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1  Ifechelobi & Nwaenyi 

HELLINGER AND BUBMANN’S PATTERNS OF SEXISM IN THE LANGUAGE OF 

NOLLYWOOD MOVIES 

 

        Prof. Jane N. Ifechelobi 

   Department of English Language and Literature 

    Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka 

     Anambra State 

    jn.ifechelobi@unizik.edu.ng 

      & 

Chinyelu Nwaenyi 

Department of English Language and Literature 

Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka 

Anambra State 

alwayzchinny@gmail.com       

 

Abstract 

This study investigated sexist expressions in the language of Nollywood characters with the 

objective of finding out the meaning of a sexist expression, forms of sexist expressions used 

by the characters, and how the language used in the movies discriminate against women. It 

adopted Hellinger and Bubmann’s (2001, 2003) patterns of sexism in human language by 

examining three patterns: referential gender, false gender, and social gender in the language of 

Nollywood characters. This study used qualitative approach and the populations were the 

movies while the samples were the sexist expressions. The data were gathered from six 

Nollywood movies between the year 2016 and 2020 (Moth to a Flame, Mr Perfect, Dark Heart, 

Win a Heart, Tailor My Heart and Loving Ellen) using observation and note-taking techniques. 

The results revealed that these patterns are common in Nollywood movies and are mostly used 

by the males. The findings also demonstrated the extent to which this language can discriminate 

against women. 

Keywords: Sexist expressions, Nollywood, sexism, gender, language 

 

Introduction  

 Language is about communication. It does not just reflect the nature of society, but also serves 

as a primary means of constructing and maintaining that society. Since language is linked with 

the social attitudes of human beings and is also affected by their social views and values, 

people’s socio-cultural behaviours, attitudes and thoughts are reflected in their use of language. 

It is one of the most powerful means through which sexism and gender discrimination are 

perpetrated and reproduced. Historically, our society is man-oriented and man-centered. 

Therefore, sexism is generally conceived as anything that conveys that one sex is superior to 

the other. According to Ruether (165), sexism is “gender privilege of males over females”. 

Thus, exposure to and active use of sexist language may influence women’s attitudes about 

themselves, women in general, and the perceived difference between women’s and men’s 

status in society. Sexist language, according to Atkinson (75) is a “wide range of verbal 

practices, including not only how women are labeled and referred to, but also how language 

strategies in mixed sex interaction may serve to silence or depreciate women as interactants”.  

Its use therefore appears to be a reflection of attitudes that indeed serve to keep the subordinate 

group (women in particular) ‘in their place’. Although it is said to be decreasing, sexist 

language is still widely used in the media especially movies.  

Nollywood is a term used to describe the entire Nigerian film industry. Through its visual 

stories, it conveys great images of the Nigerian society and Africa as a whole. Although it 

cannot be compared to Hollywood and Bollywood, it is Africa’s most prevalent movie activity. 



AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2021 
 
 

2  Ifechelobi & Nwaenyi 

The depiction of women through the roles assigned to them and the language-use in Nollywood 

movies still have elements of discrimination in them. There have been issues of concern over 

the sexist expressions in Nollywood movies. This study explores sexist expressions in six 

Nollywood movies since the behaviours and opinions seen in movies can reflect the way our 

society works. The purpose is to identify and analyze sexist expressions as used by the 

characters in the movies.  

 

Statement of the Problem 

Representation of women in every field of life has always been a point of interest for 

researchers. The language used in movies depicts women as negative, passive, dependent, and 

subordinate to men. This is to say that there is hardly any movie in Nigeria (Nollywood) that 

does not contain little or much gender insensitive expressions that discriminate against women 

in it. This is why this study aims at exploring sexist expressions in Nollywood movies, by 

analyzing some films that include Hellinger and Bubmann’s patterns of  classification in them 

because some works have examined sexist language using Mills’ (2008) classification of 

sexism while others examined using Glick and Fiske’s (1996, 2001), but not much works have 

been done on sexist expressions in the language of Nollywood movies using Hellinger and 

Bubmann’s (2001, 2003) classification and this is the gap which this present study attempts to 

fill. The choice of Nollywood movies is informed by the fact that movies present the cultural 

background and identity of the country to the outside world. Therefore, this paper seeks to 

answer the following questions:  

i. What makes an expression sexist? 

ii. What forms of Hellinger and Bubmann’s pattern of sexism do the characters 

use? 

iii. How does the language used in the movies discriminate against women? 

