I'm not a traditionalist. Progress is good. The fact that we've always done something a certain way is no argument for continuing to do it the same way.
I'm not a fan of single-sex environments, whether they be schools, workplaces or civic organizations. I've worked in all-male spaces (a Wall Street trading room, a taxi garage) and found the testosterone-fueled machismo toxic and thoughtless. I lived in a 99 percent female college dorm and worked in a 80 percent female office (banking consultancy); there was oppression there too, in a more groupthink conform-or-die way (like in the movie "The Beguiled," but less murderous and more inane). The majority gender always discriminates against the minority.
So after it was announced that girls will be allowed to join the Boy Scouts, I wondered: Why does this decision feel so weird? Not so much a bridge too far — objectively, admitting transgender Scouts earlier this year, and gays in 2013, felt more radical but also exactly like the right thing to do — as much as pointless and poorly executed.