Published on Authors of this article:. Background: Overcoming gender inequities is a global priority recognized as essential for improved health and human development. Gender-based violence GBV is an extreme manifestation of gender inequities enacted in real-world and internet-based environments. In Nigeria, GBV has come to the forefront of attention since , when a state of emergency was declared due to increased reporting of sexual violence.
Understanding GBV-related social narratives is important to design public health interventions. Objective: We explore how gender-related internet-based conversations in Nigeria specifically related to sexual consent actively agreeing to sexual behavior , lack of consent, and slut-shaming stigmatization in the form of insults based on actual or perceived sexuality and behaviors manifest themselves and whether they changed between and Additionally, we explore what role events or social movements have in shaping gender-related narratives in Nigeria.
Methods: Social listening was carried out on 12, social media posts Twitter, Facebook, forums, and blogs and almost 2 million public searches Google and Yahoo search engines between April and May The data were analyzed using natural language processing to determine the most salient conversation thematic clusters, qualitatively analyze time trends in discourse, and compare data against selected key events.
Thematic analysis shows conversation revolves around the objectification of women, poor comprehension of elements of sexual consent, and advocacy for public education about sexual consent.
Additionally, posters created space for sexual empowerment and expressions of sex positivity, pushing back against others who weaponize posts in support of slut-shaming narrative. Time trend analysis shows a greater sense of empowerment in advocating for education around the legal age of consent for sexual activity, calling out double standards, and rejecting slut-shaming.
