Several years ago, a neighbor that I hardly knew sent me an email asking me to boycott the Girl Scouts by not purchasing their cookies. The reason was that the Girl Scouts supported Planned Parenthood.
Her email stated that since Girl Scouts endorsed feminism and the other agency, no one should buy their product. Because you know a six-year-old girl selling cookies knows all about this stuff, right?
I was confused. Aren’t the Girl Scouts a group that empowers young girls? How does being a scout correlate to a non-profit health organization?
Planned Parenthood is a necessary service in underserved areas so that young women can get birth control and other essential health services. If they aren’t using birth control, then they may have an unwanted pregnancy.
I couldn’t believe she thought all of this was a bad thing. She explained the problems of feminism and used it in her email like it was a dirty word. I was going to overlook this email, but I just couldn’t. I gave my neighbor my email for community issues not so she can push her agenda on me.
She made statements about the Girl Scouts without even checking if they were factual before doing an email blitz to everyone in her contact list. How could another woman or anyone, for that matter, think feminism was terrible?
I had to know if her claims were valid, so I did some checking. No, the Girl Scouts do not support Planned Parenthood. They also do not take any position on birth control or abortion either. They are strictly to empower young girls and give confidence.
They help young girls build bonds and make friendships. I was now even angrier. She targeted a children’s group with fictitious accusations and called them a feminist organization like it’s a bad thing.
I would consider the Girl Scouts a feminist group. Any person or association that believes that women deserve equal rights could be viewed as being feminist. I hope that every woman or man, for that matter, considers themself one regardless of if they support abortion or not. Feminists are not bra-burning man-haters. However, I have to admit that I’d like to burn my bra.
I decided that I didn’t care if I upset her. She had no issue sending me that message. I put together an email asking her to please remove me from the list. I sent her a link to the girl scouts website.
I forwarded her the definition of feminism and what it means and asked her if she was opposed to women being treated as equals. I inquired if she was against women having the right to vote, voice their opinion, have access to the same healthcare, education, and jobs as a man?
I attached a link to all the services that Planned Parenthood offered young women. They were much more than an abortion clinic, as she had mentioned in her email. She responded to me like I just started a war. She said, “how dare I send her such a contentious email?”.
Then she went into the whole abortion debate again. I told her that I recognized that abortion is a heated topic. But a six-year-old girl selling cookies has nothing to do with that debate, so best not to drag them into it. The Girl Scouts should not be used as pawns.
We should be responsible enough to check what we are sending out to others. There is so much misinformation, and people should be mindful and research before blindly believing everything they read. People should respect each other’s choices whether they coincide with their own.
Feminism is not a bad thing. Without the strong women who fought for equal rights before us, we would not be where we are today. The only way that we can evolve as a society is to stand together and promote equal rights for everyone.
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This post was previously published on Medium.
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