The Sexual Objectification of Women in the Nigerian Entertainment Industry

Abstract

The growing prevalence of pornography coupled with the influence of patriarchy on the Nigerian entertainment industry has made the objectification of womanhood a perceptible feature of films and musical videos produced by Nigerians. Using secondary sources and critical observations, this paper, attempts to illustrate the phenomenon of women’s sexual objectification in the Nollywood and Nigerian music industry. The paper defines the concept of women sexual objectification in the context of media production arguing that objectification is revealed by the types of camera angles and positions used in depicting women in filmic and pop video productions. The use of close-ups or medium range shots emphasizing the sexuality and sumptuousness of female characters in films or pop-videos are some of the techniques used by apologists of women’s sexual objectification. Sexual objectification thus entails making women characters in a filmic or musical production the object to be looked at or the spectacle to enjoy. The paper also shows how the sexual objectification of womanhood is manifested in selected Nollywood films and musical videos by Nigerian popular artistes. In the light of the selected pop videos and films, the paper argues that the types of camera movements and angles deployed in most Nigerian pop videos and Nollywood films are in line with the male gaze theory. These camera movements and angles systemically help depict the woman as a spectacle in itself as well as a sexual object. They also project the man as the reader of the meaning while “relegating” the woman to the status of the bearer of the meaning.