ALL: Lack of Body Diversity on Soaps

[Contessa Donatella]

With her you could even say she was a BBW, Big Beautiful Woman. 

[Soaplovers]

Sally in the 90s on B&B didn't have her weight be the focus.  She had so many  layers to her character.

I doubt any modern day soap opera writer could do anything like that 

[kalbir]

 

Given that Sally was older and plus sized, she could easily have been either a one dimensional villainess or strictly comic relief but it was the combination of Bill Bell's writing and Darlene Conley's acting that made Sally a complex and layered character. We saw Sally as a businesswoman and a mother, plus she even had a romantic life.

On the male side of the equation, there's got to be that happy medium between six pack and dad bod.

[Maxim]

That hot medium. 

Please register in order to view this content

[Liberty City]

For me, going from Byrne to Beck was an insult enough... but the difference of figures these women had, given the storyline... it felt like "Yeah we can drop this now!" The Faith swap also... made little sense to me, but to each their own. Maybe had the series not been ending we could've seen more....?

[DramatistDreamer]

Probably as they’ve done it before, even in the halcyon era of the ‘80s but generally that was among ethnic or color lines.

[Lye-C]

Brandon Barash?

[John]

I remember OLTL going from Shenell Edmonds on ABC to Laura Harrier on PP as Destiny

[Lye-C]

That was a SORAS. It makes sense that she would have gone through puberty and ended up with a different body type. 

[John]

They asked Shenell and she was gonna do it but couldnt work it around her college classes

Also Destiny was already 17 when Drew was Born. She already went thru Puberty

Edited February 22, 2024 by John

[vetsoapfan]

@Althea Davis, You are making me think all sorts of indecent and naughty thoughts with this Matthew Bomer GIF.

Thank you so much!

[DramatistDreamer]

And also, people should really stop pretending like colorism doesn’t exist. Soaps have been pulling a fast on on this for decades. Y&R, for all the praise they get for featuring African American characters, there has been a noticeable lightening of color in the featured Black characters. Kristoff St. John even talked about this a couple years before his passing. 
I know this is off topic but it, along with body type issues seems like a taboo issue that doesn’t get discussed honestly.

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, this is a step to the right, also, but last week I had a Sprina Nation poster explain to me why some of them were furious after Spencer's memorial service & it was a real eye-opener for me. This is GH. So, they began by setting the scene at the gravesite. 1. All of the white people were on the left side & all of the black people were on the right side. (No, I had not even noticed that but they were correct.) 2. The only people who crossed from the left to the right, to comfort Spencer's true love Trina were Ava, who is like a second mother to her, and Joss & Cameron, who are young white adults who are best friends with Trina & Spencer. No other white people said anything to her which means none of his blood kin did. 

And, then they didn't want to talk anymore. 

And, I was like ... WHOA. 

And, Trina is an incredibly dark amazingly gorgeous young woman. Spencer is white. 

[Liberty City]

They wouldn't. They'd body-shame them in script and then fire them once they were done (ie: Sean Kanan, Adrianne León)

[Mitch64]

Any type of body diversity has been with women (larger woman with skinny pretty boy...) but it would be nice to see a reversal of that, or even just two larger. people together (I guess Josh and Reva the later years applies but they had been together for so long.).  I think its just a bit boring to see a generic version of "hot" on the soaps...it would be nice to seem some normal looking people in there (not against having "hot" people there either as its entertainment.) 

 

Speaking of Reva..it was odd during the Rauch years they had her as the goddess of love no man could resist...even in her heyday of Long she wasn't that...but especially since Kimmer, an attractive woman, was no a 40 something woman who had a 40 something body.  I would have much rather they just addressed the fact and that Josh and occasionally someone else still found her sexy...(God knows Reva would know how to screw...) 

Edited February 23, 2024 by Mitch64