 

Literature Review 

The concept of sexism is one of the most controversial domains in the recent sociolinguistic 

studies. Its role is to sustain patriarchy or domination of male, through conventional ideologies 

and material practices that repress women on the basis of sex or gender. Most languages are 

sexist which is due to the fact that many l 

anguage communities are built on a patriarchal system. However, the fact that different 

languages have different forms of expressing sexism makes the research on parameters of 

sexism in languages to become of great interest among scholars. Likewise Alhassan, who 

examines single lexical items, phrases, proverbs, popular sayings as well as language in active 

everyday use in conjunction with the social and cultural circumstances that define usage 

practices or add gendered meanings to the language and finds that proverbs, naming, social 

gender and referential gender are common forms through which sexism is expressed in 

Dagbanli, the language spoken in Ghana. Ndimande-Hlongwa and Rushubirwa (394), on the 

other hand, discuss how IsiZulu and Kiswahili languages enhance such inequality through 

words and phrases, and conclude that Swahili language shows sexism through agreement, 

social gender, idioms and referential gender. Saimon (150) explores sexist expressions in 

Nyakyusa language by using data collected from Nyakyusa speaking people as key informants 

through mobile phone interviews and concludes that Nyakyusa exhibits some elements of 

sexism through five forms of sexist expressions, namely, referential gender, social gender, 

lexical gender, proverbs and idioms, and agreements. Therefore, it is clear that sexist 

expressions have been explored using mobile phone interviews, newspapers and news report, 

but none have been done in movies, thus, a need to explore sexist expressions in Nollywood 

movies. 

 



AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2021 
 
 

3  Ifechelobi & Nwaenyi 

Theoretical Framework 

Sexist expressions can be seen in many different languages. Mills (2008), proposes a model 

where she specifies two types of sexism which are overt and indirect sexism, Glick and Fiske 

(1996, 2001), on their part, formulate ambivalent sexism which is divided into hostile and 

benevolent sexism, and Hellinger and Bubmann (2001, 2003) propose different model for the 

examination of sexism in language. However, this study adopts Hellinger and Bubmann’s 

(2001, 2003) patterns of sexism in human language as its theoretical framework. They identify 

ten patterns of sexist expressions, namely, 

a. Grammatical gender 

b. Lexical gender 

c. Referential gender 

d. False gender (generic masculine) 

e. Social gender 

f. Gender related to structure 

g. Agreement 

h. Pronominalization 

i. Coordination of conjoined nouns 

j. Proverbs and idioms 

This study examines three of their patterns: referential gender, false gender, and social gender 

in the language of Nollywood characters. 

 

Referential Gender: This occurs when certain references in the language are made to a single 

gender (women). According to Hellinger and Bubmann (8), referential gender “relates 

linguistic expressions to the non-linguistic reality; more specifically, referential gender 

identifies a referent as ‘female’, ‘male’ or ‘gender-indefinite’”. This means that a noun can 

indicate a male, a female or indefinite gender. Referential gender is concerned with “whom a 

particular personal noun or pronoun actually refers to in a given context” (Motschenbacher, 

25). It is an important category because grammatically, lexically, or socially gendered personal 

nouns may not necessarily be used correspondingly (Motschenbacher, 26). For example, the 

word, ‘guys’ is used to address a mixed-gender group or an inclusively group of females. 

Another example is the use of gendered pronoun to refer to a gender-indefinite personal noun 

such as ‘That patient…he’. In other words, using an anaphoric pronoun to refer to a gender-

indefinite personal noun talking about a specific male or female person is often dependent on 

referential gender (Motschenbacher, 29). 

 

Social Gender: This type of gender is based on how certain statuses are perceived to belong 

to men only or women while it is not an inherent character of such status (Hellinger and 

Bubmann, 2001, 2003). It is not concerned with biology or grammar; rather it is the “socially 

imposed dichotomy of masculine and feminine roles and character traits” (Kramarae and 

Treichler, 173). That is why Nissen (5) states that social gender is the “property of a word 

according to which people assign ‘generally male’ or ‘generally female”. Moreover, it does not 

directly label nouns as ‘male’ or ‘female’ instead it makes a gendered interpretation of these 

nouns more likely (Motschenbacher, 29). 

