Week 2: Stereotypes of youth

 One stereotype is the adultification of black girls. Black girls are often looked at as older than their real age and held to a higher standard than white children. Many times the assumptions people make about black women is projected onto young black girls. In the video they talk about how one experience was that in the sixth grade a young black girl was asked if she was sexually active by the school nurse. I remember I wasn't asked that question until 8th grade or even freshman year of high school. Even black boys are seen as criminals as young as 10 years old but a white boy would never be seen that way. Another stereotype is the "good girl". Where girls are seen as obedient and always did the right thing. This teaches young girls that they don't have a voice and they always need to do what they're told. Even the stereotypes of preppie vs greasers or hoods creates a divide among youth. The notion of someone who is good in school, generally white, comes from a wealthy family and wears nice clothes everyday is a "prep" versus the young person who comes from the "wrong side of the tracks" and might not have as much money teaches young people that the divide between economic classes is important. In the article, it talks about how there is a fear of young people and that fear is what drives the stereotypes about them. No matter the generation, adults have always had this idea that all teenagers are trouble makers, loud, lazy or a problem. The band My Chemical Romance wrote a whole song about how adults are scared of teenagers. Youths are constantly trying to prove to society that they are more than the stereotypes and are looking for the approval of the adults in their life but it always seems to be met with underestimation. My experience which is the experience a lot of young girls have is that on a VERY hot day at school, I wore shorts and the administration made me put on sweatpants because they were "too short". I am 5'7 with long legs so shorts look shorter on me than someone who is 5'3. I constantly had to worry about if what I was wearing to school was appropriate because of the schools dress code. After graduating and being able to wear whatever I wanted in college, I realized that the patriarchy has taught me to cover up my whole life when we should be teaching young boys not to objectify women.