By Natalie Petit-Frere
In this same era, enslaved women could not testify against their masters when they raped them because they’d been deemed inherently promiscuous and therefore incapable of sexual assault –a stigma that still follows us today. Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality conducted a study on the “adultification” of Black girls in 2017, finding Black girls were perceived to be “less innocent, and more adult-like than white girls of the same age, especially in the age range of 5-14.” The study also revealed that adults believe Black girls require less protection, nurturing, and support than white girls and have more knowledge of sex.
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