RAPE CULTURE AND LANGUAGE ENABLERS IN SELECT NIGERIAN POP MUSIC

Abstract

Existing studies have examined rape culture using critical discourse theory, feminist theory and new media theory perspectives. However, a pragmatic approach in deconstructing the language used in some Nigerian pop music and how they act as enablers of rape is sparse in the literatures. Hence, this paper builds on existing literature by exploring the subject from a pragmatic perspective, using Mey’s 2001 Pragmeme – a theory which emphasizes contextualization of linguistic choices in given settings and insights from Conceptual Metaphor theory. This paper therefore examines how language used in selected Nigerian Pop songs propagate rape culture and other acts of sexual violence.   two songs were purposively selected from two Nigerian pop artistes – Olamide and Lil Kesh to interrogate how the songs enable rape culture from a pragmatic perspective. Findings revealed that the reference strategies deployed in the songs index rape culture, use of dysphemistic metaphors to refer to sex and other body parts, propagation of erroneous beliefs about sex and other related phenomena. The language used in the songs trivializes sex and sometimes normalises rape culture. Nigerian Pop music is a site for exhibiting counter hegemonic designs which provides us with the belief systems and ideologies of the ever-adventurous youths.