In other words, it is concerned with the gender assumptions and stereotypical associations that 

people assign to different personal nouns. In English, social gender may surface through 

generic anaphoric references to personal pronoun antecedents (for example, referring to a 

mechanic as ‘he’ and a nurse as ‘she’) or through overt opposite-gender marking (for example, 

male babysitter and woman surgeon), the latter being one of the means to reverse.  

 



AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2021 
 
 

4  Ifechelobi & Nwaenyi 

False Gender (generic masculine): This is concerned with the state whereby male pronoun or 

noun is used for all human beings (Hellinger and Bubmann, 2001, 2003; Mills, 2008). The 

word ‘man’ is the main generic masculine term. Mills (89) states that “the most common 

examples are when ‘he’ and ‘man’ are used for referring to both men and women, and it is 

more common to visualize a male person when interpreting a word that includes ‘man’ and this 

might lead to stereotypes of certain occupations”. The English word ‘man’ is a generic term 

that refers to ‘a human being’, ‘human beings as a group’, or ‘a male human being’. In society, 

men are considered the norm of the human species and this shows inferiority to the women 

race. Men and women are supposed to be treated equally, but it is not the same in the English 

lexicon where the word ‘man’ is referred to both male human being and the whole race as well. 

This shows how women are rendered invisible when referring to the general gender. Therefore, 

in this present study, the classifications by Hellinger and Bubmann (2001, 2003) are used as 

the theoretical framework to explore sexist expressions in Nollywood movies.  

 

Methodology 

This study employs qualitative method using descriptive design. The population consists of the 

movies while the samples are the sexist expressions. Data were collected from six Nollywood 

movies which are Moth to a Flame (2016), Mr Perfect (2017), Dark Heart (2018), Tailor My 

Heart (2019), Win a Heart (2020) and Loving Ellen (2020). The technique for data collection 

is done by observation and note-taking.  

 

Analysis 

The present study is qualitative in nature. Data were collected and analyzed by grouping the 

sexist expressions according to the three out of ten patterns of classification proposed by 

Hellinger and Bubmann (2001, 2003). However, the total number of the sexist expressions used 

is twenty. 

Results 

Table 1: Forms of Hellinger and Bubmann’s Patterns of Sexism in the Movies  

Sexist Forms Explored Examples and Number of Appearance 

Referential Gender Guys, gendered pronoun ‘he’ 

Social Gender Female driver, female pastor, female bodyguards  

False Gender (Generic Masculine) Man, gateman, manning the gate 

 

Research Question 1: What makes an expression sexist? 

Sexism is not just about statements which seem to excessively focus on gender when it is not 

relevant. According to Mills (2) statements may be considered to be sexist if they “rely on 

stereotypical and outdated beliefs, when referring to a particular woman”. Examples are shown 

below: 

 

 

 

Exchange 1 

Somizi: Look, you guys, your problem is not a problem at all. I have told you  

             what to do if it is about her hitting you. 

Fifi:      Hmm, what should he do?  

Somizi: Smack you around the bed so you can understand how it feels. 

Fifi:       You told him to hit me back? Wow. 

Somizi: Look guys, we don’t want any distractions. (Win a Heart) 

The statements above depict unconscious sexism as it is usually done both knowingly 

and unknowingly.  



AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2021 
 
 

5  Ifechelobi & Nwaenyi 

 

Exchange 2 

Roseline: Babe, who’s she?  

Ford:       Who? Joan? But I told you before. She’s my employee. 

Roseline: That drives you? Your driver? 

Ford:       Yes. 

Roseline: (chuckles) Wow! Ford! Are you Gaddafi? Next you tell me  

                you are hiring female bodyguards, eh. 

Ford:       Roseline, don’t start. 

Roseline: I shouldn’t start? Tell me, Ford, how did this happen? Did you  

                send out a memo or advert placement that you wanted a  

                female driver?      (Moth to a Flame) 

In exchange 2, the use of these feminine suffixes is sexist as it decreases the value of 

occupational titles. 

 

Exchange 3 

Edward: I’m really, really sorry, that was my gateman. 

