Victoria Donda Perez, Glamorous Argentinian MP, Breastfeeds Baby During Parliamentary Session

A photo showing glamorous Victoria Donda Perez, 37, an Argentinian MP, breastfeeding her 8-month-old baby girl during a parliamentary session in Argentina has gone viral on social media.

The photo, captured earlier in the month, during a meeting of the National Congress at the Congressional Palace in Buenos Aires, shows the young MP sitting back on a chair breastfeeding her 8-month-old daughter, Trilce, in front of a table strewn with the baby’s toys and sundry items.

The photo gives an impression of a busy working mother multitasking.

Her decision to breastfeed her baby at a session of the Argentine National Congress sparked a debate on social media.

Some praised her action, saying that her example gives boost to the ongoing campaign against social mores that disapprove of nursing mothers breastfeeding their babies in public. Some said the photo educates the public about the challenges that working mothers face.

Others expressed strong disapproval, saying that her action was inappropriate.

“I admire her because many mothers leave their children at the nursery although breast milk is so much better than any food. When your baby cries, all you want is to calm her down.

All right, but she should cover her breasts with one of those special bras. You don’t have to wander around showing your boobs.”

A few social media users speculated that the photo was released deliberately to show an example of a dedicated and hardworking woman combining her duties as a mother with her duties as an MP.

Perez became the youngest person ever — at the age of 30 — to become a member of Argentina’s National Congress in December, 2007. She is a human rights activist, an anti-poverty campaigner, and a lawyer, as well as a busy mother.

She is widely known by the nickname, “Dipusex,” meaning “sexy MP,” because of her youthful good looks.

She was born in 1977 in the notorious secret detention center called ESMA to political prisoners Maria Hilda Perez de Donda and Jose Maria Laureano Donda. Both were “leftist” activists who “disappeared” during Argentina’s Dirty War (1976-1983), prosecuted by the military junta of General Jorge Rafael Videla.

Although her parents were killed during the “Dirty War,” she was passed to another family for adoption. The family raised her without knowledge of her true identify.

She finally discovered her identify in 2003 at the age of 26 through two organizations for people “disappeared” during the Dirty War — H.I.J.O.S. (Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice Against Oblivion and Silence) and Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

After some hesitation, she consented to a DNA test that confirmed her identity in 2004.

[Image via Taringa]