Mrs Ruth Emmanuel

University of Florida

Bio

Emmanuel Ruth is a health communication scholar and second-year Ph.D. student at the University of Florida. Her research examines body image, gender, identity, and health behavior. She studies how digital environments, cultural contexts, and gendered factors shape health-related decisions and identity. Using mixed methods, her work seeks to understand women’s experiences and how communication influences the ways women navigate their bodies, health, and identities.

Policing Femininity in Nigerian Digital Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gendered Narratives on X (Formerly Twitter)

Abstract

This study examines how femininity is constructed, negotiated, and contested in Nigerian digital discourse through feminist critical discourse analysis of 93 posts and comment threads on X. Four themes emerged: femininity as softness, submission, and domestic responsibility; labeling and name-calling; comparison as regulation; and independence as a threat to femininity. Findings show how digital discourse reproduces and contests gender expectations, with implications for women’s identities, social visibility, and participation in online public discourse.