Scout’s Honor… is a series I did review on Monkeys Fighting Robots. So with its trade releasing the week of this post, I’m instead going over commentary in the series. All of which revolve around Boy Scout policies and the identity surrounding it. Wait doesn’t that mean this is political? But it says on Wikipedia that scouting is non-political education. Screw it, I’m taking the dada route. Disclaimer: despite the writer David Pepose touching upon this topic, that doesn’t mean he or the creative team advocate for the arguments. Everything here is my observation and best guessing.
Are Boy Scouts Meant To Be Inclusive?
For our first argument, we’ll go over probably the most obvious one. In recent times there are arguments to include girls in the Boy Scouts. On first glance it seems counter-intuitive, especially since the Girl Scouts resisted including boys in their ranks. The purpose of both scout organizations are to develop character and confidence, especially for their community’s survival. But where they differ more or less comes from reflecting the average behavior of boys and girls. According to a couple of sources, the BSA focus more on exceptionalism while the GSUSA focuses more on nurturing. It’s also why a lack of girl scouts in Scout’s Honor is a point of discussion.
In the context of the series, the hyper-masculinity of the Ranger Scouts serves as the main conflict. The Ranger Scouts follow their founder’s teachings like he’s a prophet of their post-apocalypse. With survival being the only thing that seems to matter after nearly 300 years, the seven laws governing them are absolute. With one of the laws focusing on brotherhood above all, this means that the main character Kit cannot truly be a Ranger Scout on account of being a girl. So she has to disguise herself as a boy to be a part of the people she looks up to.
Scout’s Honor On Gender Roles
Most of the women in Scout’s Honor are never seen because the Ranger Scouts hold all of the power in their community. One of the only women seen is even dressed in a bonnet, a clear indication that the preservation of appearance is a woman’s main role outside of housework. Ironically this actually echoes some of the Girl Scout ideals from its founding years. It really says something when the Ranger Scouts’ enemies, the highwaymen, are more inclusive with their ranks.
Which really brings out the flaws of Ranger Scouts on boys psyches. Because of their focus on exceptionalism, the pressure to be useful is ever present. Especially because according to some of the laws there’s a deadline before anyone gets old or disabled in any way. This is actually the most extreme version of Boy Scouts’ focus on fitness. The soonest sign of being deadweight is practically a death sentence.
Side note: Kit’s status as a boy or girl is an interesting discussion. In the penultimate issue, she admits that binding her chest felt right. But it’s unknown if that means she considers herself a trans male. She doesn’t seem to mind that people address her as a girl, neither does she insist that she’s a boy. I don’t know, it seems wrong to debate this with a cis writer like me. Besides it’s not like the Ranger Scouts are like today’s Boy Scouts accepting trans boys.
Surviving Vs. Thriving
Now for the piece that will bring the most attention. The founding of the Boy and Girl Scouts reflected the more conservative times; Boy Scout merchandise alone strongly emphasizes Americana. But this focus on going back to basics leads to dominating tribalism in Scout’s Honor. As it turns out, the Ranger Scouts were founded on a failed reformatory program that made delinquent boys into deadly killers. With the nuclear war, no one was able to stop them from dominating a crucial piece of land.
Warning: Going further in is spoiler territory! To further drive the need for exceptional tribalism, Scoutmaster Shepherd (Pope of the colony) actually made deals. Not only does he artificially supply enemies by selling weapons but he also holds back agricultural advancements. By keeping the scout colonies in a state of fight or flight, he makes them susceptible to his commands. Shepherd’s methods actually echo the arguments of hunter-gatherers vs agriculturalists. It’s certainly enough to consider research in relation to how close a post-climate change world will come out of it.
But the focus on dominating and rejecting progress leads to a lot of problems. The deuteragonist and Shepherd’s son Dez tried everything to please his father. Only problem is, being gay means Dez can never be a true part of his father’s world. If it’s anything like how homosexuals could only join Boy Scouts in the 2010s, that could be a problem. It’s only once all of the Scoutmaster’s secrets are exposed and Dez lets go of his father’s ideals does civilization have a chance to prosper.
Scout’s Honor Up For Discussion
There are a lot of things to take away from Scout’s Honor. Some are inspiring, others are best left up to discussion. The complexities, nuances, and parallels with the real world are numerous; so much, I might’ve missed some. Feel free to express your thoughts in the comments or speak amongst your friends.
Thanks for coming and as always, remember to look between the panels.