Stemming from a broader PhD project, this article argues that neoliberal post-feminist cultural sensibilities–entrenched in contemporary popular culture–about empowered, agentic and self-determining women, are regressive for the feminist advancement of gender-relational equality in the African context. To arrive at this conclusion, the central aim was to elucidate whether the gender-performative representations prioritised in the multimodal discourses of Afrobeats music videos are implicated in post-feminist sensibilities and if so, in what ways and to what effect? Given the continent’s richly diverse, yet largely heteropatriarchal, sociocultural formations, I argue that ideas about empowered, agentic and self-determining (black) African women are–based on the limited purview offered through the multimodal discourses of a small corpus of Afrobeats music videos–no more than sociocultural façades as opposed to gender-relational realities in our context. The article relied on a multimodal critical discourse analysis of a total of nine music videos drawn from the PhD project’s larger corpus of 25 Afrobeats music videos, their accompanying song lyrics, as well as a selection of YouTube viewer comments extracted from the analysed music videos. In critically exploring the gender-relational depictions prioritised in the analysed music videos, I argue for the consideration of what I am coining “misogyrom”; a gender-relational cultural sensibility which, in tandem with a post-feminist sensibility partly undergirding the multimodal discourses of these music videos, effectively veil this popular musical genre’s evidently sexist and misogynistic undertones that subvert potentialities of empowered, agentic and self-determining black African women. Afrobeats–a globally popularising African musical genre–is widely consumed by transnational audiences. This sees the music videos produced by artists from this musical genre, reach YouTube viewership figures ranging in the hundreds of millions. As such, these Global South popular cultural texts are valuable conduits through which to critically examine contemporary social constructions and performances of gender and politically charged meanings of “womanhood” in relation to “manhood” as implicated as they are in heteropatriarchal collective African cultural worldviews. This article situates this musical genre’s multimodal discourses, specifically as they relate to gender and sexuality, within a broader post-feminist discourse about women’s  empowerment, agency and self-determination. The central aim, thus, is to elucidate whether the gender-performative representations prioritised in the multimodal discourses of Afrobeats music videos are implicated in post-feminist sensibilities and if so, in what ways and to what effect? I follow Simidele Dosekun in my considerations of post-feminist sensibilities in that I, like Incorporated in this study’s conceptual framework are feminist scholarly contributions about gender as performance , the he, as wellThis article draws specifically on nine music videos selected from a larger corpus of 25 Afrobeats music videos (from my PhD project) with high viewership figures–as at November 2018, when said music videos were downloaded from YouTube. These nine music videos form the core corpus of data analysed in this research article. In addition, for each of the nine music videos sampled, a written transcript of the song’s lyrics was also subjected to critical analysis. As secondary data, a textual corpus of YouTube viewer comments from each of the nine analysed music videos was also critically analysed. The article deployed a multimodal critical discourse analysis of the select Afrobeats music videos, their accompanying song lyrics, as well as the YouTube viewer comments so as to develop its arguments.Structurally, this article consists of four main sections following this introductory section. The first part situates the study’s empirical object of analysis within Judith-Butler-inspired scholarship about gender performativity, as well as scholarly literature on post-feminism. Thereafter, I offer a critical reading of performances of “manhood”/masculinities in the analysed texts in order to demonstrate dominant constructions of “manhood” in the hyperreal gender-relational contexts mediated in the analysed music videos. By so doing, I am able to briefly demonstrate three dominant forms of performative masculinities pervasive in the analysed multimodal discourses. It is in this section where I propose a new gender-relational cultural sensibility I call “misogyrom”—a cultural sensibility that I argue mediates performances of femininities that intersect with a salient post-feminist sensibility as evident in the analysed music videos.actual sociocultural advancement and just treatment, more especially in the domains of sexual expression.In the third section, I engage a critical reading of performances of “womanhood”/femininities in the analysed music videos. My reliance on a multifaceted conceptual framework undergirded by post-feminist cultural sensibilities, aids me in highlighting possible readings of women’s empowerment, agency and self-determination in the multimodal discourses of this musical genre. I achieve this by drawing on plot analyses from some randomly selected music videos from the nine analysed in this article. Lastly, in the section following this one, I advance an argument that readings of post-feminist notions of women’s empowerment, agency and self-determination in Afrobeats music videos–as African popular cultural texts–are mere social façades. Façades that are mediated and pseudo-legitimised by discourses of extreme (heteronormative) romanticism, implicated in a misogyrom sensibility which–if taken at face value–may inspire the uncritical absolving of heteropatriarchy from its deeply toxic nature toward black African women’s Gender performativity, as proposed by Judith Butler, purports that gender is a ritualised performance across diverse human societies. These learnt behaviors, in turn, are inextricably linked to notions of femininity and masculinity as themselves co-constructed along psychosocial influences of what it means to be born in possession of a particular external genital organ. With regard to gender, so argues Because there is neither an”essence” that gender ex-presses or externalizes nor an objective ideal to which gender aspires; because gender is not a fact, the various acts of gender creates the idea of gender, and without those acts, there would be no gender at all. Gender is, thus, a construction that regularly conceals its genesis.It is by acknowledging the distinction between gender and sex that we can observe the constructionist implications of gender in its performative guize. Gender identities are, thus, in constant flux and states of “becoming” as soon as one is born into this world. Commenting on how “real” or factual our gender identities are, : 524 remWhat this does, is it enforces “sedimented expectations of gendered existence” : 524. Si…its gender through a series of acts which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time. From a feminist point of view, one might try to reconceive the gendered body as the legacy of sedimented acts rather than a predetermined or foreclosed structure, essence or fact, whether natural, cultural, or linguistic.Genders, as socially constructed notions, Butler argues, can then be perceived as neither true nor false, neither real nor apparent; but ever-evolving performative regimes that variously compel us to “act” in certain ways depending on our possession of either a penis or vagina.In this current article, I borrow from this body of work on gender as a performative social construction. The article closely links these theoretical insights to my critical approach to the corpus of Afrobeats music videos collected for this study. These music videos, as sites of gender representation, expose us to creatively crafted, active constructions and performances of gender . That is to say, the processes of gender identity construction are salient in these music videos due to how these texts deploy multimodal devices to establish, maintain, contest and/or problematize gender “norms”. Creators of these music videos are actively involved in narrating and, thereby, idealizing particular gender performances to foreground various points of views about what it means to be a woman or a man across the richly diverse African and diasporic contexts captured in this musical genre’s visual culture.This study’s analysis of the data in relation to gender performativity, reveals that a heteronormative worldview underscores the multimodal representations