Is this an inappropriate skit?

[rdclements]

I get that you're considering the sexual implication there. It's dependent on the audience and participants. Sometimes when something is too edgy for your comfort level, it's your little voice trying to tell you something. Are there other reasons to divert the skit? A youth pastor friend didn't like skits that used wasted food because there is too much hunger around us. Aerosol creams can stain your clothes; scout uniforms are expensive.

 

I agree with the comment about Shreck humor - some of the guys won't get it.

 

Do the guys doing the skit get the sexual humor? They might not.

Years ago, some radio stations wouldn't play ZZTop because of 'Velcro Fly' and 'Pearl Necklace.'

 

A couple of years ago, the high school cheerleaders were doing a routine to Crank Dat Soldjaboy. I doubt very many of those girls (or parents in the audience) know what 'superman dat ho' really means.

 

(This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[CalicoPenn]

Well I suppose one could get offended at the waste of prefectly good food - but then again, we are talking redi-whip here, so it might be a bigger offense to call that food.

 

Sorry - couldn't help myself.

 

I think this is where I would draw the line - if you think you might get angry calls from parents when their son comes home and repeats the skit they did? Then you probably shouldn't let it be done.

 

 

[Scoutfish]

Funny thing about parents getting offended: I know some who get offended by boys who do not wear shirts while participating in swimming activities!

 

Some parents could care less if all the kids were naked because they do not see any sexual overtones in the human body...just a body.

 

My mom....NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is tabboo with her.In her eyes, it's all scientific or clinical. Might want to mention..if you don't want somebody to know...DO NOT tell her anything!

 

So a secondary issue here is what standards do you use for :

 

"When in doubt, toss it out!" Suppose I have NO doubt at all?

 

 

Then you have the mom( or dad) who thinks it's disgracefull for women to wear pants.

[BDPT00]

DeanRx writes (and I don't see people disagreeing):

"Sorry, but anyone finding offense to the skit as portrayed by the OP would likey find something to **** about with ANY skit or song done. The guideline should be what MOST of the audience would find acceptable or offensive. The guideline should NEVER be, "Well, we shouldn't probably do this or that because it might offend one or two people...". That's PC run amok."

 

And who would these one or two people be? Someone who's deaf? Blind? Old? Fat? Short? How about female? Maybe Polish? Blond? How about a Webelos or Cub? Girl Scouts? Muslims? How about a Chinese or maybe Mexican accent? I don't know. I'm just curious whom you think it's OK to ignore in your audience. Don't worry, if there's only 2 or 3 women there, and the vast majority of the audience is male, I guess picking on women would be OK (as long as it's not some sexual thing, of course). Right? Or did I read this wrong? I'd just like an example of when it would be OK to offend someone in the audience (in the name of "it's all in good fun"). Boys will be boys, ya know.

Share an example or two, please.

BDPT00

[DeanRx]

BDPT-

 

First, I'd like to thank you for taking a couple of sentences of my entire post and using them completely out of context... great job, you must be a jouralist type.

 

Did you NOT see the part of the post that stated, "Unless it is sexual in nature, racist, prejudiced, or blatantly unpatriotic - I say leave it alone". Easier to back-handedly call the poster a racist, bigot than have to disagree and argue your position on merit, isn't it?

 

What my post said, and most REASONABLE people probably read, was that you should not go around tip-toeing on egg shells for fear of offending one or two people (those folks being the type that make it their life's work to find something to be offended at).

 

The skit as described by the OP cannot be taken as offensive UNLESS you view it through the tainted eyes / judgement of a sexual inuendo. Just WHO is putting the sexual twist on the content? Not the boys, its the person who is offended.

 

If I had a parent approach me after such a skit, I would fien ingorance to them, suggest that it is what it is and that there is no intentional sexual nature to it. I'd probably go so far as to question THEIR perspective for viewing / projecting something sexual or perverse onto a non-sexual situation.... then I'd walk away and let them stew.

 

Bottom line - you are NOT going to ever NOT offend someone, so stop trying. Let the MAJORITY be your guide for good taste / bad taste, and let the others squack amongst themselves. Our jobs as leaders is to deliver exciting, entertaining, and educational PROGRAM to the youth. Not spend an inordinate amount of time hand-wringing about what ONE or TWO parents might think is outside their bounds of good taste.

 

How about this be your guide - if its too offensive you'll know, because parents will (the majority of parents, not one or two) will let you know. If the majority see no problem with the content, then don't waste your volunteer hours worrying about it.

[BDPT00]

I think our positions are quite clear, and we're 180 degrees from each other. That's fine. I choose to not offend people (has something to do with being friendly, courteous, and kind). Even then, it still happens on occasion. When it does, I do what I can to make it right. I guess it comes down to a matter of caring. I care.

