Slightly Offensive - Elijah Schaffer - SJW College Students React to Boy Scouts Accepting Girls | Slightly Offens*ve
Aired: 2018-05-04
Duration: 11:31


=== Scouts and Gender Neutrality (03:59) ===

[00:00:00]  I'm Elijah Schaefer here with episode four of Slightly Offensive at Whittier College, the alma mater of President Nixon.
[00:00:06]  And let's see what college students have to say about the recent Boy Scouts changing their name to be gender neutral.
[00:00:15]  Do you mind if we ask a couple questions about YouTube, about the recent change from the Boy Scouts of America to the Scouts?
[00:00:22]  All right.
[00:00:23]  Here we are.
[00:00:24]  Here we are.
[00:00:25]  We're here live with two of my new friends here.
[00:00:27]  What's your name?
[00:00:28]  Chris.
[00:00:28]  Chris.
[00:00:29]  And then what's your name?
[00:00:30]  Avery.
[00:00:30]  Avery.
[00:00:31]  All right, Chris and Avery.
[00:00:32]  I want to ask you guys, so if you don't know, recently the Boy Scouts of America changed their name from the Boy Scouts to the Scouts, and they're going to allow women to join.
[00:00:40]  Do you think it's a good idea or a bad idea?
[00:00:42]  Yeah, that sounds awesome.
[00:00:43]  I would have joined the Boy Scouts if I was allowed when I was little.
[00:00:46]  Do you think, so you could do stick in and the Boy Scouts?
[00:00:48]  Yeah.
[00:00:49]  Sounds like fun.
[00:00:50]  All right, what about you?
[00:00:50]  What do you think is a good idea or bad idea?
[00:00:51]  Yeah, it's definitely a good idea.
[00:00:53]  Just be like all inclusive and just call it the Scouts instead of separating it between Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
[00:01:00]  What's your name?
[00:01:01]  They who must not be named.
[00:01:02]  They who must not be named.
[00:01:04]  Okay.
[00:01:04]  Okay, so gender isn't real.
[00:01:06]  Okay, because gender isn't real.
[00:01:07]  Well, then I have a question.
[00:01:08]  Shouldn't they probably cancel the Girl Scouts?
[00:01:11]  I mean, they could change the name because it's also Scouts and they do some different stuff.
[00:01:17]  So like the one could be for people who want to do more outdoorsy stuff and the other could be for, I don't know what the Girl Scouts do.
[00:01:26]  Well, as a trans non-binary person, I do appreciate having a gender-neutral space for children.
[00:01:32]  I mean, kids need to be able to grow up in a place where they feel accepted and, you know, where they're allowed to be in.
[00:01:39]  That being said, I understand why Girl Scouts has tried to keep themselves in a gender-specific kind of space because women are still, you know, a sort of oppressed group in America.
[00:01:51]  How are they oppressed?
[00:01:53]  You want me to get into this theory of all that?
[00:01:56]  Just a couple of five facts.
[00:01:58]  Oh, five facts.
[00:02:01]  I mean, lived experience, yeah.
[00:02:03]  Guys can join the Girl Scouts, or guys can work at Girl Scout camp, at least.
[00:02:07]  Working is different.
[00:02:08]  I mean, I work, I mean, there's like all boys' schools and there's female teachers.
[00:02:13]  You said that gender isn't real.
[00:02:14]  Could you explain that?
[00:02:16]  I mean, it's really however you want to perceive yourself, like masculinity and femininity or anything in between.
[00:02:24]  And like the sex that you were born with doesn't really matter for how you want to identify.
[00:02:28]  Okay.
[00:02:29]  So maybe we should only let girls who identify as boys join the Boy Scouts?
[00:02:34]  No.
[00:02:34]  No.
[00:02:36]  Because gender is definitely like it's not necessary.
[00:02:40]  It's kind of like, I guess it's more like mentally kind of, if that makes sense.
[00:02:46]  Where'd you learn that?
[00:02:48]  Here?
[00:02:49]  Personal experience.
[00:02:51]  I mean, just probably should talk about the wage gap that still exists in America.
[00:02:58]  Should talk about the fact that women make 73 cents on the dollar to men, but it's been debunked and proven that they just have different life choices.
[00:03:06]  And then if women actually made less money than men, why wouldn't companies just hire women?
[00:03:12]  Yeah, I don't believe that because I've taken a couple feminist theory classes.
[00:03:15]  Off the top of my head, I can't actually state any facts.
[00:03:18]  I wish I could pull some up right now.
[00:03:21]  But no, it is definitely a sexist world that we live in.
[00:03:25]  And it's definitely more geared towards cisgender heterosexual men in that men are trained to be more confident, more they're trained to go for STEM fields, business fields, all sort of STEM majors and stuff like that.
[00:03:44]  All right, Louis Salceto.

