?

[johnsch322]

4 hours ago, skeptic said:

IMHO it is our screwed up legal system that allows lawyers to cause issues where there are none, or they are minor.  Far too many ridiculous monetary payouts for things that are mostly part of the larger human race.  The issue we face(d) likely would never have even gone to court in much of the world, and our media just makes it worse by their skewed focus on sensationalism.  

 

The issues that BSA faced were caused by cover ups, secret files and the want to keep everything that was happening covered up to not damage BSA when fundraising. It was not caused by lawyers representing claimants. 

So you are saying that Child Sexual Abuse is just part of the larger human and race and compensating victims/survivors for the hell that they went thru and live with is ridiculous? So, if the average payout to a BSA survivor of CSA ends up at $30,000 each that is a ridiculous amount?

You are correct about most of the rest of the world such as India where there are gang rapes of women and children and if you are a perpetrator you might have to spend a night in jail or the Middle East where a man raping a boy is basically ignored. Or how about Iran where women are jailed and then raped.

My question to you is did you learn nothing over the course of the last 3 years? If you have not, then you should really reflect.

[Liz]

On 5/3/2023 at 3:20 PM, qwazse said:

@AwakeEnergyScouter, you and your dad were in an organization that did not face staggering litigation for damages when someone from gender A assaulted someone from gender B.

 

Neither are we. For the most part, BSA's litigation has been damages from when an adult from gender A assaulted a child from gender A. 

Mixed-gender or single-gender units don't have much bearing on that. 

In my many years in Scouting, twice I've been in units where there's been a youth-on-youth sexual assault at a Scouting event. In neither case did it involve mixed-gender units, or even "linked troops." In one case the offending youth was kicked out of the event, the unit, and the program immediately. In the other case, well, since it's ongoing I can't comment on it here, but let's just say it hasn't been handled expediently and may not get handled at all.