The present article deals with breastfeeding and its relation with sexuality in an
anthropological approach, based on interviews carried out with men and women in Brazil and
France. In modern occidental society, double function of breast – maternal and erotic –, as well
as representations that man and woman have of the maternity, come out as the base for important
alterations in couple sexuality during the breastfeeding period. As maternal milk has a strong
symbolic meaning in different cultures, breastfeeding goes beyond biological and nutritional
contexts. Among others corporal substances, milk has an important role in the representations
of the body, originating blood relations and interdictions in different societies. The analysis of
Brazilian and French interviewees discourse reveals also the presence of some taboos when
these two practices – sexuality and breastfeeding – are taken into consideration. The reflection
on this matter is essential for the discussion of man-woman relations in the current Brazilian
breastfeeding incentive context
