Some Thoughts from the Launch of ‘My Body, My Choice’

Following on from the launch of the My Body, My Choice sexual health programme last week, a few thoughts come to mind.

I have been reading a lot of the press coverage and the vast majority has been extremely positive. I had expected reactionary headlines about Beavers being shown how to use condoms and that kind of thing, but the press have been generally positive and sensible about the whole thing.
In fact this was due to a lot of planning by the SA’s press people to make sure that the correct information was got across to the press and that the silliness was minimal. In fact the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communication, Simon Carter, has written an article about it here.

We are very lucky that we have direct access to the ‘high ups’ in the SA. Wayne Bulpitt, the UK Chief Commissioner, is happy to answer questions put to him on the Escouts website. These range from the serious to the trivial and silly, but he always takes the time to reply, which is highly commendable and useful. To be able to put questions to a ‘high up’ in an organisation is very useful, especially for those of us at the ‘coal face’.
Unfortunately, a question was put to Wayne about the My Body, My Choice programme which wasn’t too friendly or polite. I think Wayne’s answer was very restrained and it put the point across well. But the thing is that he doesn’t have to do this and putting questions that are deliberately confronting and, indeed, rude, can only be counterproductive. He can turn round and decide to stop answering. Of course the questioner also forgot that ‘ A Scout is Friendly and Considerate’.

My friend Lotta, from Sweden, made a comment to me about the necessity of this programme and it reminded me that this kind of programme / information is not limited to UK Scouting. In fact she had a hand in writing the handbook for the Swedish Challenger Scouts (15 – 19 year olds) last year and she was kind enough to send me an electronic copy (much better for Google Translate!).
In the book, Våga Utmana / Dare to Challenge (oh please be the correct title and translation!), there is a whole section on relationships. Not just sexual ones, but with everyone and how these affect you and others.
Now when I initially saw this, I thought that there was no way that anything like this would appear in this country – we are British after all and we don’t do things like that, unlike these Continental chaps (I am being extremely stereotypical here!).
But we do and it’s here! Hopefully the Explorers who take part in the programme will be better informed and will be able to make the right choices for them.

As the launch of the programme made the media in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, to name a few, I wonder whether the other national Scout organisations across the world have similar programmes in place?