Sunday in Outer Blogness: Girl Boy Scouts edition!

When I was a kid growing up Mormon, I wanted to do all of the fun, cool things the Boy Scouts got to do. It wasn’t that the scouting program was ideal so much as the fact that the boys got infinitely more resources (and recognition) for their activities than the girls got. Now that the CoJCoL-dS has started decoupling its young men’s program from the BSA — and replacing some of it with a program more like the one they developed for the girls — maybe they’re making a small step towards equality. But it feels like an equality of bring everyone’s experience down to the same low level…

Meanwhile, the BSA has announced a plan to start admitting girls — to the point of allowing girls the possibility of earning the rank of Eagle. I doubt this means any girls will get to have a “Court of Honor” held for them by their LDS ward, alongside their brothers. It’s nice that the Boy Scouts are making an effort to join the 21st century, but girls are probably still better off joining the more-progressive-and-feminist Girl Scouts.

On a related note, the CoJCoL-dS has just cut the number of gender-segregated General Conference meetings in half. Yay, fewer meetings!! (for those who still watch conference…)

Then there was a very cool bit of Mormon news: New Zealand’s new Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is a former Mormon!

In the past few weeks, the blogosphere has yielded some fascinating theological discussions:

• Amber Haslam explained the inadvertent objectification of women in the church
• Hawkgrrl opened a discussion about why people leave the church,
• Chiaroscuro wrote a subtle but powerful shift on an old story,
• Mary Ann did a bit of research on a faith-promoting story,
• Natasha Helfer Parker is still debunking “sex addiction,”
• Andrew S mused on inoculation and echo chambers,
• The church described in the Book of Mormon somehow doesn’t really match the modern CoJCoL-dS,
• Knotty wrote about fasting,
• and Terron Lane outlined the 15 Signs You’re Just There for the Refreshments!

And a number of book reviews:

• Mother’s Milk and healing a theological crack in Mormonism’s heart,
• That We May Be One, A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith & Family,
• The Book of Laman, Inside the mind of the Book of Mormon’s first antagonist,
• Brittany Long Olsen’s comic diaries,
• and The Gate and The Garden: The Apostate Journals of a Gay Mormon Missionary in Japan!

Life journeys!

• Royleane Otteson is joining her husband Steve outside the strictly-orthodox Mormon bubble,
• Lynette is also thinking of leaving the church,
• Ben did not succeed in choosing to be straight,
• Sam Young was invited to an “unbaptism” — and he recounted how his thoughts on gay marriage have evolved,
• Brooke W described a sad experience,
• Alexis is dealing with Pneumonia,
• Joseph Broom was thirteen or fourteen when he saw the movie “Cabaret” for the first time,
• and Dan Pearce shared a learning experience from his mission to Mexico:

I really didn’t want to go on a mission. Trolling through strange neighborhoods for two years, knocking on the doors of strangers, and telling strict Catholics to believe in something I didn’t ever believe in just didn’t sound like the most appealing way to spend my time. But as all my friends disappeared, and as my 19th birthday came and went, and the pressure continued to mount, I finally consented and agreed to go. I should also mention that it didn’t hurt that Mom and Dad generously offered to buy me a new car when I got back. And, no. It was not a bribe. It was a kickback from two very generous parents for giving such a big part of the best years of my life to the Lord. Okay. It was definitely kind of a bribe. And I took it.

Plus a couple of somewhat Mormon-interest topics:

• Pretending race doesn’t exist isn’t a solution to racism,
• and a reality-based alternative to DoTerra.

So, is everyone ready for Halloween? I’m not sure I am… I just had a major increase in workload and stress at my job, which is why I skipped SiOB last week. These will probably be a little more sporadic until the end of 2017, but the Brodies and the X-Mormon of the Year awards will be on schedule! Happy reading!