The Internet and digital platforms are contemporary ways of empowering and enabling openness about gender identity and sexual performance. Unsurprisingly, several studies have engaged with the treatment of issues surrounding gender and sexuality in various digital spaces like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. However, there is a need to examine how blogs in Nigeria challenge heteronormativity and patriarchy. This article attempts a content analysis of articles from Zikoko online magazine’s HER and Ships series to examine the engagement of issues surrounding women and their sexuality. Zikoko is a popular blog which enjoys a massive following and readership in Nigeria. Using Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and drawing insights from Chimamanda Adichie’s Liberal Feminism, this article argues that though an online space like Zikoko enables female sexual (heterosexual and queer) agency and plays a role in shaping Nigerian women’s experiences and self-identity, patriarchy and homophobia are persistent challenges militating against women’s sexual identity and other women’s issues in Nigeria.

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Interrogating Patriarchy and Homophobia in Nigeria’s Zikoko Online Magazine

  • Ayobami Onanuga

摘要

The Internet and digital platforms are contemporary ways of empowering and enabling openness about gender identity and sexual performance. Unsurprisingly, several studies have engaged with the treatment of issues surrounding gender and sexuality in various digital spaces like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. However, there is a need to examine how blogs in Nigeria challenge heteronormativity and patriarchy. This article attempts a content analysis of articles from Zikoko online magazine’s HER and Ships series to examine the engagement of issues surrounding women and their sexuality. Zikoko is a popular blog which enjoys a massive following and readership in Nigeria. Using Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and drawing insights from Chimamanda Adichie’s Liberal Feminism, this article argues that though an online space like Zikoko enables female sexual (heterosexual and queer) agency and plays a role in shaping Nigerian women’s experiences and self-identity, patriarchy and homophobia are persistent challenges militating against women’s sexual identity and other women’s issues in Nigeria.