Cruising on power: a critical stylistic study of gendered interaction in the parent-led matchmaking edition of Cruise

Abstract

Insight into gender discourse requires examining both the ideologies embedded in interaction and the linguistic choices through which those ideologies are enacted. This study investigates how gendered ideologies are enacted and sustained through language in two episodes of the parent-led matchmaking edition of the Nigerian YouTube reality show by Cruise. Drawing on Critical Stylistics, the study identifies four prominent ideological constructs: patriarchy/masculinity, femininity, egalitarianism and intellectual competence as a measure of romantic suitability. The analysis shows that these ideologies are linguistically constructed through textual-conceptual resources including representing actions, events and states, naming and describing, assuming and implying, hypothesizing and negating. These resources shape how men and women are positioned in relation to work, domestic roles, beauty, supportiveness and decision-making. While patriarchal and egalitarian orientations coexist throughout the interactions, some ideological variations also reflect generational and broader socio-cultural influences. Situated within the contemporary Nigerian context, the findings demonstrate how everyday conversational choices both (re)produce and contest gendered expectations and show that parent-led matchmaking discourse constitutes an important site for negotiating gender ideologies in contemporary Nigerian society.