IDEOLOGY AND GENDERED DOUBLE STANDARDS IN BABY MAMA DISCOURSE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

This study examines the construction of misogyny and gendered double standards in Nigerian digital discourse surrounding the “baby mama” identity. The study was necessitated by the relative paucity of existing studies linguistically examining this phenomenon within the Nigerian context. Situated within the context of celebrity culture and social media commentary, the research investigates how language is used to regulate women’s sexuality, motherhood, and respectability. Drawing on Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA), the study analyzes six purposively selected posts from publicly accessible Nigerian entertainment blogs and associated commentaries on X (formerly Twitter). A critical discourse analytical approach is employed in the study. The findings reveal that the term “baby mama” functions as a stigmatizing master label that reduces women’s identities to their reproductive status while simultaneously normalizing male sexual autonomy. The analysis further demonstrates how moral, religious and relational discursive strategies are deployed to discipline women symbolically and reinforce patriarchal norms. Through repetitive labeling, evaluative language and asymmetrical identity construction, digital platforms reproduce gendered hierarchies under the guise of entertainment reporting. The study concludes that baby mama discourse is not merely descriptive but ideological, serving as a mechanism for sustaining symbolic inequality in contemporary Nigerian digital culture. It therefore calls for critical engagement with everyday digital language practices that normalize gendered moral regulation