BDPT00

[DeanRx]

OK - so now I'm a racist, bigot who doesn't care?

 

I doubt it. I've been called a LOT of things in life and accused of some things. Being racist, a bigot, or insensitive is not one of them. To claim you care and I do not, well its just untrue. Don't state that was not your intent, because your statement of, "I care" implies that those who do not agree with you must not care.

 

I don't make those types of claims against you, so I'm not sure why you feel the need to make them against me. I can agree to disagree. I understand you might want to err on the side of caution with regards to a skit - thats fine. Its your perogative.

 

Myself, I've been doing this long enough that I've learned that I can't waste a whole lot of time concerning myself with the whims of a few fringe parents. Frankly, I don't have the time or energy for it. We have a unit that has grown from 6 families to 50 kids over the past three years, so the leadership (myself included) must be doing something right.

 

Just saying, one should not run themselves into the ground worrying about the people who will be PO'd no matter what you do with the program.

[BDPT00]

I don't recall saying anything close to bigot or racist. Insensitive? I'll accept that.

And yes, we're agreeing to disagree.

BDPT00

 

[pchadbo]

At the risk of being berated for my ignorance, I will ask a question: How does one form a skit that is entertaining to the boys who think a fart noise is the funniest thing they have yet dicovered, and yet not offend ANYONE in the audience who may have had a pesonal experience that has forever tainted and skewed thier views on bathroom homor?

We have to look at the audience the skit is intended for. The same audience we all strive to entertain, educate and help grow: the boys. If they are having fun and a parent is too uptight to follow the best advice I have recieved as a new scout leader on how to connect with the boys: "channel your inner 8 year old" then I feel it is the parent's problem not mine.

If the parent is offended, I am sorry, that was not the intent but get over it the boys are having fun and this is for them NOT the parents.

 

[Beavah]

There are some religious folks (interestingly, of many different faiths), who believe it is improper to wear shorts in public (both for men and women). Is it then the duty of the rest of us not to ever wear shorts outside of our own backyard for fear we might cause someone offense? Of course not. But if we were invited to their house as guests and knew of their feelings, of course we would choose not to wear shorts.

 

Similarly, some folks find it offensive to eat meat. But if they are invited to a neighborhood barbecue in someone's back yard, they can expect to find people eating burgers and brats, eh? They can choose not to go, or they can choose to go and bring their own tofu and be neighborly. But it's not proper for 'em to go to someone else's home as a guest and take offense.

 

The audience members of a campfire skit are guests of the boys on the boys' campout. We are in the boys' house, and we know what da nature of campfire skits is. As such, it's improper for us to be offended if they are engaged in otherwise good natured boy-humor. Hey, yeh knew you were coming to a kids' barbecue, eh? Don't expect tofu, and don't expect everyone will refrain from wearin' shorts. Or whipped cream.

 

Beavah

 

[OldGreyEagle]

So we are saying is that there is no way to be entertaining to 8 year olds without pandering to bathroom jokes?

 

Sesame Street, Mr Rogers, the Disney Host of Companies all seem to do a pretty good job of entertaining 8 year olds and the like without reliance on bathroom humor

 

How did Kukla Fran and Ollie ever keep youngsters attention? Nobody ever farted on that show

[pchadbo]

OGE I don't think anyone suggested that the ONLY way to entertain the boys involves bathroom humor but it may. The whipped cream skit in the beginning of this thread, remember, where we started, is possibly offensive through a certain adult prism. But as Beevah pointed out, this by boys for boys. Audience members should remember to look at this through the prism of the 8 year old.

And by the way, Mr Rogers and Sesame St do not hand have not entertained my 7 year old son for years. They are geared toward toddlers through 5 and as far as lack of bathroom humor have you seen Shrek?

pchadbo

[Snow_White]

With all due respect, OGE, Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, and Disney do a good job of entertaining 3- and 4-year-olds without reliance on bathroom humor. Boys come home from Kindergarten with hilarious (to them) fart jokes.

 

At our recent district Webelos campfire, I learned that any skit that involved a group of 9/10 year olds and a roll of toilet paper was a hit, regardless of topic.

[OldGreyEagle]

I had always thought that a skit was supposed to be a units "gift" to the audience, a way of sharing themselves with strangers and entertaining them. A demonstration of their own uniqueness and individuality. To do a well worn hackeneyed insipid inane repeat of tripe seems lacking in many things

[perdidochas]

Bathroom (or should I say outhouse or latrine) humor has been popular for as long as humor has been recorded.