Promiscuous Technologies: Shifting Notions of Gender and Sexuality in Nigeria’s Digital Public Sphere

Abstract

This paper critically examines the emergence of sexual technologies in Nigeria's digital public sphere. In particular, it explores how the use of sexual technologies like vibrators and dildos in public spaces is viewed as transgressive, and how cultural, social, and religious factors shape Nigerians' perceptions. The paper adopts the concept of transgressive publics to describe how social media enables minoritized groups to challenge dominant norms around sexuality. Two recent cases are analyzed – one involving a Nollywood actress publicly distributing dildos at an event, and another with a blogger recording Nigerian women using vibrators. To examine public discourse around these events, social media comments on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were collected and analyzed thematically. Key findings show sexual technologies are condemned as immoral, demonic, disrespectful to cultural values, and a threat to masculinity. Criticism relies heavily on moral and religious beliefs that cast non-normative sexual expressions as sinful. Reactions also expose gender anxieties related to female autonomy and shifting power relations. However, some pragmatic comments defend women's actions given Nigeria's difficult economic climate. While stigmatized, the public emergence of sexual technologies constitutes a transgressive public for asserting women's sexual agency and pushing boundaries. The study demonstrates how cultural narratives regulating sexuality are negotiated through technology, highlighting tensions between tradition and modernity.