=== Letting Girls Join Scouts (07:34) ===

[00:03:45]  So if you don't know, recently Boy Scouts of America changed their name to Scouts and they're going to allow women to join the Boy Scouts.
[00:03:52]  Good or bad idea?
[00:03:55]  It's a meh idea.
[00:03:57]  It's a meh idea.
[00:03:58]  All right, so what do you think?
[00:03:59]  Do you agree or disagree?
[00:04:01]  I think that there are certain standards, like gender standards that are placed in the Boy Scouts where it's like, oh, to become men, it's like you have to do these things.
[00:04:11]  It's like strong, like, um, strong, brave, learn how to, like, use skills, and then...
[00:04:18]  Do you like those skills in guys?
[00:04:19]  Um...
[00:04:20]  They're fine.
[00:04:22]  Do you think they're positive skills?
[00:04:24]  Yeah, I mean, as long as it's not just like...
[00:04:27]  If we have to go to war, do you want weak, non-brave men out on the battlefield?
[00:04:31]  No.
[00:04:32]  Right, we want strong, brave men who can lead our country, so wouldn't that be good to have like the Boy Scouts?
[00:04:36]  Do you want to get drafted as well?
[00:04:39]  Yeah.
[00:04:39]  Can you pick me up?
[00:04:40]  Can you pick me up and carry me?
[00:04:42]  Currently, no.
[00:04:44]  That's all I'm asking.
[00:04:45]  If I got shot, we want to try.
[00:04:47]  There are definitely people who could be able to do that.
[00:04:51]  I'm 205 pounds, but if we let women have the exact same rights, then they need to be drafted too, right?
[00:04:55]  I mean, yeah, but like, that's not.
[00:04:58]  It's not really fair, right?
[00:04:59]  If I can die for my country, you don't have to, and you get to reap the benefits.
[00:05:01]  No, I mean, that's why I'm saying that everybody should be drafted, and like it doesn't really matter.
[00:05:05]  But if you're drafted and you're on the battlefield, how could you carry me if I was wounded?
[00:05:08]  Well, I'd go through military training, and obviously I'd get stronger.
[00:05:11]  And so would I. I'd probably gain like 30 or 40 pounds.
[00:05:14]  Okay, well, there are other people who are stronger than me, and they would be able to actually carry you.
[00:05:20]  Right, so I'm saying, so that's probably good then that we have individual groups in our society that train men how to become strong and brave?
[00:05:27]  Yes, in certain aspects, but I don't know how to answer that.
[00:05:32]  All right, so what's your name?
[00:05:34]  Chris.
[00:05:34]  Alright, Chris, so do you know about recently the Boy Scouts decided to change their name from Boy Scouts to just Scouts and allow girls to join?
[00:05:43]  Do you think that's a good idea?
[00:05:44]  I heard about that.
[00:05:45]  Yeah, no, I think it's a good idea.
[00:05:46]  I think it's a really positive change.
[00:05:48]  I mean, I think it's sort of an apology for PAL's behavior, so I think it's good.
[00:05:54]  You said apology, what kind of past behavior were they apologizing for?
[00:05:58]  Well, I know before there was a prohibition on gay scouts joining, so I think that's a good change.
[00:06:06]  I don't know if that's their way of assuaging the situation or not.
[00:06:09]  So like letting girls in is like a kind of like a good apology for not letting gay scouts in?
[00:06:13]  Yeah, I don't know if they've made any changes to the other stuff, though.
[00:06:15]  I don't know enough about it.
[00:06:17]  So could you maybe articulate that into some other words?
[00:06:20]  Mainly it's not really that much important.
[00:06:28]  So you think they do that maybe because there's differences between men and women?
[00:06:32]  I don't know how to answer that.
[00:06:35]  You think there's differences between men and women?
[00:06:38]  I mean, kind of only because we're taught that, like, we can be whatever we want to be in the end.
[00:06:43]  As a reporter myself, I'd like to say that it's interesting that you're inserting your own view when you're asking these questions and kind of inserting your comments in between in order to kind of change the dialogue.
[00:06:56]  I don't think that that's necessarily the kind of approach that most reporters would say is.
[00:07:00]  I'm not most reporters.
[00:07:02]  Yeah, you're not.
[00:07:03]  Okay, so you said initially it's a good thing, so why does that feel like a good decision?
[00:07:07]  It feels confusing now.
[00:07:09]  I thought, I don't know, it feels confusing now.
[00:07:12]  It does, right?
[00:07:13]  Like letting girls and boys be in the Boy Scouts?
[00:07:16]  Yeah, well now I'm just getting confused about it.
[00:07:18]  Okay, okay, so then what about this?
[00:07:20]  If girls are allowed in the Boy Scouts, do you think that boys should be allowed in the Girl Scouts?
[00:07:26]  What?
[00:07:28]  I think we have to look at sort of the larger culture that's sort of like, you know, overlapped on young men, you know, of how masculinity, how we define men as in masculine terms.
