Mara Martin turned her catwalk stride into a statement when she decided to take her five-month-old daughter along. The model and new mom was breastfeeding the baby when she strolled onto the runway during the Sport Illustrated Swim Search show during Miami Swim Week.
As the new mom commented on her Instagram account, she was grateful “to share this message and hopefully normalize breastfeeding and also show others that women CAN DO IT ALL!” She praised other participants for looking different from conventional swimsuit models.
Steering towards the body positive trend, Sport Illustrated magazine, known worldwide for picking the hottest cover girls for its annual swimsuit issue, let onto the runway women of different sizes and skin colors along with a prominent Paralympian, snowboarder Brenna Huckaby and 2018 SI cover girl Danielle Herrington.
While some admired the move, leaving comments like “What a beautiful statement!” or “Incredible,” others slammed it as a “publicity stunt” and pointed out what SI was really about.
Great tettas but WHY do that, what's the point of what she did other than sexual exploitation of her own gender!
— JD Reis (@Soccerlogical) 17 июля 2018 г.
All for breastfeeding; hate stunts.
— Randi__b (@beatnik24) 17 июля 2018 г.
“The SI swimsuit issue has been about impossibly beautiful women with outrageous bodies. That is what it is, everyone knows it. Don’t try to change it,” one of the users posted on Instagram.
In June, footage of Canadian Liberal Karina Gould breastfeeding her three-month-old son became the focus of a debate, causing a reaction on Twitter. Gould became Canada’s first federal minister to have a baby while in office.
READ MORE: Canadian MP Breastfeeding Baby in Parliament Goes Viral
After she returned to work in May, she brought her son Oliver with her, introducing him to her Liberal colleagues, and to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
