“A man is not made of iron”: Thematic analysis of news and comments on Facebook about a student rape case

Abstract

Starting with the case of a rape that took place among students at the University of Coimbra (Portugal) in 2021, this article consists of an exploratory study of the news stories relating to the exposure of the case, as well as the Facebook comments on those same stories. Bearing in mind that, in Portugal, the crime of rape has been clouded by myths that often permeate the media and social networks, this article aims to understand how these myths are often (re)produced by the media and how they generate dialogue on social networks.