‘A Crossdresser or Trans woman?’ The Discourse Representation of Bobrisky in the Nigerian Press

Abstract LGBTQ+ people in Nigeria often face backlash due to societal stigma and legal barriers. Linguistic studies on these sexual and gender minorities in Nigeria have mainly considered how they are discursively represented as a group without adequate attention being paid to how the identities of particular individuals of this group are constructed. This study, therefore, examines the representation of Bobrisky, a prominent Nigerian social media influencer and transwoman, in the news reports of four purposively selected Nigerian newspapers ( The Punch , Vanguard , Daily Trust and Leadership ) published in 2024. Drawing on van Leeuwen’s theory of social actor representation and Halliday’s theory of transitivity, the study highlights the linguistic and discursive strategies used to portray Bobrisky and the underlying sociocultural ideologies they reflect. The study reveals eight identity constructions of Bobrisky, foregrounded by at least seven tools from Van Leeuwen’s categories of social actor representation and Halliday’s process types, material, behavioural, and verbal processes. The linguistic and discursive strategies delegitimise Bobrisky’s gender identity, sensationalise the actor’s persona, and reinforce cisnormative frameworks.