Stereotypes for our Youth

The fact that Adultification Bias is an actually thing really bothers me because we should be supporting and caring for our youth, not stereotyping them and bringing them down to feel like less of what they are. Adultification bias erases the distinction between childhood and adulthood and girls are being treated as if they are a threat which is only harming them in the long run.

In the video, young black girls were the focus of the discussion. These girls described their experiences and how they were treated compared to their white friends. The whole idea of this video was that young black girls were being stereotyped for things that aren't necessarily true and they are seen as older woman instead of young girls compare to their white friends. 

Examples of stereotypes given to young black girls:

• They are loud, aggressive, and angry (which makes them threatening and disrespectful)
• It's assumed that they are cussing people out, drinking, and having sex

These black women describe their childhood and how they were stereotyped and seen as "less innocent" than their white peers. They also said that they were treated more like adults and they were held accountable for more things whereas a white girl would just get let off the hook with a talking to.

In the article, they talk a lot about teenagers and they have given them stereotypes based on things that aren't fair to them. One stereotype that was given to them is that "they are a problem" but they haven't come to the conclusion as to why they see them as a problem. It's not fair to these youth that they are being stereotyped and the truth is that adults fear the youth and that is the real problem.

All of these stereotypes are impacted by race, class, gender, and sexuality because not all of these stereotypes apply to everyone. For example, the two stereotypes that I gave, only pertained to young black girls not young white girls or boys. The example from the article can very much be impacted by gender because girls are seen as more innocent than boys and boys tend to get into more trouble and cause more problems.

A time that I experienced prejudice as a child:

    - I have played soccer from the time that I was 3 years old to when I was 16 years old. I always loved the sport and loved playing with the girls. However, my brother also played soccer and I wanted to be on his team. The team was supposed to be coed, which means that you can have both boys and girls on the team. But when I said that I wanted to play with the boys, they didn't think that I was good enough even though I was very good and I could hang with the boys. I ended up just having to play on the girl's team and they ended up changing the rules saying that girls were no longer allowed to play with the boys all because they didn't want me playing with them.