![]() ![]() Most of us had parents or guardians, had people who did their best to shelter us, but the first steps toward independence were also steps into a broader world full of danger. The logic, she writes, is understandable, even if the results vary. She goes on to dismantle the frequent characterizations of impoverished Black girls as promiscuous and careless, instead noting that many girls turn away from harmful patriarchal systems at home in search of support elsewhere. ![]() For young Black American girls there is no presumption of innocence by people outside our communities, and too many inside our communities have bought into the victim-blaming ideology that respectability will save us, not acknowledging that we are so often targeted regardless of how we behave. I wasn’t Jezebel or Lolita, but she couldn’t see that, and I didn’t have the words to explain that I was fighting to control my own body. I hung out with boys, wore midriff-baring shirts and miniskirts when I could, and practiced flirting like some people breathe. ![]() ![]() Republican efforts to ban books that address this suggest a level of acceptance with women and girls experiencing this violence, but no tolerance for discussing it.Īs an adult I can look back and see that my mother was probably afraid for me, because I was so far from her idea of a respectable young lady. For women of all ages, sexual violence is a real possibly, if not a painful memory. ![]()
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