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Paper short abstract:

Beyond the entertainment functions that social media skits serve, they reveal the gendered dimensions in societal interactions, especially within the Nigerian social space. This study examines the cross-sex interactions between male and female characters in select Taaoma’s YouTube skits.

Paper long abstract:

Social media skits allow for linguistic and other forms of engagement. Lately, many Nigerians produce skits where they expose the dynamics of social relations within the Nigerian society. Prominent amongst these skit makers is Maryam Apaokagi, popularly known as Taaooma whose skits on YouTube largely focus on familial relationships. The choice of Taaooma stems from the fact that she is one of the first and leading female skit makers in Nigeria. In spite of this, her works is believed to be under-investigated. This study, therefore, seeks to investigate the forms of cross-sex interactions between the male and female characters in Taaooma’s skits with a view to examining whether men and women use language differently or whether, as commonly argued, men use more assertive language than women. To achieve these aims, the study deploys aspects of Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Visual Discourse Analysis to examine ten purposively sampled skits. Fairclough’s CDA helps to reveal the way language is used to enact gender stratification in the skits while VDA helps to highlight the strength/weakness of the male and female characters portrayed through their kinesics, colours of their clothing and general physical outlook. Preliminary findings indicate that men adopt the ‘boss’ posture while women are usually ‘vulnerable’. It also reveals elements of imbalances in cross-sex interactions in the Nigerian society. The study advances that the stereotypes about men and women are constantly being standardised in discourse through their portrayals on the social media.