The Many Troubles of the Flaccid Penis: A Corpus-Based Discourse Analysis of Male Infertility in Ayobami Adebayo’s Stay with Me

Abstract

Fathering a child does not just confer a new identity on a Nigerian man, it encapsulates the essence of his existence. Although male infertility negatively impacts sterile men’s masculinity, it is rarely studied as such. This study focuses on the struggles of the non-virile man in a culture where his existence is deeply rooted in virility. Using Corpus Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. I examine how the pronoun “I” and its Ngram realizations are used to express the male character’s personal struggles with infertility in Ayobami Adebayo’s Stay with Me. I conclude that an erect phallus is crucial to a male’s positive self-appraisal and self-actualization in Nigeria.