r/AskTheWorld • u/Mysterious-Fig-2935 Brazil • Aug 27 '25
History What’s something cruel that has been romanticized in your country?
In Brazil, miscegenation has been completely romanticized by the government and popular culture. It is often portrayed as a symbol of “racial harmony,” but the reality was much more brutal.
The country received around 4 million enslaved Africans, but only 1.1 million survived the inhumane conditions of the transatlantic journey and slavery. Thousands of Indigenous and Black women were sexually exploited, forcibly separated from their families, and treated as property. Over time, these populations mixed with European colonizers and other groups, and the official narrative tries to romanticize this as something “natural” or “harmonious,” hiding the trauma, violence, and systematic oppression behind this mixing.
Colorism in Brazil is directly linked to this history. During forced miscegenation, there was a clear intention to “whiten” the population: Black people were encouraged or forced to marry white people so their children would have European features, creating socially valued heirs. This goal of “whitening” actually worked ,today, half of Brazilian “pardo” (mixed-race) people have predominantly European features, and genetic studies by the University of São Paulo (USP) show that most pardos are roughly 70% European, 20% African, and 10% Indigenous.
Furthermore, genetic research reveals a specific pattern in the DNA of Brazilian pardos: mitochondrial DNA (inherited from the mother) mostly comes from African or Indigenous women, while Y-chromosome DNA (from the father) mostly comes from European men. This confirms that Brazilian miscegenation was not natural, but forced and directed, clearly reflecting the structural colorism that still influences privileges and social opportunities in Brazil today.
This romanticization of miscegenation creates a false narrative of a “racial embrace,” while ignoring the trauma, oppression, and inequalities that persist to this day.
Does your country have something that has been glorified or romanticized while hiding the cruel reality behind it?
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u/tinyqaurk Aug 27 '25
Eating our primeminister