Dark Secrets About The Boy Scouts
By Anna Collins
7 months ago
1. It was the largest case of child sexual abuse of any organization!
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As of this year and last year, the full extent of the Scouts' sexual abuse scandal has been exposed. There were a massive 82,209 claims made by individuals who had suffered from sexual abuse whilst in the Scouts, and sadly this number doesn't portray the true number of those who didn't feel they could come forward. It was the largest case of sexual abuse in any one single organization.2. There's a whole file system based on Scout leaders/ volunteers who sexually abused boys
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The Scouts were aware of what was happening, and so they composed files with a list of all the predators who existed within the Scouts. This file was kept a secret until they were forced to release it as information that could help children in the future from suffering from these sexual predators.3. Some of these volunteers were discovered and forced to quit, only to join another group
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Some of the Scout leaders who were caught were forced to quit the Scout group. However, some of them would relocate to a different area where they would then join a new group. At this point, the information wasn't shared, or public so it didn't stop them from doing it again.4. Scout volunteers were not checked
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One of the main reasons that the Scouts were targeted so much by sexual abusers was because Scout leaders and volunteers were not checked. They did not have to undergo a background check to ensure they were safe to work with children. Shockingly this didn't change right up until 2010!5. They had to market safety, whilst ensuring nothing
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The view that many of us had of the Scouts, was exactly the image that was portrayed. It seemed as though it was a great, safe group for boys to join. Yet while this was the message that was conveyed, in reality, nothing was actually done to uphold this, meaning that the opposite was actually true.6. The abuse spans decades!
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What is also a very dark secret of the Scouts is that this abuse has been happening for decades. In fact, ever since the Scouts started, the abuse started too. And, what is weird is that people were aware of this all along, however, steps were not taken to stop it or prevent it from happening again!7. Many abusers were respected figures!
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It wasn't as though the abusers were few and far between, or even that they were hidden figures. Some of them were very much leaders with reputations and status within the Scouts. There were some leaders, Catholic priests, and volunteers involved in sexually abusing the Scouts.8. It led to them being bankrupted in 2020
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When the truth started to come out, it then gave courage to other victims who came out to speak about what they had gone through. Then, victims started to file lawsuits against the Scouts. There were so many that the Scouts couldn't afford to pay and so they filed for bankruptcy in 2020.9. The Catholic church cut ties in 2018 after the Scouts allowed female, gay, and transgender people
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There are many more dark secrets about the US Scouts. The Catholic church had been very much involved and tied to the Scouts. Yet, in 2018 after the Scouts had made reforms to accept transgender, homosexual people and girls, the catholic church decided to cut toes from the Scouts association.10. Gay members were only just allowed to join in 2013
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The Scouts were an organization that stood firmly against the equality of homosexuality. They were some of the slowest organizations to be inclusive of homosexual people. In fact, it only finally allowed homosexual members in 2013, and this was very reluctantly.11. It only allowed gay leaders in 2015
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And the Scouts were even slower to accept homosexual leaders. Despite having gay Scout members, they still didn't want to accept gay members. Yet, the piling pressure from the world forced them to openly accept gay leaders as of 2015, which is extremely late.12. From 2021 the BSA no longer required a belief in God to join
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For a long time, it was compulsory for Scouts to have a belief in God. The Scouts rules made it inclusive to all religions, or at least on paper. In reality, there were many mentions of God, and the Scouts had to acknowledge a belief in God. Only in 2021 were people who didn't believe allowed to join.13. There is a long-standing rivalry between Girl Scouts
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The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts had a long-standing rivalry. And while some see this as all a bit of fun, others believe that instead of the rivalry, learning to combine or work together would have been less divisive. Some people believed it created a kind of gender gap and hostility between boys and girls.14. They have a slow response rate to scandals
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The US Scouts had many, many scandals raised. They have come under fire for multiple scandals and they have faced pressure from all kinds of angles. Yet their response to dealing with this has been slow - TOO slow. Serious matters were brushed under the carpet for too long.15. Membership has declined over the years
