The representation of issues of sexual violence and sexual consent on reality TV Shows using "Big Brother Nigeria 2017" as a case study

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 70, Monash University Melbourne, course: Communication and Media Studies, language: English, abstract: This paper presents a media and cultural studies analysis of representations of issues around sexual consent and sexual violence against women on reality TV shows with a focus on the "Big Brother Nigeria 2017" case of sexual assault. In view of this, this thesis addresses the following questions to analyse the representation of issues related to sexual violence on Reality TV (RTV) shows.

How are sexual consent and sexual violence represented by the producer of a reality show in Nigeria?How are the issue of sexual consent and sexual violence perceived by the audience of the reality show in Nigeria? How does actions of housemates/ contestants in the Big Brother reality TV show represent the reality of issues in the Nigerian society?

This paper critically analyses the "Big Brother Nigeria 2017" reality TV show in relation to the perceptions, interpretation and representation of incidents involving issues of sexual consent and sexual violence. This thesis analyses these representations and perceptions from the audience's perspective as well as the producers' point of view. This thesis examines the relationship between RTV and a representation of the cultural norms and belief system of the Nigerian society. This thesis also gives a critical overview to rape culture, sexual violence and sexual consent awareness in Nigerian society. Using primary and secondary data obtained from two social media sites, Instagram (IG) and YouTube, this paper offers a detailed overview to the current state of sexual consent and sexual violence awareness and evaluates the reactions in terms of what can be considered as their perceptions, and representation through what is watched on the Nigerian RTV. Owing to the awareness and the nature of RTV and huge audience participation, these issues create an avenue that generates awareness on sexual violence and consent in Nigeria. In agreement with Tester (1994) and Purvis (2006), more effort needs to be channelled at the use of RTV towards creating awareness on these societal issues as such. It is clear from the analysis that there still exists a gap in the level of awareness pertaining to issues concerning sexual violence and consent in Nigeria.