Women Forbidden from ‘Climbing Tall Trees’: Insecurity and Biological Asymmetry in Urhobo Sex Proverbs

Abstract

Insecurity and asymmetry in all their ramifications are ideological. They are also inherently communicative processes that are largely constructed and enacted through language in various institutional discourses. In Urhobo, sex proverbs copiously couch the ideological conceptualizations of the male-female biological asymmetry. Studies on Urhobo proverbs dwell largely on functional applications and documentations of the proverbs, thereby overlooking their ideological underpinnings. Therefore, in this article efforts are geared towards investigating and unravelling ideologies that have been habitualized in the semantic and pragmatic structures of the Urhobo sex proverbs. The intention is to throw open the patterns of relationship between the male and female participants in the society in relation to sex matters and power. Twenty six Urhobo indigenes (6 males and 20 females), who are competent in the socioculture and language were successfully interviewed to elicit Urhobo sex proverbs. Proverbs that contain the following lexical items: penis, virgina, to make love or to have sex are purposively selected and subjected to critical discourse analysis (CDA). The main assumption of CDA is that language is both the site and the stake in the struggle for power and domination. Findings show that in the Urhobo sex proverbs, there is asymmetry in access to sexual relations between the male and female. Although the sex proverbs do not always refer to copulation, they are often employed as powerful instruments to dominate and instil fear in the female participant. Consequently, patriarchal discourses are further entrenched in the society.