GENDER, HEALTH AND BREASTFEEDING:

representations and discourses in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

The article seeks to dialogue with studies on gender, science and health in order to understand how discourses around the themes of motherhood and breastfeeding are constructed and articulated. Explores the results of two studies on communication and breastfeeding in Brazil, seeking to argue that the “good mother” paradigm continues to be reproduced in official policies and professional practices in the field, generating different impacts among people who breastfeed and in the production of discourses on the topic in Brazilian society. It uses discourse analysis, with Foucauldian inspiration, as a method of analyzing research materials, seeking to point out the absence of studies in the field of public health that consider the experiences of those who experience breastfeeding beyond “good practices”.