Baden-Powell’s early twentieth century handbook, Scouting for Boys, contains hypocritical ideas in which express his clashing support for a masculine empire and an impartial empire. Although he briefly mentions the achievements of women in scouting, he neglects to mention them again, all the while emitting an overwhelming vibe of male strength, power, and dominance. Baden-Powell implicitly articulates that to become a “real man,” one must avoid traditional feminine behavior, ultimately proving Philosopher Judith Butler’s point, that female figures within the British Empire are labeled opposite of men because they rely on the help of male figures and lack traditional male attributes.
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by…show more content… Baden-Powell’s retelling of the adventure novel called “Kim” by Rudyard Kipling, strengthens his mission of building “real men” out of boys residing within the British Empire. Through the incorporation of central bold male figures, and also failing to mention a single female character, Baden-Powell’s demonstrates his focus on molding young boys into thinking that to become an man, one must be courageous, clever, and heroic. The novel “Kim,” follows a young man named Kimball O’Hara, who is admitted into the Government Intelligence Department as an agent because he is proven to be “sufficiently brave and strong minded” (16). The audience encounters other vital roles such as a native spy, another agent, and a police officer who aid Kim during his journey. All fictional characters mentioned are men who play “good” roles, which are purposely featured to reflect societal expectations of male behavior. Baden-Powell adds at the end of his summarization of “Kim” that the boy scouts are capable of providing much for the country through strategic training and intelligence. The lack of female representation and the acceptance of this underrepresentation as the societal norm, suggests the British Empire inevitably favors one gender over the other, which happens to be the male identity over the female identity. This characterizes men in a positive manner, while excluding women completely, thus reinforcing Butler’s suggestion that a binary between the male and female counterparts exists because although both are human, they are seen opposite of one another because of the diversion of each gender’s
