Nicole Froio

Traveling is good for your soul, or at least that’s what those motivational images of beautiful sunsets on Facebook say. I don’t know for sure how much better my soul feels after I go on a trip, but I do know that travelling as a woman can result in some interesting observations. The difference of treatment that women receive from one country to another has always been fascinating to me. Not only because we can be targets of sexism and misogyny anywhere, but because of how the overtness of inequality varies from location to location.

I'm a "third culture kid"—“a person who has spent developmental years outside the parents’ culture . . . while not having full ownership in any.”

In Brazil, it's typical to schedule a C-section during your first prenatal appointment. But the unnecessary procedure kills thousands every year.

When trans woman Viviany Belebony, 26, shocked the Brazilian public in the beginning of June by parading in São Paulo LGBT Pride as a bloody, naked version of crucified Jesus Christ, an extremely conservative public claimed blasphemy.

“There are no human rights for prostitutes. They don't recognize us as humans."

At 21, a man feels that it is his right to grab at you, from your crotch to your ass while you are relatively sober in a nightclub. Nightclubs become a nightmare.

There's a deadly cost to Brazil's stance on abortion. If I died, I would be shamed for making a choice that should be a right.