What They Refused
There’s something about following activism in other countries—you see the problem through a different lens, hear it in a different accent. In Brazil, the women making noise about harassment and beauty standards weren’t being gentle about it. Models were refusing the jobs that came with a side of groping. Rappers like Lay from São Paulo were making it part of the record. Activists just kept pushing.
I don’t remember what made me pay attention to it at that moment. Some film or article probably. But there was a point in 2016 when it felt like the conversation was finally getting louder, or like people were finally allowed to hear it. Grace was doing something called Beyond Beauty
where she’d talk to young people in Brazil about what was actually happening to them. Not the glamorous version. The real one.
The thing about modeling and entertainment is they’re built on control—your body, your image, your labor. All owned by someone else. So when women in those industries started refusing it, pushing back, it meant something. It meant risking money, opportunity, reputation. They did it anyway.