From Passive Partakers to Sexual Provocateurs: A Taxonomic Study of the Emerging Sexual Identities of Women in Nigeria’s Digital Space

Abstract

Female sexuality in Nigeria is exiting the traditional orbit where its patterns and parameters were foregrounded to a socially calibrated enclave determined by the erotic energy of women exercising their sexual autonomy in Nigeria’s digital space. As if fighting the conspiracy of silence that has enshrouded their sexual agency, young women and girls in Nigeria are becoming overtly assertive about their sexual needs, bodily rights, and romantic expectations in ways that are reinforcing their sexual empowerment and agency. This paper attempts a taxonomic examination of the trends in the sexual identities of women discernible in the comic skits and memes of female content creators who specialise in producing content involving women expressing their primal libidinal instincts. Theoretical inspiration is drawn from Jeffrey Week’s theoretical work on sexuality (2007). Data were curated from memes on Facebook featuring women from the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria - Yorùbá, Hausa and Igbo - who explicitly expressed their libidinal urges and sexual agency. Eight memes were purposively selected based on their features, substantiating the arguments raised in this study. The study reveals that the potent libidinal forces of women on social media can be grouped into four sexual types: the sexpert, the erotophile, the succubus and the fetishist. The study concluded that sexuality has transformed from the orbit of traditional moralism and cultural enclave to the threshold of sexual egalitarianism in Nigeria.

Keywords: Digital space, sexual identities, passive partakers, sexual provocateurs, Nigeria