Congressional Caucus on Black Women & Girls Presents: My Sister’s Keeper

My Sister’s Keeper: Acknowledging Violence, Trauma and Resilience Among Black Women and Girls

Racial and gender stereotypes exacerbate the already complicated topic of sexual exploitation and violence against girls and adolescents in the United States. The ever-pervasive characterization of African-American females as hypersexualized and aggressive is believed to underlie the implicit bias that shape educators’ view of Black girls, and may, in fact, encourage a more punitive response to the otherwise “typical” behaviors of teenaged girls. Consequently, young Black girls find themselves susceptible to harsher punishments at school for otherwise minor infractions, and left more vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking.

The purpose of this panel is to expose the pervasiveness of sexual exploitation of young Black females and to discuss the efforts to identify and confront those biases within our educational, social and criminal justice systems that may lead to their victimization.