In their chilling study “Listening to Black Women and Girls: Lived Experiences of Adultification Bias,” Jamilia J. Blake and Rebecca Epstein conclude “that adults perceive Black girls as less innocent than white girls as young as 5-9 years old.” While Blake and Epstein centralize Black girlhood, this adultification bias similarly affects Black boys and other children of color. Children of color’s perception as ‘more adult’ than their white peers does not imbue them with any agency or power, rather, it divests them of childhood, at least within childhood’s contemporary definitions. Yet, these contemporary definitions of childhood are grounded in whiteness and white privilege.

The Sport Literature Association seeks entries for its annual graduate student competition, the Lyle Olsen Graduate Student Essay Contest.

Essays must pertain, in some significant way, to the literature of sport. For exemplary treatment of sport-related subject matter, applicants are invited to consult the association's peer-reviewed journal, Aethlon, “a print journal designed to celebrate the intersection of literature with the world of play, games, and sport.” All submissions must be unpublished work. Original creative pieces, both fiction and non-fiction, are not considered for this contest. There is no word limit, but Aethlon articles do not generally exceed 25 manuscript pages.