MOSES: Oversexualization of Black girls, women must stop

The views that Black women are innately promiscuous and sexually predatory is exactly why Black girls do not have never had the liberty of being children. Instead, they are forced to live in a world that turns their innocence into a sex symbol.

As children, Black girls worry about the clothes they wear, how much skin is showing and what their actions might suggest. Black girls grow into Black women who face similar struggles. As adults, Black women have to be conscious of how they dress in professional settings and how others may perceive their bodies. The perception of Black bodies, like the notion that it Black women’s bodies are inappropriate could result in workplace harassment and even being fired.

A 2017 Georgetown University study found that Black girls as young as 5 years old are already seen as less innocent and in need of less support than white girls of the same age. This presumption leads teachers and other authority figures to treat Black girls as older than they actually are and more harshly than white female students, with the disparity being particularly wide for 10-to 14-year-olds. This research only confirms what was previously known by members of the Black community which is that Black girls are viewed as more belligerent, violent and aggressive than their white peers.

Read the Article in the Marquette Wire