Why do Girl Guides need to celebrate asexuality?!
IpRomISe that I will do my best, to do my duty to God, to serve the Queen and help other people, and to keep the Guide Law. I remember, word for word, the pledge I made 30 years ago in a draughty village hall, hand held up in a three-fingered salute, eyes moist at the solemnity of it all (I was ten).
Thus began a few happy years in the Guides. Wednesday evenings were spent climbing trees, making eggy bread and whittling woggles.
I was a pretty poor Guide — at camp I was so scared of spiders invading tents that my mum would whisk me home before dropping me back off in the morning. For this the swines denied me my camp skills badge.
oh, but they were fun times. once a man from St John Ambulance came along with his dummy Rita to show us how to perform CpR. When he performed mouth-to-mouth on Rita, we were beside ourselves with giggles at this emergency French kiss.
Afterwards, a fellow Guide whispered that the firstaider was a ‘pervert’. I nodded grimly, without a clue as to what she meant.
Such innocence! Guides was a place without the dark shadow of adult things falling across our play. That was a gift — so I’m sad that this might be changing.
Last week, Girlguiding tweeted: ‘This week is Ace Week — a time to raise awareness and understanding of the asexual community. So here’s a shout out to all of our asexual volunteers and members.’
Reading this, one word comes to mind: Why?
Why does Girlguiding have to climb on the latest woke bandwagon? Why does it have to introduce adult concepts to an audience of children? Why do Guide leaders’ sex lives — or lack of them — matter to a bunch of ten-year-old girls?
In response to the ensuing mini furore, Girlguiding’s chief executive Angela Salt said it was part of a ‘diversity and inclusion strategic plan to make Girlguiding a place where everyone feels welcomed’. Forgive me while I roll my eyes to heaven.
Few would argue with the need to make girls feel welcome whatever their race or religion, but you don’t need to be mary Whitehouse to believe that issues to do with sexuality or asexuality should have nothing to do with a children’s organisation.
pre-pubescent girls might start to wonder if their perfectly normal absence of desire means that they are asexual, too.
Girlguiding has dipped its toes into woke waters before. A few years ago, it said that boys who identify as female (but who are still physically male) should be allowed to join trips, sharing sleeping and washing facilities with girls.
It also made its badges ‘more relevant to girls’ lives’. So instead of boring old birdwatching they can now get badges such as ‘my rights’.
WheN I was little, the line between childhood and adulthood was clearly drawn. The more it is blurred, the more young people’s health and happiness suffers.
While it is important for them to be educated, it is important, too, that there are bastions of innocence, ‘safe spaces’ (to use the modern lingo) in which they don’t need to worry about their looks, their sexuality, their gender, their identity.
Girlguiding must resist the urge to capitulate to wokedom and instead give them this time to lark about and be silly. The innocence of childhood is a gift that is only given once — we must fight hard to protect it.