Izabela Marx

“Excluding the language barrier, the worst thing in Brazil is being a woman in a very male dominated, looks obsessed culture. I thought the United States was bad when it came to presenting girls with unrealistic body expectations. Brazil is so much worse. Now that I’m raising a daughter, I realize just how bad it is. All girls are called princessa and told not to cry because it’s ugly (Não chora! Vai ficar feia!). I could not find baby girls clothes in any other colour than pink. Toddlers go with their moms to the salons and get mani-pedis. On billboards, in magazines, everywhere you see advertisements for plastic surgery that you can pay for in 20 instalments! Brazil has more plastic surgeries per capita than any country in the world. It will be an uphill battle to raise a girl who does not think makeup is necessary for the gym.”
― Cyril Richert, My life abroad: A selection of expat stories

“There is a world of difference between a child who stops calling her mother because she no longer needs her, and a child who stops calling because she knows that however much she calls, her mother will never come.”
― Carlos González, Kiss Me: How to Raise your Children with Love

“Colonialism is not simply content to impose its rule upon the present and the future of a dominated country. Colonialism is not satisfied merely with holding a people in its grip and emptying the native’s brain of all form and content. By a kind of perverted logic, it turns to the past of the oppressed people, and distorts, disfigures and destroys it.”[9] Put succinctly, colonialists attempt to colonise not just territories, resources and destinies, but the mind, culture and history of a people as a necessary means to achieve total and perpetual exploitation.”
― Choolwe Mwetwa, Why Africa is Poor: And why removing poverty will be painfully slow

“It is important to counter these misperceptions and inform the general public that most of the terrorists that launched attacks on European cities were born and raised in Europe. This begs the question: why were they radicalized? Perhaps they were easily lured by terrorist organizations because we failed to provide them with opportunities to thrive in society?”
― Elzbieta M. Gozdziak, Europe and the Refugee Response: A Crisis of Values?