We Must Stop the Adultification of Black Girls
Despite popular belief, Black girls are children too
There are plenty of things that were normalized when I was a kid. But when I look back over my childhood, observing the difference in treatment between my friends and me, there are so many things I wish I could have called out. But just like those friends who needed protecting, I had no idea that we weren’t the ones in the wrong.
I think back to how many times my friends would attract unwanted attention from older boys — and even grown men — because they had the burden of their bodies developing early. It’s as if our entire girlhood would end the minute we developed breasts and hips. What I would realize later in life is that this suspicion that people had it in for us wasn't just my imagination.
Black Girls as ‘Less Innocent’ Troublemakers
From an early age, Black girls are taught that they are the ones who are responsible for the unwanted male gaze. It starts as early as the first time their caretakers tell them something along the lines of:
“Put on something else, [male family member or family friend] is coming over.”