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Scouts was one of the most popular organizations, and now it is still a massive organization for young people but it is becoming less so in modern years. Some believe that this is due to modernity and the way life now isn't represented within Scouts, but others blame the terrible events of the Scouts' past.16. The Scouting leader was classist
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Baden Powell is the man who started Scouts. He first started the Scouts in England, however, the model and organization were soon copied and transferred into the US into their own Scouts. But some people claim that Powell was classist, and held derogatory beliefs about people from the working class.17. It started in 1908
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As we mentioned, Scouts was first started in England. This was in 1908, so the Scouts have now been formed for over a century. In the US the Scouts started a few years later, when the leader met a Scout in London and decided to try and transfer the idea to America.18. Some people believe the Scouts take away individuality
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Another reason some people disagreed with the Scouts is because they believed that it took away a child's individuality and pressured them to conform. Everyone wore the same uniform and started at the same point. Yet there were concerns that conformity isn't always a good thing.19. They created 'The P Files/ Red Flag List' which has been exposed by Netflix
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From the beginning of the Scouts, they realized it attracted child sexual abusers and so they created a list. This list as you already know, was shared with police and relevant institutions. However, more information than ever has now been shared about the perpetrators and some of this is because of the Netflix documentary released this year.20. Gay people were vilified
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So not only were gay people not allowed, but when they were discovered they were completely vilified and banned from the Scouts. And, when gay people were finally accepted into the Scouts they were prevented from taking on roles such as leadership or mentor roles!21. They only changed their policy due to court rulings
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Don't think that the decision to accept gay people into the Scouts was something the Scouts had finally decided to do. Oh no, they were made to do so by court rulings that forced them to accept people of different sexualities or genders into the Scouts.22. Baden Powell held talks with the Hitler Youth
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Some people criticized the Scouts in the earlier days because they felt that it was too closely related to organizations such as the Hitler Youth. In fact, Baden Powell in 1930 did actually hold talks with the HY. And this made people even more concerned about the military-like structure of the Scouts.23. The ABS Scouts shot at each other
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The Boy Scouts of America is the original US Scout group. Then, the ABS emerged as an imitation of BSA, but they were armed. You may think that this sounds like a recipe for disaster, and it most certainly is. The ABS Boy Scouts shot at each other and the ABS had to change its name and rebrand after the scandal.24. Atheists and Agnostics were banned
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At one point in time, aesthetics and agnostics were banned. If it was discovered that a potential Boy Scout, or even an existing Scout member wasn't sure if they truly believed in God, they would be banned from the Scouts. This continued for many, many decades later!25. They were deemed by the African American Registry Report to have 'racist thoughts'
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Although the Scouts stated that they were inclusive of all races, there wasn't much proactive action in trying to include children from all races. The African American Registry Report claimed that the Scouts had 'racist thoughts', one of the reasons was that they never fought against racism even if they didn't agree with it.26. Cubs was only introduced in 1930
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For decades Scouts was pressured into being more inclusive for different age groups as at the beginning they only permitted a very limited age group. This grew, however, it still focused on younger boys. Finally, after a long time, the cubs were finally introduced in 1930.27. In 1972 they changed the programme to turn away from outdoor activity
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At this point, the Scouts were at an all-time high in terms of members. The organization was so popular. Then, the Scouts tried to modernize and attract boys from urban areas. They did this by taking the emphasis off the outdoors and outdoorsy activities which had a massively detrimental impact as numbers dipped by a huge amount.28. In 2017 they welcomed the first-ever transgender member
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As with everything, the BSA was slow in accepting transgender people. And then, even once the Scouts had made it more inclusive, it took a couple of years before their very first transgender Scouts member joined in 2017. From here on in it has slightly grown in popularity within the community.29. In 1999 James Dale, a leader was expelled for being homosexual
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