Interrogating Gender, Sexuality and the Body through Selected Nigerian Musical Videos

The Nigerian leisure context has witnessed a significant transformation and a lot of this has been due to the influence of the mass media. Unlike the 1980s-1990’s when the Nigerian populace depended on the Nigerian Government to entertain them through traditional media forms of the television and radio; the coming of independent and private mass media stations opened the floodgates for diversity and choice. The mass media terrain did not only change in terms of number but also in terms of nationally produced programs and artists who introduced innovation to mass media entertainment. One of such innovative changes is in the area of music. Through musical videos, Nigerian artistes have not only entertained audiences within and outside Nigeria but have also been able to significantly redefine what leisure should look like. In this redefinition, sexuality, gender relations and the body are projected. It is based on this phenomenon that this paper considers selected Nigerian musicals in order to interrogate how gender, sexuality and the body is presented within leisure. The paper uses qualitative data methods to analyse the lyrics of songs as well as body movements, physical spacing and clothing to discuss the identified concepts.