prevalent in these texts. On the part of the featured African women and men, gender performativity and gender relations in the music videos analyzed, are saliently heterosexual-oriented, considering the visual and lyrical contents of these music videos. Consider the visual depictions in Let us closely consider What has really happened, she argues, is that much contemporary popular culture actively undermines the feminist gains of the 1970’s and 1980’s. However, this should not be understood as a straightforward ‘backlash’ against feminism. Rather its undermining of feminism works by acknowledging feminism while at the same time suggesting that it is no longer necessary in a world where women have the freedom to shape their own individual life courses. In post-feminist popular culture feminism features as history: aged, uncool and redundant. The acknowledging of feminism, therefore, is only to demonstrate that it is no longer relevant.It is through this advancement of a perception that feminism is no longer relevant, that in contemporary popular culture, we are bombarded with countless discourses  that actively position women as empowered, agentic, and self-determining among other things. A postfeminist sensibility is deeply entrenched in a neoliberal worldview that calls for the celebration of individuality and choice said to be unrestrictedly afforded to women globally . This seFrom such discursive formations about women’s sexual freedom and free expression of sexuality as indicative of a postfeminist consciousness, emerged critical womanist scholarship that have theorised women as “midriff” ; 2008 toAnyone doing a surface-based random online search for music videos from the Afrobeats musical genre will witness that it is notably male-dominated. The leading artists and performers in this scene are predominantly black African men. As such, the music video storylines and song lyrics produced from this musical genre engender an unapologetic masculine aura that significantly shapes the multimodal discourses of this music, as they relate to gender relations. In this section, I outline three dominant forms of masculine performativities by the male artists in the corpus of music videos analysed in this article. I unpack performances of “breadwinner” masculinities , misogynThe protagonist men centralised in the analysed music videos, are depicted as unquestionably wealthy and ideal ‘breadwinners’ who assert their dominance over women by “parading” their wealth through crass consumerist depictions of themselves. In very pervasive fashions, the men featured in the music videos analysed for this paper, perform manhood through various materialistic, provision-driven foundations of spending largely as a means to emphasise powerful manhood. Let us consider the song “If” by If I tell you say I love you oMy money my body na your own o babyThirty billion for the account oVersace and Gucci for your body o babyHere, Davido expresses that, in declaring his love for this woman, she must know that his money and body are hers. He assures her of his wealth status by emphasising that his bank account will have as much as 30 billion, from which this woman should expect to be spoiled with luxury fashion brands such as Versace and Gucci. Here, an implicit suggestion is advanced which positions the woman, in the mind of the viewer, as being incapable of securing her own financial means to access the luxurious commodities she is lured with by the man. An incapability arguably brought on by many reasons, including but not limited to, a sexist heteronorm-conforming belief pertaining to gender roles: that women (in their limited capacities as “wives” and “homemakers”) are not expected to partake in the active accrual of wealth as this role is reserved for the male figure who shall act as main provider/breadwinner. Herein, I argue, we can begin to see misogyny rearing its regressive head.Thus, at play here, is the partial upkeep of misogynistically mediated gender relations that aid men in their preservation of cultural power over women through economic superiority . Such geFurther to that, men’s dominance is also partly sustained through hyper-sexualized, partly misogynistic expressions of manhood in the analyzed music videos. These sexualized masculinities are socially constructed in ways that encourage men’s authority and power (in relation to women) by anchoring powerful manhood on notions of sexual performance and perceived sexual prowess. Afrobeats musician, Tekno, engages in the promotion of a particularly sexualized masculine performartivity. The lyrical contents from his song “Pana”  are larg[…]Baby, PanaAnywhere that you goI go follow you dey goBaby, PanaThey say you like cassavaI getti big cassavaBaby, PanaMy love for you will never die, will never dieHerein, Tekno deploys an infantilizing tone–pervasive in much of the lyrical content analyzed in this study–to endearingly address the woman he refers to as ‘Pana’ in the song. He goes on to assure the woman that anywhere she goes, he will follow her before he admits that it has come to his attention that this woman enjoys consuming cassava . It is with this knowledge about her apparent like for cassava, that Tekno informs her that he is in possession of a big cassava, and then finally proclaims his undying love for this woman.This musician engages in the promotion of a sexualized masculine expression that is sustained through lyrics portraying him as a man who is in state of loving and sexually satisfying his love interest. Here, Tekno deploys a food item as a metaphor to refer to the penis, particularly. Due to her said fondness for penis, Tekno makes it known to this woman that he has a large penis; seemingly attempting to convince her that he makes for an ideal sexual partner, as a result of this claim. Herewith, Tekno demonstrates a representational trope within the Afrobeats music videos analyzed, that emphasizes and maintains particularly sexualized masculinities expressed by men from socioculturally diverse African backgrounds in the service of male supremacy. Such pursuits, I suggest, uphold men’s superiority and a misogynistic undermining of women as merely passive receivers of men’s  provision and pleasure when considered through the domain of sexual expression and intimate relationships.This kind of creative language use to indicate sexual prowess on the part of the men in the corpus of music videos analyzed in this paper, is not lost on consumers of this music. As evidenced in the corpus of YouTube comments analyzed alongside the music videos, viewers reproduce these discourses in the comments section; legitimizing and elevating the sexualized masculinities perpetuated in these music videos.“Looks like Tekno has given Cassava a whole new meaning. Lol. Loving this song so far.” (username: “Maka Velli”)“828 niggas who can't provide big cassava for their bebs [“babes”] dislike this life saving song 😂 Y'all should pana, Tekno gat big cassava for y'all bebs [“babes”].” (username: “RElindid Ayuk”)“Only guys with big Cassava like this comment !” “am totally looking for someone with a big cassava not a carrot please help me out” (username: “Carol C”)Here, we can see how men are either superiorized or inferiorized based on perceptions of penis size–which is directly linked to sexual satisfaction. “Maka Velli”—who humorously  shares–that s/he loves this song, makes us aware that the artist has repurposed the meaning of the word cassava. As suggested above, Tekno"s use of the word in this song, has been sexualized; thus, dissociating it from its intended food-related, literal meaning.Accepted, by viewers of this music video, as a symbol of a man’s sexual organ, the cassava is used by “RElindid Ayuk” to ridicule men who are perceived to be unable to live up to the size expectations linked to the penis in relation to women . According to this viewer, when they were writing this comment on YouTube, there were “828 niggas ” who disliked the music video because they are unable to present a large enough penis to their lovers/women, risking the chance of losing said women to the likes of men such as Tekno who claim to have large penises. It is through this kind of reasoning that hierarchized forms of masculinities are sustained in the minds of consumers of these music videos; perpetuating, as a result, divisive comments which celebrate a particular kind of superiority of some men over others. In this case, it is suggested that the most desirable man is “…someone with a big cassava [large penis] not a carrot [smaller penis]…“, as “Carol C” expressly shares.Further evidence of a sexualized, partly misogynistic, masculine expression on the part of the