The “Educational Spanking”, Yet Again…

Opinion piece by Bárbara Figueiredo published [in Portuguese] in the Diário de Coimbra newspaper

We return to the topic of the so-called “educational spanking — or “educational slap” — following the court conviction of a Portuguese influencer who shared on social media that she had immersed her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter in cold water to stop a tantrum. Reportedly, she repeated this action at least twice—once in the bathtub at home and another time in the pool at her condominium, immersing the fully clothed child. The court ruled that these actions constitute the crime of domestic violence, sentencing the digital influencer to a two-and-a-half-year prison term, suspended, as these behaviors were deemed not a form of care but, as the court noted, an attempt to forcibly stop tantrums. Additionally, the influencer was ordered to pay her daughter compensation of one thousand euros.

Indeed, the videos in which the influencer recounted these two incidents, deemed proven by the court and in which she boasted of successfully stopping the tantrums, caused significant public outcry when shared on social media. Numerous criticisms ensued, prompting both the intervention of the CPCJ (the Portuguese Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People) and an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. During the course of the legal proceedings, charges were filed, and the case has now culminated in this conviction, though the defense has already announced plans to appeal.

Although not unprecedented, this conviction for domestic violence highlights the fact that such crimes are not confined solely to violence between spouses, as is most often the case, but can also encompass violent behaviors inflicted on minors, even when allegedly intended as discipline—the so-called “educational slap.” Additionally, it is worth emphasizing that, as is increasingly common, this criminal case arose from the dissemination of videos and their thousands of reproductions on social media, as well as the subsequent reactions and backlash they garnered. Consequently, given the social impact of this case, the general preventive function of penalties takes on particular importance, as the punishment applied here serves not only to sanction the influencer’s behaviors and prevent her from repeating them but also to discourage society as a whole—that is, each and every one of us—from engaging in similar actions.