Black girls are seen as 'less innocent' than white girls, study finds
Adults perceive black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than white ones, a new study found.
The Georgetown Law report, Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood, expands on a 2014 study on adult perceptions of black boys. But the new study differs in how it examines adults' views of black girls and innocence.
“What we found is that adults see black girls as less innocent and less in need of protection as white girls of the same age,” Rebecca Epstein, lead author of the report and executive director of Georgetown Law's Center on Poverty and Inequality, said in a statement.
Researchers surveyed 325 adults from various racial, educational and ethnic backgrounds from across the U.S. They used a scale of childhood innocence that included items associated with stereotypes of black women and girls. One survey asked about adults' perceptions of black girls, while another survey asked adults about their perceptions of white girls.
The new report concluded that adults surveyed thought:
-
Black girls seem older than white girls of the same age.
-
Black girls need to be supported less than white girls.
-
Black girls know more about adult topics than white girls.
-
Black girls need less protection than white girls.
-
Black girls know more about sex than white girls.
Epstein said the survey results were the effect of "adultification," or adults’ perception of youth as older than their actual age. The reasons for adultification of young black girls specifically is due to historical stereotypes of black women, said co-author Jamilia Blake, an associate professor at Texas A&M University.
“Black women have historically been seen as aggressive, loud, defiant and oversexualized,” Blake said. “We have a societal stereotype that is pervasive. It goes across the media, and it’s embedded in our history and our interactions.”
The adultification of black girls manifests in real-world situations, the study found, such as discipline in school and elsewhere.
Racial disparities in K-12 suspensions are apparent, a 2013-2014 U.S. Department of Education report found, with black girls being suspended more than twice as many times as white girls. Black girls are also expelled without educational services at higher rates than white girls, the report said.
Epstein said the new evidence of adultification in black girls may help explain why black girls in America are disciplined more harshly and more frequently than their white female counterparts, both in schools and in the juvenile justice system.
“The fact that you think a (black) 5-year-old is more knowledgeable about sex is amazing to me," Blake said. "When this stereotype is put on girls at a young age, it robs them of the naiveté of being a child.”
The authors said they hope the new findings will help change the way black girls are perceived and disciplined, and inspire more training and research geared towards their advancement.
"It’s a call for public awareness and policy reform," Blake said in a statement.
"We urge legislators, advocates and policymakers to examine the disparities that exist for black girls in the education and juvenile justice systems and to pursue reforms that preserve childhood for all."
Next Article Previous Article