featured men over the featured women’s bodies, can be observed in the lyrics excerpt below. The following lyrical contents are taken form Davido’s second verse in the song, “Aye” :The baddest!Baby girl you the baddestOya shakee your assetMake e man no go forgetReferring to her as “baby girl” in what is, yet again, evidence of an infantilising tone, Davido appeals to the woman to “shakee your asset”; using colloquial English to instruct the lady that she must gyrate her “assets”. The word “asset”, in this context, refers to the woman’s posterior or buttocks. For doing what is asked of her, the woman is hailed as “the baddest”. Her “badness” is emphasised in a positive manner, expressing warranted badness that is encouraged by Davido who claims that by being “the baddest”, the woman will be unforgettable to men, specifically. She is unforgettably good in her expression of ‘badness’ to a point where, by shaking her buttocks as requested by a man, she will be able to “[m]ake e man no go forget”—this pidgin English phrase can be translated as an affirmation to the woman that her movement of her “assets” will render her memorable or unforgettable to a man—in this case, Davido. This woman’s expression of her femininity is at once hypersexualised and controlled by a male other who, by getting her to oblige to his misogynistic instructions, exercises dominance over her. Relegating her to a position of servitude in her femininity. This is a position of servitude that unlocks several perks and benefits for the complying woman. Most significant of all, is social capital attached to mere proximity to the masculinities in these music videos, constructed as particularly wealthy, sexually potent, and emotionally transparent about their undying love for the women they pursue.Very strikingly, however–and in notable dissent to existing literature on masculinities in popular (black) male-dominated musical genres such as rap and hip-hop–the multi-faceted expressions of masculinities evident in the music videos analyzed for this article, engender a very overt romanticism intricately implicated in notable counter-stereotypical work, encouraging somewhat of a myth-debunking potential. This romanticism is mediated by a particularly gentle and non-violent overtone that renders these masculinities physically non-threatening to the femininities with which the screen is shared. Therefore, in spite of their implicit misogynistic behaviors, the observed masculinities appear to equally value genuine romantic love built on foundations of fidelity.Acts of romantic love and commitment–in their very explicitly heteronorm-conforming iterations–are consistently depicted in the Afrobeats music videos analyzed in this paper. To exemplify this, let us consider the narrative progression of the song “Bank Alert” by Visually–in the opening scene of the music video–the couple are depicted as underprivileged Nigerian youngsters having a conversation against the backdrop of what appears to be a property that still requires renovation as the plastering on the walls appears to be patchy and unfinished . The filmic technique of a black-and-white visual filter adds to emphasize this sense of underprivilege or poverty. In this briefly mediated oral conversation, the man is informing the woman that he needs to go abroad for a year so as to go and better his life. He then makes a promise to the woman that he will be back in one year’s time especially for her, and then reassures her of his love for her. The almost inaudible background music layered beneath the visuals in this scene, includes lyrics such as “I belong to you, you belong to me … And I’ll be missing you, missing you yeah … “. The amalgamation of these various modes gives the scene a slight air of innocent love and romance.does return to Nigeria and is adamant to ask for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage to demonstrate his undying love for her. He is now visibly affluent (denoted by scenes of him traveling back in a private jet). And thus, pledges his love for her while promising to financially take care of this woman  should she say yes to his marriage proposal. Affluence, it seems, is deployed here as a tangible catalytic mode to express romanticism. Below, I closely consider the following excerpt of lyrics in Pidgin English from this song:To communicate a time lapse in the narrative, written text is used over the image-based visuals of what appears to be moving clouds to inform the viewer that about five years have passed since that conversation between the two young lovers had unfolded. This time, a colour-based visual filter is used by the editors of this music video to signify recency and, to an extent, a change in the narrative. What happens next in the narrative–supported by the lyrical content of the song–is indicative of a portrayal of a particularly romance-oriented masculine expression on the part of the protagonist man in the music video. Although not within the time range promised, the man eventually Today na today eh,and when I finish you go no say na meAs you dey they delay eh, to proof my love, you must to chop my money eehAcross several of the richly diverse cultures in Nigeria, when a couple are set to get married, a date is set for when the fiancé–with his family and friends–are expected to conspicuously expend money and gifts to his parents-in-law-to-be while the bride-to-be watches on at a distance. Through the lyrics presented above, Paul (who portrays the protagonist) boasts about his excitement for that day where he will “proof” his love.This, to an extent, communicates that the African men in these music videos possess an endearing regard for women as more than just objects of their sexual desires. The multimodal discourses evident in the Afrobeats music videos analyzed, socially construct and sustain such romance-oriented masculinities that thrive on manhood being expressed through grand romantic gestures toward women. The culturally and linguistically diverse African men depicted in these music videos are largely portrayed  as commitment-driven, family oriented, loyal and capable of offering infinite romantic love to the women they get romantically involved with, as long as these women successfully conform to conventional gender roles which allow men’s dominance over them. Seemingly at play here, then, are striking forms of benevolently sexist and implicitly misogynistic advances of men’s superiority that are partly veiled by, and mediated through, romanticism.just physical appearance. This, I argue, presents the social construction of masculinities implicated in a misogyrom sensibility.It is against this backdrop, that I argue for the consideration of a gender-relational cultural sensibility I am coining misogyrom. This term combines the concepts of “misogyny” and “romanticism” to argue for the reading of gender relations that present a notable masking of misogynistic expressions of “manhood” with overdramaticized forms of romanticism toward women. I thus also propose the term as a conceptual lens through which to consider men’s  performativities that are at once implicated in the perpetuation of misogynistic imbalanced gender power relations and undeniable hyper-romanticism and compassion from  men toward women. Should we apply the concept of misogyrom in the context of the music video texts analyzed in this paper, it is apparent that idealized  expressions of “manhood” are sustained along inherently sexist and misogynistic expressions of men’s superiority and dominance while (in)advertently encouraging the egalitarian treatment of women by valuing them as more than mere objects of men’s sexual satisfaction, but romantic partners with value more than that which a patriarchal male gaze had historically often relegated to The misogyrom-aligning masculinities pervasive in the analyzed music videos, present a striking dialectic which, when closely analyzed, is much more regressive than beneficial to the feminist plight toward gender equality, in the domains of, but not limited to, sexuality and intimacy. The two sides to this dialectic involve extreme romanticism on the one hand, and notable misogyny on the other. In their active visual and lyrics-based overdramatisations of romanticism through their endearing lyrics and storylines, symbolizing genuine emotional connectedness to women beyond superficial goals to score sexual favors, the masculinities in these music videos garner adulation from consumers of these texts. These comments of adulation, from YouTube viewers of these music videos, laud these men as the epitomes of exemplary (African) manhood while being oblivious to the ways in which these masculine expressions maintain patriarchy and misogyny.