ABSTRACT
This chapter examines representations of forms of violence inflicted on female bodies in Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come and Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. I argue that the prevalence of rape and other forms of sexual violence in patriarchal societies as portrayed in the two novels demonstrates the close link between sexuality and social power configurations whereby male hegemony in its dominance confers power and a right to access women’s bodies even without their consent, and often with impunity for the violator. Drawing from Pumla Dineo Gqola’s postulations that rape is the communication of patriarchal power, reigning in, enforcing submission and punishing defiance, my textual analysis illustrates that rape is an exercise of patriarchal violent power against those who are safe to violate, in this case, mostly women and girls.
