What is "Adultification" and How is it Misogynoiristic?
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions (Lu.2:41-46, NIV).
The term "adultification" identifies the social bias which allows children within vulnerable social groups to be treated as though they are already adults. This might include everything from a school authorizing a strip search for a young Black girl presumed to deal drugs, to shooting and killing 12 year old Tamir Rice, a boy who was playing with a toy gun; to shooting 17 year old Travyon Martin for walking in an "elite" neighborhood.
The Bible passage above demonstrates Jesus himself as being a child who was temporarily "abandoned" or left behind by his family. Though the text indicates it was unintentional, the fact that he was left alone with other adults, perhaps some unknown to the family, is even more alarming because it was over a three day period. There are some who use this text to identify the wisdom of Jesus and to make the claim that he was, indeed, the Son of God. But there's another aspect of this text that we often overlook: Jesus was a child left behind. Not only was he left behind, but homileticians often use this scene, with Jesus as a boy, to see him through the lens of manhood.
Adultification occurs when children of color in general, but Black children in particular, are treated as adults in ways which can range from neglect to actual violence. Within the justice system, children and teens from vulnerable communities, when accused of "crimes," are often sent to adult holding cells instead of juvenille hall with their peers. (For more information, see the Sentencing Project, July 2021.) This subjects them to sexual violence and other forms of assault. In the Luke text, the writer doesn't indicate any harm came to Jesus. Yet, it is worth noting that we are too quick to treat some children as self sufficient on their own, while we tend to and protect other children.
The enclosed video, below, demonstrates the interaction between the public and two different girls who appear to be separated from a guardian: one is White and the other is Black. Perceptions of Black females is not limited to misconstrued notions of adult Black women. Rather, the socialization process begins with children.
We believe misogynoir is sin. We have featured several episodes of "Black Girl Gone," to highlight stories of Black women and girls who are missing from their communities in record numbers. Despite this, the US media provides significantly less attention for these lives.
What are your thoughts? How can we begin interacting with Black girls with the same communal and protective energy that we extend to other children? What type of social conditioning makes this video a casual observance of such hatred? How will you become a champion to change things? We hope you will share your thoughts with us.
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