“You guys did our culture justice in this video! This should be a lesson to all the young men who make a success of their lives! Come back home and get your chocolate bride!!!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL FOR THIS VIDEO!!!!!!” (username: Kwini Souleimane)“While African singers are singing love and much more for the black woman, our bother and sis in the US OF A are denigrating black woman....” (username: PHONE master)In their comment on the music video for the song “Bank Alert” by P-Square, “Kwini Souleimane,” expresses what appears to be an appreciation toward P-Square for “doing justice” to their culture . This viewer goes on to suggest that the contents of this music video capture a lesson that “all young men who make a success of their lives” should learn. The lesson being, that “all young men” who embark on greener pasture pursuits away from home, should return–once financially secure–and “get” their bride. While evidently heteropatriarchal and sexist in its suggestion that women are objects that men should “get” and lead into the heteronormative institution of marriage, this viewer’s comment makes us aware that they find such kinds of gestures from men to be romantic. Such romantic gestures by the Igbo, or Yoruba, or African men in the music videos analyzed, are lauded because they show that “[w]hile African singers are singing love and much more for the black woman, our bother and sis in the US OF A are denigrating black woman”, shares another viewer. Thus, placing black African men, in the minds of viewers of these Afrobeats music videos, in a favourable position as being non-violent toward women, romantic and full of love.It is precisely the overdramatisations of romanticism in these music videos that conceal the dark side of the dialectic sensibility of misogyrom. As a result, what partly prevails is an effective distraction from the misogyny these masculinities equally embody which, when left unchallenged, may perpetuate the naive absolving of patriarchy from its toxic nature in relation to the just and empowering sociocultural treatment of women across various sociocultural domains, but most especially the domains of sexuality and intimate relations. Even so, are possibilities of women’s empowerment non-existent within the multimodal discourses of the Afrobeats musical genre? Below, I discover–through a post-feminist lens–that the picture is perhaps not so bleak.In their capacities as “featured characters” across the music video texts analyzed for this paper, women’s bodies depicted alongside the male musicians dominating this musical genre, are variously subjected to black African male gazes/”looks”. Acts of looking have been theorized as powerful and value-laden. As such, the notion of “the gaze” is weaved into the conceptual framework of this article given the visual nature of the study’s primary data. Gazing/looking is, in psychoanalytic terms, a key aspect involved in the construction of particular subjectivities and their sexual and gender identity formations. This gaze, to follow The “object” that eventually becomes the replacement of the looker’s unseen, intangible desires and fantasies, is gazed upon as a reassuring, non-threatening, passive object of display; strategically positioned as a spectacle “in an intimate relation to the spectator” : 111. InVoyeurism, as simplified by Rose ” that visual texts promote: 1) the look stemming from the camera to the event/scene; 2) the look existing between the characters portrayed through the action in, for the purpose of this study, the music videos; 3) as well as the look stemming from the spectator to the ‘action’ on screen : 314, brpart for the whole, of a thing–an object, an organ, a portion of the body–for a subject, is the effect of a very important representational practice–fetishism” , Afrobeats music video directors and editors sustain this fetishizing culture because “[the] substitution of a tishism” : 256.Women’s buttocks, their lower body parts: hips, thighs/legs and inguinal/groin area and breast area are subjected to close-up shots that overtly drive viewer attention to these body parts that are socio-culturally understood and accepted as sexual body parts. By so doing, spectators of this visual simulacra are afforded the opportunity to take part in this fetishistic culture that  objectifies the woman’s body for the satisfaction of  male gazes. This way, viewers may arguably be invited to glean erotic satisfaction, among other things, through their engagement with these Afrobeats music videos.Perhaps unsurprisingly, the conversational tones undergirding the analyzed viewer comments do not problematize this noted sexual objectification of black women’s bodies in the analyzed music videos. Instead, viewers expressly celebrate the hypersexualized women’s bodies in these texts. Consider comments contributed by viewers such as “d_won1” who comments on black women’s physical appearance by posing the question, “Why are Black women just so gorgeous? #melaninpoppin.” Other such comments include those by viewers such as “Lei Shay,” “Daniel Shamu,” and “Barwaago Aden” who, similarly, pass commentary that directly speak to the perceived beauty of black women:“omg, black girls are so beautiful” (username: “Lei Shay”)“Black women are beautiful fam damn” (username: “Daniel Shamu”)“too much beauty in one video 😍❤😩. black sisters are slaying 🔥.” (username: “Barwaaqo Aden”).”These comments explicitly link these viewers’ perceptions of beauty to the black women’s bodies hypersexualized in these music videos. The sexually objectified black women in the music videos are described in ways that not only emphasize their physical appearance, but at times also places them on a symbolic pedestal that linguistically portrays them as the epitome of beauty to a point where they are described as magical and perfect “creations.” See, for instance, the extracted comments from viewers below:“The girls in this video are all GOALS! Black women, we're a gift to the world!” (username: “Simply Shanice”)“Black women are one of God's most perfect creations🔥 #blackgirlmagic” (username: “being sashyka”)Viewers are expressive about their admiration for the featured black women and their perceived beauty. We can see, then, how a culture of sexualized fetishism by creators of these music videos is successfully internalized by viewers of these music videos.This process of fetishistic objectification as an expression of internal  desires emerges dominantly in the Afrobeats music videos analyzed for this research paper. These fetishistic gazes bestowed particularly upon women’s bodies are sustained through the encouragement of a voyeuristic way of looking at the women featured in these music videos. The Afrobeats music videos analyzed in this paper highlight particularly active black African male gazes that variously objectify women’s bodies by actively distancing themselves from the bodies being look at.Consider Through these visio-spatial organisations of these Afrobeats music videos as short filmic narratives, particular relational ties between men (masculinities) and women (femininities) are constructed and sustained. One significant relational ideology sustained here, is that women’s right to privacy is less valued, and thus exposes them to situations of being more prone to violation in their unjust position as ancillary sexual objects. Having grappled with these visual portrayals, it is apparent that the representational conventions in the visual culture captured by the analyzed Afrobeats music videos, sustain partly misogynistic gender relations that thrive on the hetero-erotic objectification of women’s bodies specifically for a voyeuristic black African male gaze. These gender relations are implicated in particularly disempowering effects to women. It is disempowering to women in that, the depicted women’s bodies are significantly positioned as lacking in terms of being multifaceted, culturally influential and able to embody leadership as opposed to servitude. This, as burgeoning feminist scholarships have theorized, disempowers women and strips them off their agency as it relates to their expressions of sexuality and femininity.Considered through a post-feminist lens, however, notions of women’s dis-empowerment as a result of powerful  desiring male gazes, are notably disrupted in how the diverse African women featured in the selection of analyzed music videos appear to actively use their sexualities and femininities in various scenes to exercise considerable power over the protagonist men co-featured in these music videos. These featured women engage in what may be read as