#MeToo/EuTambém: Going too far, not going far enough?

The Portuguese #MeToo, #EuTambém, was triggered by a television interview in 2021 where Sofia Arruda, a well-known actress, shared her story of sexual harassment by an unnamed powerful producer. The interview sparked a national debate on sexual harassment, leading to claims that the #MeToo movement had finally reached Portugal. This article analyses the media representations of the Portuguese #MeToo based on a dataset of opinion articles and interviews published in 2021 in three national newspapers and two news magazines. Mapping the Portuguese mediascape, I analyse how sexual harassment was mediatised after Arruda's interview and the tensions and arguments that emerged. Sexual harassment was broadly framed in terms of gendered power dynamics, but the debate was polarised. On one hand, #MeToo and public disclosures of sexual harassment were framed as going too far, by threatening due process and the presumption of innocence, thus risking discrediting “the real victims,” as well as overlapping seduction with harassment in the public discourse. On the other hand, #MeToo was criticized for not going far enough: several people commented on the lack of nominal accusations and reflected on how the Portuguese context, its scale and cultural conditions, blocked a lasting and transformative debate on sexual violence. I conclude by reflecting on the possibilities, limitations and contradictions posed by the #MeToo/EuTambém and its contribution to the public awareness of sexual violence and its gendered patterns in Portugal.