[00:07:42]  I think that it would be a move forward for, you know, young guys to maybe.
[00:07:48]  You know, I just don't understand.
[00:07:49]  I don't know why there needs to be sort of these sort of like divisions, you know?
[00:07:53]  I think that a part of being a man has to do with, you know, maybe being a little bit more feminine, you know?
[00:08:02]  So, what we're kind of seeing here is that a lot of these college students initially don't know anything about the Boy Scouts or the Girl Scouts, but immediately when you ask them to give their opinion about something they don't know about, they have a lot of opinions about things.
[00:08:15]  That's College in America for your folks 2018.
[00:08:18]  Let's keep talking to more students.
[00:08:19]  Do you think that we should have separate things to train boys to become men and for girls to become women?
[00:08:25]  Yeah, I think so.
[00:08:27]  Maybe like a group of people who kind of go out and do guy things and a group of people who do girl things and they kind of have separate identities?
[00:08:33]  Yes, I think that's fine.
[00:08:36]  My whole argument would be to hopefully have those two different groups of, you know, sort of for these young people to transform that they can sort of engage with each other at one point.
[00:08:50]  Yeah, so like it would be almost kind of like having a Boy Scout and a Girl Scout and then they meet together for certain activities.
[00:08:55]  Yeah.
[00:08:55]  Which is what we have currently.
[00:08:59]  So say that one more time.
[00:09:01]  Makes sense to have a I guess an organization that's devoted specifically to women.
[00:09:08]  I mean some.
[00:09:09]  What about having one also dedicated to men too?
[00:09:12]  Well that I mean I guess not really.
[00:09:17]  Why would only women get one their organization?
[00:09:20]  Well, I mean women.
[00:09:21]  You know, underrepresented groups in society often get and I think they should get, they attend college at a higher rate than men.
[00:09:28]  They're actually.
[00:09:28]  They actually also like, make more money before the age of 35 as well and they live longer.
[00:09:32]  So do you think they're really like underrepresented?
[00:09:35]  Yeah, of course, but shouldn't maybe like, do you think it'd be possible if we should let the girl scouts perform to have some options for tom tom girls instead of uh or tomboys or whatever you call them, rather than uh actually taking down the gender limitations on boy scouts?
[00:09:47]  I say b, I say both should allow what both should allow.
[00:09:51]  Uh, I say both should allow both sexes to go into bo, into both, into both uh scout organizations as they, as they foresee.
[00:10:06]  Okay, so would that?
[00:10:07]  What would be the point of having two different organizations if anyone could go to either, merely for choice?
[00:10:11]  So do you have any uh, any opinions upon uh girls joining the boy scouts?
[00:10:16]  Yeah, I mean girls joining the boy scouts.
[00:10:19]  Uh, you could change it to girls and boy scouts.
[00:10:22]  Um, I think it's pretty.
[00:10:24]  It's good that we're heading towards a more inclusive culture.
[00:10:28]  Uh, you know, because what there was girl scouts.
[00:10:31]  What did they learn.
[00:10:32]  Well, they're still gonna have the girl scouts, even though they're letting girls in.
[00:10:35]  Okay, now that's a problem.
[00:10:37]  Women are treated like shit in this country.
[00:10:39]  There's never been a female female president.
[00:10:41]  Uh, you know, I mean, I don't think we have to explain that to you people.
[00:10:47]  Um thank, We recently didn't have a female president.
[00:10:50]  She was pretty crazy.
[00:10:51]  I mean, what's up with that?
[00:10:53]  The boys can't join Girl Scouts now?
[00:10:55]  I'm not really sure, but I don't think that they're letting them at this moment.
[00:10:58]  But they're letting girls join the Boy Scouts.
[00:10:59]  Do you think that's fair?
[00:11:00]  I mean, just think about it.
[00:11:02]  Girls can join Boy Scouts, but boys can't join Girl Scouts.

=== Never The Same Light (00:26) ===

[00:11:05]  What's up with that?
[00:11:05]  Shit, you know?
[00:11:06]  Are you checking out girls?
[00:11:07]  Well, you know.
[00:11:08]  Were you checking them out?
[00:11:09]  Not really.
[00:11:10]  Never?
[00:11:11]  You never checked out a girl?
[00:11:12]  They were kind of.
[00:11:13]  Do you like women?
[00:11:14]  I do like women.
[00:11:14]  Do you ever check them out?
[00:11:16]  Yes.
[00:11:16]  And in the wilderness, you don't?
[00:11:18]  I was focused on surviving and shit.
[00:11:20]  When you see a girl take a dump in a plastic bucket on a boat, like, you know, you'll never see her in the same light, you know.
[00:11:27]  And there you have it, folks.
[00:11:29]  Thank you very much, Andy.
[00:11:30]  I appreciate it.