an active claiming of their sociocultural power over restrictive patriarchal conditions, especially in the domains of  intimacy and romantic gender relations. As such, considerably pervasive in the corpus of analyzed music videos, are young, attractive, heterosexual African woman who are depicted as “knowingly and deliberately play [ing] with [their] sexual power” : 41 in wTheorized as knowingly using her body, appearance, and sexuality to exercise her  agency more assertively, the post-feminist-entangled “midriff” woman is described as unapologetic about her sexual power and ability to (freely) use her body as a means to socioculturally, and otherwise, advance or benefit herself. So notes Gill (2008: 41):sensibility characterized by a specific constellation of attitudes toward the body, sexual expression and gender relations.The midriffs might be thought of as a generation of girls and young women in their teens and 20's in the 1990's, but midriff also refers to a Tracing a midriff sensibility in advertising media, Secondly, the ways in which women’s bodies are represented in (often semi-erotic texts) in popular media forms, had also experienced a notable shift. “Where once sexualized representations of women in the media presented them as passive, mute objects of an assumed male gaze, today women are presented as active, desiring sexual subjects who choose to present themselves in a seemingly objectified manner because it suits their (implicitly “liberated”) interests to do so” : 42. CruI briefly focus on the plot progression in one of the analyzed music videos to demonstrate traces of a midriff-aligned feminine expression by the protagonist woman character. The central plot around which the narrative in the music video for the song “Collabo” by The three protagonist men engage in several attempts at catching this woman’s attention to their advances without any form of intimidating coercion. As such, she may be read as not directly undermined or stripped of her agency to actively reject these men’s advances–communicating, implicitly, a sense of non-hostility from the men who are evidently behaving in ways that may be deemed emasculating depending on which lens of hegemonic masculinity you view it through. The woman remains in control of her sexuality and status of power, and eventually uses the very sexual advances made by all three men to lure them into doing some of her work-based tasks that seem to have piled up, given her presumed senior position in the portrayed company. She is depicted, then, as quite powerful and self-determining in her reliance on her physical and sexual attractiveness–regarded in post-feminist, midriff-aligned feminine performances as social capital —to benefAdditionally, also central to a midriff cultural sensibility–alongside notions of agentic choice and pleasing of the self on the part of women–is the discursive thematic of female/feminine empowerment. Quite similar to the storyline depicted in the “Collabo” music video analyzed earlier, the plot line for the “Chop My Money” music video by In a very self-determining fashion, this woman is depicted as agentic in her eventual decision to outright reject all four of the men pursuing her, without any hostile consequences that may expose her to any form of harm from any of the men involved. The men respectfully accept their fates because, upon finding out that this woman “played” all of them by not giving into any of their advances while enjoying all the materialistic “perks” and eventually choosing to be with a different man altogether, they collectively acknowledge their misfortune, and thus leave the woman be. At the end of this music video, many a viewer would agree that the protagonist woman in this music video manged to successfully “…bring [those] men to their knees” : 43. HerFurther “empowered femininity” can also be read in the narrative progression for the music video, ‘No kissing’, by If you no gimme [give me], I no go takeOnly your love I appreciateIf you no gimme, I no go takeBaby girl let's relateshould be “given” what he wants from a woman and should thus be celebrated for not forcefully taking it from her; it is the superficial sentiment veiling the misogyny that may be read as romantic in that he may be seen as going against the grain of violent masculinities that would have typically demanded intimacy from the woman. It would seem, in this case, that the woman is rendered a very accommodating space to agentically determine the rules/expectations in this relationship because she confidently dictates that, in this relationship, there shall be:Without actually saying it outright, Patoranking, with these lyrics, assures the woman that if she is not going to “give” him, he is not going to take. That is to say, he will practice self-control instead of forcefully ‘taking’ with regards to sexual intercourse. If it is only her love she has to offer now, that is fine with him–he appreciates her love. While implicitly quite misogynistic in its underlying insinuation that, as a man, he No kissing babyNo touching babyNo kissing babyAnd don't call me babyHere, it is apparent, that the woman is depicted as being in control of what happens to her body in the domains of sexuality and intimate relations. Thereby, arming her with “power femininity” : 43.actual power remains firmly in the hands of men.Having demonstrated how gender relations are depicted in the multimodal discourses of a select few Afrobeats music videos, I will now show how the dialectic gender-relational sensibility of misogyrom–that I propose underscores these gendered depictions in the analyzed music videos–offers an empowering potential as it relates to women through these hyperreal depictions. However, I wish to argue, these readings of women’s empowerment, agency and self-determination, are more of a social façade effectively mediated and pseudo-legitimized by discourses of extreme romanticism in tandem with a post-feminist sensibility which–if taken at face value–may encourage the uncritical absolving of heteropatriarchy from its deeply toxic nature toward women’s actual sociocultural advancement and just treatment in the domains of sexuality, intimacy and romantic relationships. Essentially, the Misogyrom as a gender-relational sensibility pervasive in the corpus of Afrobeats music videos analyzed in this research paper, variously mediates the constructions of femininities in these texts; as it does masculinities per my arguments earlier in the paper. As an underlying sensibility across the diverse gender relations depicted in the analyzed music videos, a misogyrom sensibility is effective in fostering flexible ground for the expression of what may appear to be post-feminist aligned, self-determining femininities. Due to its cultivation of romantic and compassionate gender-relational atmospheres , misogyrom allows room for the pushback against the rigidity of patriarchy in its largely denigratory treatment of women compared to men, even in the context of intimate heterosexual relationships and expression of sexuality.Sustained through active, and perhaps inadvertent, performances of ideal “manhood” that conceal misogyny and sexism with overtly courteous acts of romanticism that, on the surface, appear to be void of violence and hostility, a misogyrom sensibility appears to render women a “safe space” to assert their agency, across the domains of intimacy and sexual expression. The femininities featured in the analyzed texts assert their perceived agency by, for instance, being depicted as confidently assessing, rejecting and generally being critical of the courtship attempts from the “parading” masculinities who, as chauvinistic patriarchal norms would dictate, would typically resort to exercising dominance by forcefully convincing women into accepting their courtship advances.not demanding control over the attention and affection of the women to which they are pleading romantic love. They come across, especially through their lyrical content, as not expressing entitlement over women’s bodies. This is an observation that may be appreciated by several pockets of feminist scholars  feminine subjectivities, in such instances of men’s peacocking, are invited to temporarily bear the active gaze as targets of the self-auctionineering done by the men. In the context of the visual data, the female characters actively pursued and serenaded by the peacocking male characters in the analyzed music videos, may appear as if temporarily empowered in that they are seemingly rendered an examinatory gaze to counter-objectify these men. The counter-objectification could be perceived to exist in moments when the courted woman actively “assesses” her peacocking pursuer to make a decision on whether or not he is worthy of her attention and affection. Once having “decided” on a suitable suitor, the women featured in many of the music videos analyzed, are overtly assured of their value as partners through romantic discourses of infinite love, affection and fidelity, communicated by the protagonist men in these videos through their song lyrics, especially. The women are showered with romanticism and are made to feel they can, for instance, confidently dictate that there shall be “no kissing” and “no touching”  until such a time when actually lies in these misogyrom sociocultural relations–variously implicated in post-feminist sensibilities–among men and women as depicted in the analyzed selection of music videos. That way, a more reflexive observation can be made about potentially how far the multiplicity of feminist agendas toward equal power division among men and women in the domains of sexuality and intimate relationships, among others, have come, and how effective have feminist discourses been in inspiring the young, cosmopolitan youths participating in the production of these popular cultural texts in contemporary Africa, to promote gender-relational equality and the just treatment of women in the domains of sexuality, intimacy and romantic relationships. In that vein, I argue that, regardless of the evident alignment with post-feminist formations about empowered women, the power still firmly lies in the hands of the men featured in these music videos in their capacities as cultural chaperones of heteropatriarchy.What, then, does one make of this complex dialectic of misogyrom intersecting with post-feminist sensibilities, at play in the visual culture of the Afrobeats music videos analyzed, where women are quite evidently treated with respect, adoration and an atmosphere for sexual agency on the one hand; while equally denigrated to disempowering positions of oversexualized object of men’s erotic pleasure? A useful pursuit, I’m convinced, is to seek out where the power This is most evident in two ways. Firstly, it is the featured men who remain in positions of dominance over women and their sexual expressions by non-coercively encouraging the sexualization of women in how they sing about these women’s “assets” (buttocks), for instance. For Secondly, we have seen that the analyzed masculinities thrive on asserting their dominance and superiority by overtly parading their wealth, social status and positions as ideal breadwinners. It is in these narcissistic expressions of masculinities that these featured men co-construct femininities that are shown as voluntarily taking on gender roles of  servitude and willing beneficiaries of men’s provision, rescue out of economic constraint, and sexual satisfaction. The sub-text of such gender-relational depictions then, once again, places sociocultural power squarely in the hands of men.To help sum up my argument, I briefly draw on a study undertaken by The women pointed out that although most of Flavor’s songs tend to adore, praise and make women prominent; it only creates false pretence of empowerment that only serves to secure the woman for the man’s satisfaction and fulfilment.It is such observations that help us see the toxic nature of romanticism in its attempt to guize misogyny and thereby re-assert heteropatriarchal, sexist social cues to debase women through a “false pretence of empowerment” in the domains of sexuality and intimate relationships.This article has placed focus on Afrobeats; a globally popularizing musical genre of African origin. This musical genre is widely consumed by transnational audiences; resulting in the music videos produced by artists from this scene, reaching YouTube viewership figures ranging in the hundreds of millions. As such, this article considered these Global South popular cultural texts as valuable conduits through which to critically examine contemporary social constructions and performances of gender and politically charged meanings of “womanhood” in relation to “manhood” as implicated as they are in heteropatriarchal collective African cultural worldviews. The paper situated this musical genre’s multimodal discourses, specifically as they relate to gender and sexuality, within a broader post-feminist discourse about women’s  empowerment, agency and self-determination.just physical appearance. What this does, also, is allow a post-feminist sensibility to appear valuable and actively at-work in how the women are partly depicted.By first offering a critical reading of performances of masculinities in the corpus of nine music videos, the article was able to demonstrate the catalytic nature of masculine performativities on performances of “womanhood”/femininities in these music video texts. Masculine performativities, I have argued, are implicated in a misogyrom sensibility which fosters gender-relational expressions that are at once implicated in the perpetuation of misogynistic imbalanced gender power relations and undeniable hyper-romanticism and compassion from  men toward women. As such, expressions of “manhood” in the analyzed music videos are sustained along inherently sexist and misogynistic atmospheres of men’s superiority and dominance while (in)advertently encouraging the egalitarian treatment of women by lyrically valuing them as more than mere objects of men’s sexual satisfaction, but romantic partners with value more than that which a patriarchal male gaze had historically often relegated to In that vein, I argue that, regardless of the evident alignment with post-feminist formations about empowered women, the sociocultural power still firmly lies in the hands of the men featured in these music videos in their capacities as cultural chaperones of heteropatriarchy. It is the featured men who–through consistent misogyrom–remain in positions of dominance over women and their sexual expressions by non-coercively encouraging the hypersexualization of women in how these men sing about these women’s bodies. Additionally, the featured men assert their dominance and superiority by overtly parading their wealth, social status and positions as ideal breadwinners in the analyzed music videos. It is in these narcissistic expressions of masculinities that these featured men co-construct femininities that are shown as voluntarily taking on gender roles of  servitude and willing beneficiaries of men’s provision, rescue out of economic constraint, and sexual satisfaction. The sub-text of such gender-relational depictions then, once again, places sociocultural power squarely in the hands of men. By veiling these sexist advances with hyper-romanticism, the featured men implicitly debase women through a “false pretence of empowerment”  in the dactual  empowerment across their diverse African contexts in and beyond popular media texts.I argue, then, that traces of post-feminist cultural sensibilities in tandem with a misogyrom sensibility–encouraging a reading of women as empowered and agentic in the analyzed music videos–are regressive for the feminist advancement of gender-relational equality. This is so because these sensibilities implicitly encourage misogyny to prevail through the iteration of regressive patterns of behavior that uphold (hetero)patriarchy in these popular cultural texts. Therefore, readings of empowered black African women–as positive progress in the plight toward equal gender power relations in a notably heteropatriarchal African popular cultural imaginary–should be celebrated with caution, as they may derail the feminist plight toward women’s


