Antithetical Gendered Stances in Readers’ Comments on Domestic Violence against Men

Abstract

Domestic violence against women (DVAW) has received much attention from scholars across disciplines, leading to a circumvention of studies on domestic violence against men (DVAM). This paper, therefore, engages in a qualitative dialogic analysis of readers' comments on cases of DVAM reported in select blogs in order to elicit opposing gendered stances on DVAM in the selected readers' comments; interpret the linguistic resources and interactional practices used in projecting the identified opposing stances; and explicate on the implications of the gendered stances on cases of DVAM in Nigeria. The data comprises 248 readers' comments on cases of DVAM culled from the archives of <em>Bella Naija</em> and <em>Linda Ikeji</em>'s blogs. The two blogs constantly report on domestic issues. Haddington's (2004) Stance taking model is adapted as the analytical framework. The study portrays opposing gender-based stances on DVAM in Nigeria in order to construe gendered perspectives on the phenomenon and to portray the dynamism of domestic violence (DV).