The Adultification Of Black Girls

By Julia Soplop

She’s independent. She’s mature. She doesn’t require much help.

These sound like positive qualities for a woman. The problem is when people inappropriately attribute them to young Black girls—not because of individual behavior or maturity level, but as a result of gendered racial bias. The results may negatively influence their paths.

In 2017, The Center on Poverty and Inequality at Georgetown Law published the first quantitative study examining this phenomenon relating to Black girls, calling it adultification bias. Building on previous research indicating that adults often perceive Black boys as older than they are and punish them accordingly, this study surveyed adults, the majority of whom were white, about their perceptions of Black and white girls.

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