Oops! You Caught Manuela D’Avila Breastfeeding In Public! Are Men Sexualizing The Act Of Breastfeeding?

July 29th, 2016   |   Updated on April 25th, 2023

A photo of Brazilian Politician Manuela D’Avila breastfeeding her baby while doing animated discussion in the National Assembly has gone viral across the social media.

In January, Manuela D’Avila released a photo of herself breastfeeding her daughter. But this was not in National Assembly but in her home, but it still had created a controversy as many took objection to a politician showing her breasts in a photo.

Breastfeeding in public tends to be controversial. We have heard of mothers getting negative comments and nasty looks when breastfeeding in public. We are not averse to exposed breasts. They are all over the media: in movies, magazines, even television. But put a nursing infant anywhere near those breasts and suddenly some people are offended. Why? Are those persons sexualizing the act of breastfeeding?

Manuela D’Avila asked, “Why does my photo ran the world? Politics is male and sexist, the policy has no space for women, the policy has no space for what separates us from the men, the policy has no space for the naivety and for the joy of children, there’s no room for the naturalness I have reconciled with our work and our struggles with our babies. ”

Recently, Dr Sarah Kate Hooper, posted a complaint to Facebook describing how she was addressed for breastfeeding her baby on board a kulula flight.

What’s your thought? Do you think as a society, we must support mothers who are contributing to the well being of our nation by breastfeeding?  Don’t you think it’s an unnecessary barrier to breastfeeding?