ALL: Lack of Body Diversity on Soaps

[SamandWillowFan]

I think it has always been a shame that there is such a lack of body diversity on soaps, especially when it comes to plus-sized women since the target audience is women and most of them are probably not sizes 0-4. The only couples where the woman was plus-sized I can think of on soaps (at least ones actually written for) are Sofia and Neil, Craig and Nancy (and in the end they had him be closeted the entire time), Michael and Marcie, Coop and Ashlee (my personal favorite), and kind of Destiny and Matthew (of course she was recast with a super skinny, lighter skinned actress on the reboot).

[AbcNbc247]

The body diversity was one of the things that made Craig and Nancy so popular when they first debuted.

What Ron did to them was absolutely disgusting

[Lye-C]

Norma and Edna on Passions (also daytime’s first gay wedding)

It should have been Mike Horton who came out later in life. He was almost gay in the 70s. 

[dragonflies]

It would be great, get a plus sized model on BOLD modeling fashions for plus size women. or any plus size character just leading a story

[titan1978]

It could lead to an actual story too. I don’t watch B&B but I know the basics. It would have been interesting for Spectra to have invested in clothing and modes for all sizes, and actually come out on top of Forrester.

[Contessa Donatella]

Such a good topic. Like you, on GL I loved Ashlee in general & on her own & then when they did that pairing they were so good together. Of course, I had previously also really liked Coop, on his own & as a person. 

I'm aware of Marcie & know of her pairing with Micheal. 

Also same of Nancy & Craig. I think they really did a serious mishandling of things to use Craig as they did in that story. They should have used another couple. 

[DaytimeFan]

Craig and Nancy were wildly popular when they arrived in the late 90s. They had a legit TV Guide layout where the two of them were in a fountain back when TV Guide was prestige. And when Patrika was nominated for an Emmy, the roar of the audience when her clip package was announced at the ceremonies was incredible. 

They were the wrong couple for that story. Completely undid their entire storyline.

Darlene Conley's Sally at B&B was a plus size diva for nearly 20 years and was wildly popular. 

It's plain and obvious that the audience wants to see characters of all ages and shapes - they want to see their world reflected. Of course, networks have given up on their soaps and aren't willing to innovate anything.

[Althea Davis]

Great topic. I myself am tired of seeing same male body types on screen. Where my bears at? I would like to see attractive larger guys. No just abs. Tired of abs.

[vetsoapfan]

The lack of body diversity in soaps is unacceptable, but sadly, it goes hand in hand with the soaps' (and television's in general) lack of representation in many areas. When I was growing up, it was rare to see plus-size people on TV, but it was also rare to see members of racial, religious and sexual-orientation minorities too. The excuse by TPTB was always that the audience wasn't ready for it or didn't want to see it.

Representation has widened on television nowadays, so that we see more people of color, more people from different faiths, and more LGBTQ+ folks on screen. Hopefully, more actors/characters with varying body types will also follow suit.

BTW, just for clarification, Mike Horton on DAYS was always presented as heterosexual. One time, under severe stress, he was unable to perform sexually with Trish Clayton, which upset and confused him. He quickly boinked Linda Patterson, however, and his sexuality was confirmed. He could have experimented with men later on, or expressed some interest in doing so, but almost 50 years later, nothing of the sort has ever come to light.

Being temporarily impotent at one point does not make Mike "almost homosexual," IMHO.

Edited February 19 by vetsoapfan

[AbcNbc247]

They did for a little while in the 90s.

Spectra released a clothing line for heavy set women, called the “Grand Diva” line 

Absolutely.

The storyline was gross, unnecessary and just didn’t need to happen. One of the worst I’ve ever seen. 

Edited February 19 by AbcNbc247

[DramatistDreamer]

As a little girl, I remember Traci Abbott and Brad Carlton. Back then, a great deal of the storylines concerning Traci had to do with her being plus sized (or overweight, as she was referred to back then) and to be honest, other than broad self-esteem issues that Traci had, the show never really created much storyline for her character outside of that.
 

Many years later, when they recasted the character of Colleen, Traci and Brad’s daughter to be portrayed by an actress considered plus-sized, the show sort of offhandedly had Colleen mention being built “like her mother” or some such comment, but they really didn’t pursue the issue. Later, they recasted the actress yet again, to be portrayed by a waifish actress from Australia, whose portrayal led them to kill off the character altogether.

[Liberty City]

OMFG SAMEEEEEEEEE

I remember one of Martha Byrne's last major storylines was her problem with her weight that also focused on Lily's daughter Faith. Then both roles were recast with thinner women. Very... weird.

[DramatistDreamer]

Yeah, the character of Lily was another one that came to mind and the show basically writing half a storyline about Lily’s struggle to lose postpartum weight gain, while they constantly had her wear some of the most dour color pathways Byrne was ever outfitted in.  Lily has been recasted more than twice, so for me, it wasn’t really about the recast of Lily but the recasting of Faith, for me, seemed really jarring. Not only did they change the actress but the personality seemed completely different, they didn’t seem to keep any of the same traits that stood out in the previous actress.

[j swift]

My concern is whenever a character is introduced to diversify the cast, the narrative inevitably follows a predictable trajectory. These characters, differentiated by their sexuality, gender, body type, psychological disorder, race, or religion, become defined solely by these characteristics. Their storyline becomes a repetitive cycle of struggling for acceptance, overcoming the resistance of some bigot, and then fading into obscurity because their purpose has been served. Examples like Maya from B&B, Paul from DAYS, and Amy from GH faced adversity due to their differences but ultimately vanished once their lesson of acceptance was taught.

I believe we should have progressed beyond a cultural point where it falls upon minority characters on television to educate others on civil behavior.  Especially because what we see on soaps does not represent the majority in real life.  Instead, I would welcome protagonists who are underweight, gay crime fighters, or East-Asian business mentors, as a sign of progress because their diversity is only one aspect of their character. However, I am not in favor of yet another drama centered around adults learning lessons about acceptance that they should know just from living in present society.

[dragonflies]

Especially given Sally's gran is played by a plus sized actress. Say her gran is the inspiration for her line