When Lourdes Barreto fled her home in Brazil’s northeastern state of Paraiba as a teenager — a move that launched her into sex work and a lifetime of activism — she never imagined that six decades later a samba school in Rio de Janeiro would pay tribute to her life's journey.
That’s exactly what Porto da Pedra will do this weekend at Rio’s famed Sambodrome as annual Carnival celebrations kick off. The samba school based in the low-income city of Sao Goncalo — across the bay from Rio — will celebrate Barreto and all sex workers in an effort to dismantle the stigma surrounding the profession.
