Julieta Hernández and the Right for Women to Travel Alone

Julieta Hernández defined herself as a migrant, nomadic, clown, and bicycle traveler. Originally from Venezuela, where she graduated with a degree in veterinary medicine, she had been living in Brazil since 2015, where she studied theater, founded the migrant women’s collective Magdas Migram, and performed numerous artistic presentations. In 2019, Hernández decided to embark on a bicycle journey across Brazil toward Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, to reunite with her mother. Along her route, Hernández passed through nine Brazilian states, conducting theatrical performances in rural communities, quilombos, public squares, peripheral neighborhoods, and hospitals. The last show she presented was called “Bicycle Journey of a Clown, Alone?”

Guadalupe Merki, a friend, asserts that the Venezuelan artist did not make distinctions in terms of where she staged her performances, which were almost always carried out independently to bring joy and entertainment to the most disadvantaged areas. “Wherever the bicycle arrived, there was Ju presenting, whether it was for a crow or two curious children. She was that artist,” Merki told G1.

Hernández’s last stop was in the state of Amazonas, in the city of Presidente Figueiredo, closer to the border with Venezuela. On December 23, she sent messages to some friends from that city, and that was the last time they heard from her. On January 6, 38-year-old Hernández’s lifeless body was found with signs of sexual assault.

Protests in response to Hernández’s murder were carried out in more than 70 cities in Brazil and in other parts of the world after her death. In addition to calls for justice for her death, these protests denounced structural sexism and the ongoing alarming levels of violence against women throughout the nation. According to recent data produced by the Brazilian Forum of Public Security, violence against women has increased in recent years in the country.

Hernández’s murder also reignited the debate about women’s rights to safely travel alone. According to Nataly Castro, a Brazilian traveler who has visited 180 countries by herself, “Being a woman traveling alone is a symbol of resistance, of resilience. We end up breaking stereotypes. The more women do this, the more we will inspire other women and perhaps build a support network to encourage, most importantly, safety.”

However, when a woman is assaulted, violated, or murdered on a solo journey, many people still react by wondering what a woman was doing traveling alone instead of questioning what is wrong with a society that so violently punishes a woman exercising her rightful freedom to move to other places.

The entrepreneur Jussara Botelho, creator of Sister Wave, a platform to connect and guide women travelers, emphasized what traveling can mean in a woman’s life, telling G1, “traveling alone in a woman’s life is very transformative. You realize that you can, that you have autonomy.” In 2021, she won an award from the World Tourism Organization, affiliated with the United Nations, for her contribution to sustainable and responsible tourism. Despite being aware of the challenges women often face when traveling alone, Botelho emphasizes that fear should not prevent women from enjoying this right. “You learn that you can be afraid because it’s good to stay alert,” she said. “But it cannot be something paralyzing.”

Researcher Flavia Lopes from the University of Porto is dedicated to studying women who travel alone. Her studies have shown that historically, women travelers have produced accounts of their experiences. Lopes also develops a critical view of the male hero archetype who embarks on adventures and is seen as virtuous, overshadowing the image of women who also travel on their own. She told Termometro Da Politica, “It is important to defend the free female body that travels as resistance to the constraints of a patriarchal society that confines us to domestic spheres. Still. Even after so many years.”

Julieta Hernández used to say on her social media that her home was movement. She was a free-spirited woman who believed her mission in life was to bring joy wherever she went. In this sense, it is crucial to emphasize that women should indeed have the right to move and mobilize their bodies freely and alone without fearing that their lives will be tragically interrupted during this journey.