Digital desire and filtered selves
Performance, gender and intimacy in contemporary Nigerian fiction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24020643 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nifemi Orimabuyaku (0009-0001-5658-141X, Redeemer's University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-14 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Gender Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0958-9236 • E-ISSN: 1465-3869 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09589236.2026.2713191 |
| OpenAlex | W7172393727 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
The rapid growth of digital technologies has transformed romantic pursuit, reconfiguring courtship from a communally monitored practice into an algorithmically curated experience. This study examines how contemporary Nigerian fiction represents online dating and digital intimacy through the lens of Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, drawing on Damilare Kuku’s ‘Catfish’ and Ugochukwu Ugonna’s ‘Swiped Right’ and ‘Love at First Chat’. It argues that digital dating platforms in these narratives function as contested performative stages that are neither straightforwardly liberating nor uniformly oppressive, but structurally unequal in ways that determine who benefits and who bears the cost. Three interlocking dynamics emerge: the emotional and psychological risks of identity performance online; the reinforcement of gendered inequalities, whereby women disproportionately bear the emotional, physical and social risks of digital romance while men retain greater freedom and deniability; and the commodification of intimacy, whereby affection is filtered through visual appeal and algorithmic desirability. Yet the texts also depict these platforms as spaces of agency, hope and pleasure, particularly for those constrained by traditional courtship. Ultimately, Nigerian writers deploy digital intimacy to interrogate shifting values of love, identity and authenticity in a society where ‘filtered feelings’ have become both the condition and the cost of modern romance.
Doing gender · Ethnography · Narrative · Subjectivity · African history and culture studies · Comparative and World Literature · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |