ALL: The Lichtenstein Dilemma

[Paul Raven]

An interesting sideline to that is that there were several women on soaps who were portrayed as heroines, an ideal to look up to but never given children even though they were married and able to bear children

Van on Love of Life married Bruce and was saddled with stepchildren, yet never had any of her own.

Nancy on Edge of Night-again had a stepdaughter but she and Mike never had a child.

Maggie on The Doctors had a daughter then found true love with Matt but no kids with him.

What about Carla on OLTL? 

There are probably more.

And then there were those women who were written as unable to bear children -Penny on ATWT, Alice on AW. Why were they 'punished' in that way?

 

[Planet Soap]

I second that I don't mind seeing older women continue to be involved in romance. Case and point Erica Kane or Brooke Logan (as old as the slutty Brooke trope has become). But man or woman it becomes old seeing charachters bounce around from relationship to relationship repeatedly for years (Jack on Y&R).

I also don't mind older women as a protaganist. I believe that Stephanie would still be at the center of B&B if she were around, and not the "wise talk to" charachter. 

[DramatistDreamer]

The daytime soap opera is so limited in the way they characterize women in general. Do you think any one of them could write a character like a Jane Fonda or even a Lily Tomlin? Now mind you, I am not even referring to the characters that they have portrayed, I speak of the real life women that really appear to live active vital lives in their own rights, irrespective of their marital or maternal status. I don’t think that anyone would ever limit either one as a talk to. Yet, they still embrace their ages, they are not trying to relive any type of adolescence or ingenue period. I just don’t understand why soaps are incapable of writing their longtime characters as mature without ossifying them. It’s not that hard to do and it doesn’t take any extra money out of the show’s budget.

[j swift]

But, these are examples of the thesis.

The Lichtenstein Dilemma proposes that few female characters aged without being saddled with some version of a child, either of the substitute, foster, adopted, step, or long-lost variety.

[Paul Raven]

Agree, but why not give them children of their own when they were young enough and in stable loving marriages? Odd decision when it was pretty standard in those days for young soap women to get saddled with at least one child.

eg Lisa ATWT, Sara EON, Laura/Julie/Susan Days Audrey GH, Leslie GL, Susan/Amy SS etc

[j swift]

Because

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[Paul Raven]

And we come full circle!