SEXUALITY AND WOMANHOOD IN SELECTED NIGERIAN FILMS SEXUALITY AND WOMANHOOD IN SELECTED NIGERIAN FILMS

Abstract

There appears to be a high rate of negative stereotyping of women’s sexuality, behavior, interests, skills and self-perceptions in the narratives of the Nigerian films. Regardless of women’s increasing active roles in nation building and development in the Nigerian society, women are yet to be represented appropriately in the actions and dialogue of these video films which are exploitative of womanhood and therefore do not represent an ideal picture of African women. This paper thus investigates sexuality and womanhood in Nigerian films anchoring on Laura Mulvey’s- Feminist Film Theory to analyze specifically Chinwe Egwuagu’s ‘Mr and Mrs.’ (2012), Emem Isong’s and Ini Edo’s ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’(2014), Moreno Paul’s ‘Ije – The Journey’ (2012). The findings show that women were generally portrayed in the movies as objects of sex appeal for men, the weaker sex, domestic servants, the wicked mother in laws and working-class women as insubordinate wives and uncaring mothers, among others. The paper therefore concludes by acknowledging that women should be portrayed in positive roles in order to avoid these negative misconceptions in the larger Nigerian socio-cultural environment.