Rachael: It’s okay. I see you are very passionate by your dogs. 

Edward: Oh yes, I don’t joke with my dogs at all. You know what they say,  

                you know, a dog is a man’s best friend. Yea, in fact, I am very  

                good at dogs.       (Mr Perfect)  

The expression in exchange 3 above is purely sexist because the word ‘man’ is used for 

all human beings (male and female inclusive).  

 

Research Question 2: What forms of sexist expressions do the characters use? 

The data reveal the following forms of sexist expressions:  

a. Referential gender such as  

 

Exchange 4 

Elvis: But this is really really beautiful, I tell you.  

Ellen: Really? 

Elvis: Yea, it’s nice. You know what they say about painting, right? They say that  

           every painter paints according to how he feels on the inside.           (Loving Ellen) 

In the above exchange, gendered pronoun is used to refer to a gender-indefinite personal noun. 

b. Social gender such as 

 

 

Exchange 5 

Annex:      Hei! Look at you. You look good. 

Desmond: Have a seat, have a seat. (To Kimora) How are you? 

Kimora:    I’m very well. Thank you. 

Annex:      Bad manners. Pardon me. My sister, Tasha. Tasha meet Ade and Kimora.                          

Kimora:    Hi, Tasha, really nice to meet you. 

Tasha:      Same here. 

Annex:      Guess what guys? She is a pastor. 

Ade:          A lady pastor? Hmm, that’s really admirable.                       (Dark Heart) 

c. False gender (generic masculine) such as 

 

Exchange 6  

Nkem: Lucky 



AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2021 
 
 

6  Ifechelobi & Nwaenyi 

Lucky: Sir. Welcome Sir. 

Nkem: Is this your duty post? 

Lucky: (stammering) Sir, I just come to to ehm to 

Nkem: Is this how you are manning my gate?    (Tailor my Heart) 

 

Research Question 3: How does the language used in the movies discriminate against 

women? 

The language used in Nollywood movies discriminate against women because it presents 

women as people who should not have the same right, position and responsibility as men. 

Fi'aunillah's, (148) supporting this view, states that sexist language leaves women “yearning 

for equal treatment for females and a freedom from the domination of men". The language 

defines them as less significant than men and depreciates them (Romaine, 39). The language 

used in Nollywood movies also discriminate against women by derogating them since women 

are more likely than men to be portrayed as sexual objects through the use of language. Another 

way that sexist language derogates women is through different connotations for words that may 

have once been parallel, for example, ‘Pastor and Pastor Mrs’. All of the allegedly parallel 

words for women have negative connotations and in some cases, sexual connotations, that the 

male terms do not have. Using terms relating to women that put them in a ‘power down’ 

position, for instance, ‘lady pastor’, ‘female driver’, and ‘female bodyguard’ is another way 

sexist language derogates women. 

 

Discussion of Findings 

As shown in the results, there are three patterns of sexism used, namely, referential gender, 

social gender, and false gender (generic masculine). In referential gender, the word ‘guys’ in 

exchange 1, though it seems as if it is gender inclusive (male and female), is sexist because its 

first impression reveres men as one cannot actually say ‘what are you girls saying?’ or ‘what 

are you babes saying?’ when males are involved without sounding politically incorrect. The 

word ‘guy’ expresses a sense of solidarity as well as negative feeling. Also the gendered 

pronoun ‘he’ in exchange 4 is used to refer to a gender-indefinite personal noun which shows 

how the English language treats man as the center of the society and rarely notices the existence 

of woman. Men are viewed as the ones representing all the human beings. This practice 

contributes to women’s invisibility in language and reflects a male dominated society. Social 

gender is the second pattern used in this study. This findings show that there is asymmetry 

association of certain social status between men and women. In exchanges 2 and 5, for instance, 

we see the words ‘bodyguards’, ‘pastor’ and ‘driver’ used as general terms for the professions, 

but adding the word ‘female’ to those words when referring to women is a way of 

discriminating against women which creates the impression that women are inferior and 

dependent on men in every aspect of life. The third pattern is the false gender. In society, men 

are considered the norm of the human species and this shows inferiority to the women race. 

