This is edition 2025/223 of the Ten@10 newsletter.
Hi all,
This is the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.
Enjoy!
1. Girlguiding is for girls – get over it
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- 👧 Girlguiding returns to female-only membership – After seven years of allowing biological males to join, Girlguiding UK has announced it will now restrict membership and leadership roles to biological women and girls only.
- 🏕️ Historic mission reasserted – Founded in 1909 by Agnes and Robert Baden-Powell as a girl-only alternative to the Boy Scouts, Girlguiding was created to empower girls through adventure and confidence-building in a female-only space.
- ⚖️ Controversy over trans inclusivity – The organisation adopted a “trans-inclusive” policy in 2018, influenced by Stonewall, allowing biological males identifying as girls to join and even lead groups.
- 🚫 Expulsion of dissenters – Group leader Katie Alcock was expelled in 2022 after questioning the policy, with both she and her young daughter banned from participation, illustrating how dissent was punished.
- 🧒 Promotion of trans identity in children – Girlguiding’s magazine featured a story celebrating a seven-year-old “trans girl,” reinforcing the idea that gender identity should override biological sex.
- ⚖️ Legal challenge emerges – A parent has launched legal action alleging that allowing biological boys into Girlguiding created unsafe and degrading conditions for girls, including forced sharing of changing and sleeping facilities.
- 💔 Girls’ needs sidelined – Critics argue the policy betrayed Girlguiding’s founding purpose, denying girls the right to safe, private spaces free from male presence during formative years.
- 🧭 Shift back to reason – The recent decision is described as a cautious return to common sense, reaffirming that Girlguiding’s mission is — and always should be — exclusively for girls.
- ❓ Lingering question – The article closes by asking why society ever abandoned this basic principle and subjected young girls to such confusion and compromise in the first place.
