Join World Without Exploitation (WorldWE) for a special webinar discussion, How Adultification Bias Fuels the Exploitation of Girls, to be held on February 26 at 12:00pm Eastern.
This webinar shines a light on one of the most overlooked drivers of vulnerability and harm. Adultification bias is the systemic tendency to perceive and treat girls—especially girls of color—as older, more sexually aware, and more responsible for their circumstances than they truly are. Instead of being recognized as children in need of care and protection, these girls are viewed through an adult lens that wrongfully strips them of innocence and minimizes their vulnerability.
Nowhere is this bias more devastating than in the context of sex trafficking and sexual violence. When teenage girls are adultified, their exploitation becomes easier to ignore, excuse, or criminalize. Law enforcement, courts, educators, and even service providers may misinterpret clear indicators of trafficking as “choices,” “promiscuity,” or “bad behavior,” rather than what they truly are: signs of grooming, coercion, and abuse.
Moderated by WorldWE Programs and Policy Manager, Dahlia Locke, this conversation will feature survivor leader, Sara Kruzan, Kennedys Law Partner, Hilary Simon, Model and Actress, Sharlene Rochard, and WorldWE Policy Director, Rebecca Zipkin. Experts will draw on their lived experience and professional expertise to explore how adultification bias impacted the Epstein survivors as well as legislation introduced across the country recognizing 16 and 17 year old girls as children.
Unable to attend? Still register, and we will send you a recording.