Politics

What Happened When This Mom Breastfed at a Bernie Sanders Rally

March 4th 2016

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders has shown support for fan and Ohio mother Margaret Bradford, whose breastfeeding photo at one of his rallies went viral on Facebook this week.

Bradford shared an image on Monday showing her cheering on Sanders while she breastfed her child at his gathering. The post has more than 2,000 reactions on Facebook and even launched the hashtag #‎boobsforBernie‬.

 


"There is no, 'I’m feeding you in 10 minutes.' It’s, 'I’m feeding you right here, right now, or you’re screaming,'" Bradford told ABC affiliate station WEWS-TV of her decision to breastfeed at the Sanders event. "A hungry baby is a hungry baby."

Bradford wrote in a second Facebook post that Sanders and his wife "both thanked [her] for doing what mothers do and taking care of [her] daughter when she needed her mom, even if that meant nursing in public!" Sanders reiterated his admiration for Bradford and all breastfeeding moms in a tweet about her viral photo:

Though Bradford's initial breastfeeding post was flagged and removed after going viral, the viral image has since been put back on Facebook. Bradford, unfortunately, is far from the only woman to have a breastfeeding image reported and flagged for removal on Facebook. Many mothers are shamed for breastfeeding in public or sharing pictures of breastfeeding on social media because some find this inappropriate.

Last month, a Florida mother named Maria Corry shared a photo of herself breastfeeding her child behind an image of a lingerie model after several people had flagged a previous breastfeeding photo she shared. Corry did this to highlight the hypocritical way people celebrate breasts in a sexual manner but shame mothers for breastfeeding in front of others.

 

"So since my breastfeeding photo which showed NOTHING got reported more than FIVE times, I'm posting this," Corry wrote. "I bet this won't be reported, because you can see this picture in every mall you step into, huge and blown up outside the store. This is not frowned upon, or ever reported, as it is seen everywhere. But a [woman] nurturing and feeding their baby is looked down on."

For more on the fight to normalize breastfeeding, check out this video from ATTN:

 

RELATED: People Love This Woman's Viral Wedding Breastfeeding Picture

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