Adult Bullies Are Fat-Shaming Girl Scouts And Harassing Them About Abortions

“Cookie Karens” are shaming Girl Scouts and accusing little kids of supporting abortions

There are two things in this world, that, if nothing else, we all should be able to agree on: Girl Scout cookies are delish and being mean to kids is bad. Yet in a world filled currently filled with so much darkness, including a war and pandemic, some people have still missed the memo that we are all in desperate need of some simple kindness. Case in point, the angry adults who don’t see an issue with going on tirades and spewing hate at little cookie entrepreneurs who are just trying to hustle in the name of their Girl Scouts of the USA troop or a new badge.

As a former mini badass cookie seller, if I do say so myself, the biggest challenges and upset were going door-to-door in the freezing cold, rude grocery store patrons who would ignore my chipper sales pitches, and having to personally deliver the hundreds of boxes from my top-ranking orders. But unfortunately, the young Girl Scouts of today seem to have it much worse — to the point that it could take a toll on them.

Girls who join the Girl Scout organization range in age from 5-year-old Daisies up to 19-year-old Ambassadors, and just some of this filth that cookie-selling age children are getting hit with include: body and weight shaming, political and economical rants, and tirades fueled by misinformation — including false Planned Parenthood conspiracy theories.

According to Insider, cookie-selling scouts have become the target of adult bullies who are yelling at them about everything from price increases to the false accusations that cookie money goes to Planned Parenthood and Girl Scouts-support abortions. This simply isn’t true — according to the GSUA’s website, “Girl Scouts of the USA does not have a relationship or partnership with Planned Parenthood.” And if you don’t believe that, Insider took it a step further reported that a GSUA federal 990 tax form shows that zero funding went to Planned Parenthood.

Yes, certain aspects around Girl Scout cookies could be seen as problematic (including the use of palm oil which is driven by child labor and contributes to the destruction of rainforests), and if you opt to avoid buying them because of that? Fine. But harassing young girls about weight and body image, adult topics like abortion, and accusing them of pedaling cookies with unhealthy ingredients that are “poison” because they contain carbs? Oh, hell no.

In a now viral Tweet, Oona Hanson, a scout mom Los Angeles, felt the need to send a PSA to adults who are actually spewing this nonsense, reminding them that its elementary school girls they’re talking to — and that these remarks are damaging.

“Please do not make comments about weight gain ,” she writes, “or joke that you can’t have Thin Mints in the house or talk about your low-carb diet or yell at the girls for ‘poisoning’ people.”

She also adds: “It’s hard to grow up courageous and confident if you’re afraid of food and critical of your body. For Girl Scouts, cookie season can be fraught because they are bombarded with harmful messages. Remember you can simply say, ‘no, thank you’ if you don’t want to buy anything!”

Not only is Hanson a parent coach and family mentor at an eating disorder treatment center, she’s also involved with her daughter’s troop and told Insider that she’s seen countless comments about weight gain and body-shaming remarks.

“When you’re standing at a cookie booth for an hour- or two-hour shift, or you’re delivering cookies to someone’s house, the accumulation of seemingly harmless jokes really adds up,” she said. “The most aggressive comments were about sugar, and really frightening the girls about things like diabetes or other health conditions.”

Ohio mom Morgan Shelly told Insider about another food-shaming incident that happened with her group of 9 and 10-year-old girls at a local grocery store. She said that one woman simply, “looked at the girls and just responded, ‘Cookies make you fat.’ And walked away.”

“The girls were at the age where something like this can really destroy your self-esteem,” she added.

And then there’s another type of cookie Karen — the type which Melissa Atkins Wardy recalled interacting with her 7-year-old daughter. “The lady took the cookie form and shoved it back into my daughter’s chest, and said, ‘I don’t support programs that support abortion,'” Wardy said. “And I was like, ‘Are you freaking kidding me? My kid is 7. She has no idea what you’re talking about.’ And so we left.”

Thankfully, she said it went over her daughter’s head, “but I’m like, ‘I don’t want to explain to my 7-year-old what an abortion is,” she added. “It doesn’t matter what my feelings are on the subject.'”

These moms aren’t the only parent who has witnessed these adult bullies go off on girls and is speaking out about it.

One mom stated that the interpersonal interactions is the reason her kids only sell online now.

And here’s another good point: what are these little girls going to do about these huge, worldwide, systematic problems that you’re laying at their feet, related to consumption, dietary health, and nutrition?

Also: if you’re yelling at a kid for selling cookies, you might want to take a close look in the mirror — not to fat-shame yourself, but to ask yourself while you have to verbally abuse a little kid who just wants you to chill out and have a samoa.

The bottom line: Do not be a Cookie Karen. If you have an issue with the Girl Scouts, or with cookies, you can say, “No thanks!” when someone asks you if you want a box of cookies.

Also: we’ll take any unopened boxes of cookies from anyone upset with their purchases.