Discussion of abortion and rape generates more than 1 million social media posts
Study by FGV DAPP counts more than 286,200 mentions of subject on single day.
Public debate about rape has grown more prominent recently, in the wake of several high-profile media reports. Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Department of Public Policy Analysis (FGV DAPP) has just carried out a study about discussion of abortion on social networks. It identified 1.47 million Twitter posts related to abortion between May 1 and June 27.
Four recent episodes recently hit the headlines in Brazil. An 11-year-old girl in Santa Catarina was raped and became pregnant. The same thing happened to actress Klara Castanho in Sao Paulo. A girl in Rio de Janeiro was kept in confinement and abused. Finally, a doctor raped a patient during childbirth in São João de Meriti, Rio de Janeiro.
The subject was discussed the most on June 25, when there were more than 286,200 mentions. On that day, the rape of the girl in Santa Catarina was still being discussed when it became known that actress Klara Castanho had given her baby away for adoption. She was criticized by some people for this decision.
In addition, it is worth noting that in May, the abortion issue became more prominent when the United States Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion. This gave rise to more than 34,600 Twitter posts.
Of the 10 main hashtags on this issue in Portuguese, the most popular, accounting for 21,400 tweets, was #abortonao (“no to abortion”), reflecting opposition to abortion. However, if taken together, all the hashtags defending the right to abortion had greater engagement. For example, #criancanaoemae (“a child is not a mother”) appeared in 15,300 tweets, while #abortoseguro (“safe abortion”) and #abortolegal (“legal abortion”) appeared in 8,500 and 5,000 tweets, respectively. Other hashtags also seemed to suggest methods for terminating a pregnancy, such as #comoabortar (“how to abort”) and #abortoemcasa (“abortion at home”). There were also references to two abortion drugs, #cytotec and #misoprostol.
To see the complete study, click here.
Leia também