Men and women are supposed to be treated equally, but it is not the same in the English lexicon 

where the word ‘man’ is referred to both male human being and the whole race as well. Such 

words as ‘man’, ‘gateman’ and ‘manning’ used in exchanges 3 and 6 are sexist as they are used 

to represent male and female as well. The term ‘gatekeeper’ is better because it is gender 

inclusive. This shows how women are rendered invisible when referring to the general gender, 

that is, how women disappear from the contextual landscape when masculine generics are used 

as a reference to both male and female.  

 

 

 

 



AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2021 
 
 

7  Ifechelobi & Nwaenyi 

Conclusion 

This study aims at exploring sexist expressions by the characters in Nollywood movies using 

Hellinger and Bubmann’s (2001, 2003) model. Findings show that referential gender, social 

gender, and false gender are common in Nollywood movies. The findings also demonstrate the 

extent to which this language can discriminate against women. Following the findings, the 

researcher calls for papers that deal on the strategies for eliminating sexist expressions in 

Nollywood movies. 

 

Works Cited 

Alhassan, Salifu. “Language and gender:  The construction and Reproduction of Gender  

in Dagbanli.” Linguistics. University of Ghana, Ghana.1 Jun. 2012. Thesis. 

Atkinson, Kathrina. “Language and Gender”. Women’s Studies: A Reader. Ed. Stevi  

Jackson. Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatshef, 1993. 66-75. Print. 

Fi’aunillah, Tristy. K. “Sexist Language in The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy”  

Language Horizon 3.1 (2015): 143-149. Print. 

Glick, Peter. and Fiske, Susan. “The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating  

Hostile and Benevolent Sexism” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70.3 

(1996): 491-512. Print. 

Glick, Peter. and Fiske, Susan. “An Ambivalent Alliance: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism  

as Complementary Justifications for Gender Inequality” Journal of American 

Psychologist, 56.2 (2001): 109-118. Print. 

Hellinger, Marlis, and Bubmann, Hadumod, eds. Gender Across Languages: The  

Linguistic Representation of Women and Men. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2001. 

Print. 

Helliner, Marlis. and Bubmann, Hadumod. “The Linguistic Representation of Women  

and Men” Gender Across Languages, 2, (2003): 1-26. Print.  

Kramarae, Cheris. and Treichler, Paula. A. A Feminist Dictionary. Boston: Pandora,  

1985. Print.   

Mills, Sara. Language and Sexism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print. 

Motschenbacher, Heiko. “Structural Linguistic Gender Categories and Discursive  

Materialization: A Deconstructionist Analysis” Indiana University Working Papers in 

Linguistics, 8.3 (2008): 21-46. Print. 

Ndimande-Hlongwa, Nobuhle. and Rushubirwa, Leonce. “Gender Inequality and Language  

Reflections in African Indigenous Languages: Comparative Cases from Isizulu and 

Kiswahili” Alternation Special Edition,13 (2014): 390-410, Print. 

  

Nissen, Kjaer. “Aspects of Translating Gender” Linguistik Online, 11.2 (2013):  4-10.  

Print. 

Romaine, Suzanne. (1999). Communication Gender. London: Routledge, 1999, Print. 

Ruether, Rosemary. R. Sexism and God-talk: Toward a Feminist Theology. America: Beacon  

Press, 1993, Print. 

Saimon, Musa. “Sexist Expressions in Nyakyusa” Issues in Language Studies, 9.1 (2020): 144- 

154. Print. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2021 
 
 

8  Ifechelobi & Nwaenyi 

Filmography 

  

Dark Heart. Dir. Chuks John Ejiofor. Perf. Mike Godson. Mindset Studios. 2018. DVD. 

Loving Ellen. Dir. Victor Okpala. Perf. Frederick Leonard. Dope 7 Media Production. 2020.  

DVD. 

Moth to a Flame. Dir. Onesoul. Perf. Femi Jacobs. Heat Factory I.C.I. 2016. DVD. 

Mr Perfect. Dir. Paul Igwe. Perf. Wole Ojo. Whitestone Studios. 2017. DVD. 

Tailor my Heart. Dir. Charles Uwagbai. Perf. Frederick Leonard. Oakfil Production Studios,  

 2019. DVD. 

Win A Heart. Dir. Solomon Mac-Auley. Perf. Nwakaego Nwosu. Avizariah Production. 2020.  

DVD. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