We conclude that professionals working with children affected by DVA should be mindful of the diversity in children’s experiences and listen carefully to children’s own accounts.There is a large body of research on the impact of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) on children, mostly reporting survey data and focusing largely on psychological outcomes. Qualitative research on the views of children has the potential to enable a child-centered understanding of their experience of DVA, so their needs can be better met by professionals. This systematic review reports general findings from the ViOlence: Impact on Children Evidence Synthesis (VOICES) project that synthesized published qualitative research on the experiences of DVA from the perspective of children and young people. A thematic synthesis of 33 reports identified six themes:  DVA  is defined as “any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality” . Many ofDVA can damage children’s health and well-being. Several meta-analyses report associations between children’s exposure to DVA and a range of adjustment problems including poor peer relationships and engagement in risky behaviors . ChildreThe research evidence on the impact of DVA on children is largely quantitative, focusing primarily on psychological, educational, and, to a lesser extent, physical health outcomes. The earliest systematic review we identified  categoriWhile these reviews of epidemiological studies highlight risks to children exposed to DVA, it has been argued that the quantitative literature is dominated by a “…medical/pathological discourse that portrays children experiencing domestic violence as passive recipients of potentially traumatic experiences” , p. 680.Qualitative research eliciting children’s own experiences of DVA has the potential to give a deeper, more nuanced, and child-centered understanding of what it is like for children to live with DVA, and how it impacts them in ways broader than  psychological impact.protector and victim.To date, two qualitative systematic reviews of children’s experiences of DVA have been published. context of the abuse, immediate reactions to the abuse, sequelae reactions, and coping. Coping strategies were described as ranging from “integration” to “distancing.” The authors maintain that children with an “integrating” strategy to DVA may normalize or minimize its impact or even incorporate violence into their own behaviors.In the second review , analysiboth child accounts and adult recollections of childhood experiences. Adult recollection may be compromised by recall bias , includes evidence from a wider time span and range of sources, and includes the experiences of children of all ages.In the UK, an NHS England report on improving the response to children’s and young people’s mental health needs noted the importance of improving care of vulnerable groups, including those who have experienced DVA, and identified the value of professional training on exposure to trauma for those working with families .http://www.irisdomesticviolence.org.uk/iris/) in the UK (https://www.weaveinc.org/) in Australia , where all studies reported in journal papers, reports, and PhD theses meeting inclusion criteria were identified, retrieved, and subjected to simple descriptive analysis; and Stage 2 (focused synthesis), where a smaller number of studies identified at first stage were subjected to critical appraisal, full data extraction, and synthesis. Prior to both stages, we engaged in a scoping exercise to identify existing reviews and collate examples of terminology used for DVA.verbatim, English language accounts provided by research participants aged 18 or under had to be reported in the study. No date or geographical limits were applied. During Stage 2, additional inclusion criteria were applied: sufficient verbatim text from children and young people to contribute to detailed qualitative analysis  and publication in a peer-reviewed journal.In Stage 1, studies were included which focused on children and young people’s experiences of DVA between parents/carers in domestic settings. To be included, qualitative, We drew on an earlier search strategy  were involved in screening titles, abstracts, and full text papers. The same authors were involved in critical appraisal and data extraction, with two reviewers examining each item, independently and in duplicate. Differences were resolved through discussion. We did not use critical appraisal for exclusion of articles but to describe reporting quality. Titles and abstracts were screened against the criteria described above. Those considered relevant by two reviewers were selected for full paper screening. Eligibility of full text papers was assessed independently by two reviewers.A predesigned data extraction template was used, which collected descriptions of the reported study, the themes, subthemes, and relevant verbatim quotes from research participants and reviewer ratings of the paper quality based on the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool for appraisal of qualitative research . Data exverbatim quotes. The process of reading, comparing, regrouping, and reinterpreting data across studies drew on the process of translation used within meta-ethnographic synthesis (The synthesis process was led by one author (L.A.) with detailed discussion with two others (A.S. and A.G.). Given the number of papers in the focused sample, we chose a thematic approach to synthesis . All theynthesis  and is sOverall, the Stage 1 (mapping) produced 77 items (56 studies identified in the IMPROVE study met VOICES inclusion criteria). An additional 13 items were added from an updated database search. The key website search produced 6 items, and 2 items were identified by word of mouth. Details of the full search strategy and results can be obtained from the first author.Participants’ age range was 3–25 years . Most articles were written by authors based in the United States (25) or UK (21). Other researchers were based in Canada, Sweden, Israel, and Norway. Very few items focused specifically on the impact on children’s health/well-being; around a third had a general focus on children’s experiences of DVA, and a smaller number (11) reported children’s experiences of interventions. Most authors had collected data in face-to-face interviews, and thematic analysis was widely used.Applying stricter inclusion criteria for Stage 2 (described above), we identified a final sample of 33 papers. Most (15) of these were focused on experiences more generally, 5 focused on coping, and the rest (13) included papers with a focus on recovery from DVA (1), health impacts of DVA (1), and postseparation contact (1). Most papers (26 of 33) were rated as being of high quality. However, many did not provide sufficient information about the relationship between the researcher(s) and the research participants , and datlived experience of DVA, (2) children’s agency and coping, (3) turning points and transitions, (4) managing relationships postseparation, (5) impact of DVA on children, and (6) children’s expressions of hope for the future, see Synthesis of qualitative data from the 33 papers included in Stage 2 identified six overarching themes: (1) This theme is about children’s everyday lived experience of DVA. It focuses on children’s understanding of the nature of the violence, its severity and frequency, and the family and wider context within which DVA occurs.Children describe experiencing different forms of violence. Shouting between parents, angry episodes, and frequent arguments are commonly reported across all review papers. Some children describe witnessing items being thrown or furniture being overturned. Kim , for example, in …he’d [perpetrator] shout at my mum all the time…get angry—nasty—he never used to do anything like be nice—just kick everyone up the bum or a smack on the back of the head…I got smacked at the back of the head and a kick…and he used to nip your ear…. , p. 194These incidents could become increasingly dangerous and involve controlling behavior, as Kate (aged 8–13) in Mum and him [perpetrator] and us…got a house together and after about two weeks he started hitting her. He hit her first because her dinner wasn’t…warm…then he started doing it more and more often. Eventually he tried to stab her. (p. 188)In her study of children who had experienced extreme forms of DVA and were very fearful as a result, Once Mom was on her knees and he [their stepfather] held a gun to her head, and then he asked my little sister if he should kill her or not, and she [the little sister] said no, so she got to choose. (p. 281)Many children report angry, verbal encounters as well as acts of physical abuse:Other types of violence reported by children included economic and financial abuse. Some authors situate the child’s experience of DVA in the context of an already troubled family or a neighborhood setting where violence was commonplace. In Children’s agency is the focus of this theme, and the myriad ways in which children respond to, and cope with, DVA are able to protect themselves and others . Children report employing a diverse array of tactics and strategies to manage DVA which can vary according to factors such as the child’s age and the presence of siblings.Several authors attempt to categorize children’s actions while DVA is occurring. problem-solving and palliative; the latter aims to deal with the emotional fallout of DVA but does not modify or resolve the violence itself. Covering ears, getting mad, crying, and refusing to eat are all cited as coping responses. The behavior of 13-year-old Serena to violence  is, according to Chanmugam, a response to “palliate emotions.”Authors’ attempts to classify children’s actions during