Abstract
Scouting is an institution akin to the flag and the constitution as a commonplace representation and evocation of “America.” The statistic that 20 percent of all American boys2 are scouts may underplay its considerable cultural weight as a shaper of citizens and the nation. The intimate relations of “America” and the Boy Scouts (BSA) were aggressively promoted by Theodore Roosevelt and youth policymakers in the early 1900s as an antidote to urban devirilization of young men (Macleod 1983). The first Boy Scouts of America Handbook promoted the organization as necessary to “combat the system that has turned such a large proportion of our robust, manly, self-reliant boyhood into a lot of flat-chested cigarette smokers, with shaky nerves and doubtful vitality” (quoted in Shapiro 1997, 22). Outdoor life was prescribed to strengthen individuals’ physical and moral health and to rescue the nation. The current Scout Oath maintains this emphasis on love of country in its opening lines: “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law” (www.scouting.org).
All three authors contributed equally to this chapter.
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© 2004 Mary Louise Rasmussen, Eric Rofes, and Susan Talburt
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Coleman, A., Ehrenworth, M., Lesko, N. (2004). Scout’s Honor. In: Rasmussen, M.L., Rofes, E., Talburt, S. (eds) Youth and Sexualities. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403981912_8
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