Girlhood Interrupted

Girlhood Interrupted

Published research paper
Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls' Childhood
should have you irate. You can find it on the Internet. It's 24
pages of very much need to know information. Previous research had
shown that black boys age ten and up were seen as older looking and,
therefore, more culpable than white peers. This study asks whether
black girls suffer from a similar disadvantage.
Originally in courts teens and children were treated like
miniature adults. Over time courts began to realize that they really
were different. Their reasoning powers have not completely
developed. They are easier to influence. They still, for the most
part, are not beyond hope of turning their lives around. For these
reasons accomodations such as prohibiting the death penalty in
juvenile court have been made.
To benefit from childhood accomodations, in life as well as
courts, a child must be recognized as a child. When I was growing up I
had one black classmate. Not only was she perceived as older, but
people believed that black girls of any age were more sexually
experienced and knowledgeable than white peers. She was being pawed
and propositioned while we were both earning Girl Scout merit badges.
Adultification was surely at work there. It's the term the report
uses to describe the more adult and less innocent perception society
holds in regard to black children.
"The assignment of more adult-like characteristics to the
expressions of young Black girls is a form of age compression. Along
this truncated age continuum, Black girls are likened more to adults
than to children and are treated as if they are willfully engaged in
behaviors typically expected of Black women. This compression...[has]
stripped black girls of their childhood freedoms [and] renders Black
girlhood interchangeable with Black womanhood."
Previous research had suggested that that adultification helps
account for black girls being treated more severely in schools and the
juvenile justice system than white peers. The research project that
was the topic of this paper showed that respondents perceived black
girls as young as five to be older in behavior and more acquainted
with adult topics like sex than white peers. It looks at implications
for their treatment in school, courts, and the foster care system.
I advise parents, teachers, social workers, and everyone else
who cares about juvenile justice to read Girlhood Interrupted. You
can get it free on whatever device you're reading this on. It's
reader friendly and short (with lots of graphs and other visuals), but
it packs a powerful punch and should have us all up in arms!
On a personal note, I had the most wonderful day imaginable Saturday.
I was in Portland with Katie, Jacob, and Archie cat. We had lunch and
went to a huge outdoor craft fair with Ann, Jacob's mom. She is an
artist and the cat's pajamas. I showed her my first two colored
pencil sketches and she actually liked them. I bought Eugene's
Christmas present. We went to Goodwill and found some bargains. Then
we had supper with Destiny who has been Katie's best friend 19 years.
Katie baked a really good peach pie. She gave me a very classy journal.
I am going to have to continue to lead an exciting life with a journal
like that.
Then yesterday my opinion piece came out in the Bangor Daily News. I
always love that!
A great big shout out goes out to Katie, Jacob, Archie, Anne, and
Destiny. You all rock! I'm lucky to have you in my life.
jules hathaway




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