DVA is a reminder that understanding children’s responses during DVA is not straightforward. What appears to be a passive response to DVA may, in fact, represent a dynamic strategy for dealing with a volatile or dangerous situation . Many chIf I got worried or upset…I still had my little teddy, which is up in my room, it’s a little dog…I used to hug it, if I got worried or scared…I would basically risk my life just to go and get it. (p. 314)Children taking comfort from toys might also be seen as a meaningful, context-specific strategy for dealing with violence. Children’s stories of actions during violence show clearly that, while they sought to minimize harm to self, many also actively attempted to protect others such as siblings and mothers as well as animals. This is an area where age differences are apparent: older children often report adopting a parent-like role in relation to younger siblings and also to mothers.We were trying not to think about it [the violence]…my brother would think of a game and we’d just start playing it…but we’d still hear the shouting…when the shouting got really loud my brother would just like pause for a minute and look at me ((mimics frightened look)), I’d be like, “It’s OK, it’s OK,” cause sometimes he’d just like freak out and stuff like that…and you’d just…get on with the game quite quickly…carry on playing, make the game like amusing and stuff so he could try and forget about it. (p. 10–11)The older children in After a few songs, there was a silence so we got outside and saw Mommy with blood, and Daddy…told me I killed Mommy and now I will kill myself, go to your room, so I took the baby and went back to the room. (p. 1980)Many children describe intervening to shield mothers from abuse: “My mum’s come up screaming…so I’ve locked my bedroom door to keep her in there so he [perpetrator] don’t hurt her” The abuse of animals in the context of DVA, and children’s efforts to protect pets, is the focus of one paper. A 9-year-old boy in In Gender differences in actions during DVA are discussed in a small number of papers. In a case study of two boys .Similarly, of the children in Chanmugam’s (2015) study, eight report collaborating with family members such as siblings, grandmothers, and aunts to escape DVA. This involved leaving the home with a family member, calling police or other external agencies, or hiding within the home. Anthony (age 13) reports that he and his brothers: “…went in one room and stayed together…We would go in one of our rooms and lock the door” (p. 110).Despite the shame, children describe the ways in which they, alone or with others, reached out for help to end violence. Aranya  in I think he [perpetrator] went out somewhere…just quickly like we went to the downstairs ‘cause we lived on like the top floor…so, quickly went to the middle floor to see if he was going to come up in the lift or not and then we called the taxi and we waited until he came and then we ran outside to the taxi and then we went here [refuge]. (p. 308)Residence in DVA refuges or shelters is explored in a small number of papers, though it is evident from children’s accounts that their removal from a violent home by no means brought an end to their problems. Life in a shelter can be challenging, and the sense of powerlessness over circumstances that is a feature of DVA can continue long after families have been moved to a refuge. In many cases, the actual escape from the violent situation happened suddenly, possibly after planning by the mother. In Bowyer and colleagues’ (2015) analysis of data collected from five girls aged 10–16 in the UK in temporary accommodation with their mothers, Rhiannon says:This smaller theme—strongly related to the turning points and transitions theme—is about the continuation of DVA, in some form, after parental separation (often in the context of fathers’ contact with children) and the ways in which children struggle to manage relationships in the postseparation period.…get[s] [a]…picture in my head, and it just all goes black. And then I get teary eyes, but I don’t cry…And then my stomach starts to hurt…my stomach hurts, probably cause I’m nervous…. (p. 335).Here, we examine two main areas of impact highlighted by children in the sample: pain, loss, and a desire for normality; and sleep and hypervigilance.Very few studies focus specifically on the impacts of DVA; most papers included here have a more general focus. However, it is evident—from a reading of children’s accounts—that violence does affect children’s health and well-being. In the sample, very few children describe physical health impacts  though some children report being injured during acts of violence. The health-related effects of DVA might be evident where children are asked to reflect on their experiences . In I’ve never actually had that time to live and be a kid, I haven’t had that time to go running about, messing with my friends or…play football…I just used to run away and find that, that little moment where I could sneak out the house and…just hide under trees. Children may draw on religious or spiritual beliefs to help them make sense of the past and imagine a more hopeful future. While religious or spiritual beliefs were mentioned by respondents in several papers, only one , responding strategically and creatively to violence, and demonstrating maturity and protectiveness toward others . DVA means living with pervasive fear and anxiety, with a sense of loss and living a childhood which is far from “normal.” Other themes focused on negotiating turning points and transitions after their mother has exited the abusive relationship. This body of work also points to myriad ways in which children reflect on their experiences to identify hope for the future.paths to coping and resilience, hope for the future and wisdom—are analogous to the children’s expressions of hope for the future theme we identified. The cultivating connections theme is similar to our turning points and transitions theme. VOICES’ findings are also similar to those presented in Context of the abuse in their review is analogous to our lived experience of DVA here, and their immediate reactions to exposure to the abuse is similar to children’s agency and coping in VOICES.These themes resonate strongly with those in VOICES utilized systematic review methodology with explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria, a comprehensive search, quality assessment of papers, and a transparent synthesis of the data. We also used scoping searches to inform development of our text word and indexing search terms. Below we highlight possible limitations.verbatim text for meaningful analysis; we recognize this is, to some degree, a subjective criterion. The exclusion of studies not reported in peer-reviewed journal papers might have limited the final synthesis. Finally, as with all qualitative research, no claims as to the generalizability of findings can be made here. However, VOICES did draw on a large sample (33) of relatively rich accounts from children, and our themes are consistent with those emerging in other reviews of qualitative studies.It is possible that relevant studies have been missed at the search stage. We did not conduct a sensitivity analysis of our themes just using the higher quality. At Stage 2, we only included papers that presented enough A key limitation here, which we share with other reviews, is that all the included papers reported analyses of data collected from children living in shelters or refuges or already accessing services. The voices of children experiencing ongoing DVA at home, and those who have never sought professional support, are always invisible.The results of the VOICES study, along with those from related studies like IMPROVE . We believe this review adds a significant new dimension to an understanding of the impact of DVA on children. Most of the research previously reviewed, because of its quantitative nature and focus on a limited number of outcomes, provides a useful, but partial, analysis of children’s experiences. Qualitative reports drawing on children’s own accounts present a deeper, more complex, and often more nuanced picture of children’s experiences. In particular, children’s actions during DVA, their resourcefulness in responding to violence, and their capacity for meaning-making and expressions of hope for the future are aspects of their experience highly suited to investigation using a qualitative methodology. Read alongside the many quantitative reviews, VOICES will help practitioners gain a more rounded understanding of children’s experiences, so that treatment approaches are more appropriately tailored to children’s needs.