Yet another story about a woman who wouldn’t have consented if she wasn’t high.
Soaps are supposed to be written for women, but in a strange twist of fate, they’re written by mostly men, who don’t have a clue as to what women want, because if they did understand their audience, they’d know that nobody’s been happy with soaps for a while. They’d take a consensus to find out what we want to see. They’d watch EastEnders on BBC and emulate that kind of writing for strong female characters in a soap that actually still soaps.
Bold and Beautiful, for example, has been known as the “incestuous soap” for many years. It’s misogynistic, and sure, I don’t believe it’ll change, especially since there are too many men in charge, but do these men know what else won’t change? How women feel about the storylines. Why they’re not watching, and why the ratings have been in decline.
There are a lot of issues with B&B, namely that the storylines no longer rely on the show’s rich history. Characters are thrown under the bus for shock value or just because they don’t care about what they’re producing anymore. There’s no real rhyme or reason to any storyline. No actual point, no fallout from characters doing bad things, and nothing really that relatable to the general viewer. It’s also hard for many to root for anyone since characters can and will be changed at any point to suit the plot. And the stories that might have flown in the 80s just don’t fly in 2024.
Everybody is FED UP on my tl 🤣🤣🤣 #Soaptwitter #GH #YR #BoldandBeautiful pic.twitter.com/NBkdu5sEZW
— Tamnelson (@TamNelson0024) February 13, 2024
Story in perspective
A virgin has sex with her boyfriend for the first time. She swoons over how perfect it is, glad she waited until she’s in love. The next day she’s tipsy and accidentally drugged and has sex with someone else, thinking he’s her boyfriend.
A guy has made advances on a girl for weeks, she rejects him, reminding him she’s in a relationship with his cousin. Jealous of the guy, he creeps around, hoping she will change her mind.
He finds her naked in his bed and assumes that suddenly she wants him. Instead of asking that one little question. “I thought you were with someone else?”
Nobody wants to see this.
WTF is wrong with Brad Bell? Consent is an issue on every soap, but B&B is consistently stuck in the rapey 80s. Why aren’t young viewers watching soaps? Look no further than this creaky old “oopsie, I boned you cuz I wuz on drugz” plot that went out of style before Luna was born.
— Matthew Farris (@mattFarris) February 13, 2024
#BoldandBeautiful
The viewers:
This is ruining Zende!
Stop using SA as a plot device!
This is insulting to a black character!
This is demeaning to women!Bell: pic.twitter.com/DDSXqWsZFh
— Vonne Girl (@Vonne_girl) February 13, 2024
Breaking it down
Everyone wants to assign blame to someone…
The head writer and the execs who requested or allowed such a misogynistic, offensive storyline, especially in 2024, are assigned all the blame. It’s old man fantasy writing and non-consensual fantasy.
This show rarely has women in control of themselves, which is grotesque. They’ve shown time after time that they’ve no respect for women or soap fans who they think are stupid.
If only…
There’s a lot of blame being placed on the women I’ve noticed, which is just like B&B to write. Luna blaming herself for ‘cheating’ on RJ, RJ being held responsible by some viewers for letting Luna leave alone, the show and viewers placing condemning Poppy for allowing the drugs to get out of her sight. There are a lot of ‘if only’ so and so hadn’t done this.
If only RJ had seen just how wasted Luna was…
If only Poppy wasn’t so careless with her drugs…
If Luna hadn’t taken the “special mints” that they still haven’t named…
Zende
If only Zende had asked Luna, “Why aren’t you with RJ?”
If only Zende respected that Luna and cousin RJ were a couple…
But again, the blame lies solely with the head writer and the execs for writing and allowing this offensive storyline to be written in the first place.
The happy mints
Luna’s Altoids container looks very different from her mother’s mint container. It’s lazy and stupid to think any soap fan would find it believable that Luna would realize they weren’t her mints. Did they even taste like mints? Make it make sense at least.
They should have had identical pill containers at the very least or she should have realized they were her mom’s mints and took one and shrugged it off since they did taste minty.
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Fallout
I believe Zende said they used protection. That’s a first in a soap, but I’m still unconvinced that it’ll work, so they might want to consider getting Plan B. Unless they want a baby, and that’d be just like B&B to introduce an unwanted pregnancy and force her to go through with it like it’s 1950. Oh wait, that’s still happening in some states in USA.
There’s nothing wrong with being a virgin when you’re 20-something, but it’s shockingly rare. It’s obvious that they brought a virgin into this story just to violate the character further.
When RJ learns the truth, what will he do? Will Luna wind up with Zende anyway? That’s how it seems to work on this show and that’s what I see coming.
Reading this, are these writers so out of touch that it’s 2024 and she should be picking up some easy prevention at the drug store before it’s too late. At least have party girl Poppy make a run and get it for Luna. #BoldandBeautiful
— Sadie (@mums52) February 13, 2024
What they could have written
Luna has sex with RJ and has a taste for it. Jumps into bed with Zende too. Takes charge of her sexuality, and does them both without them knowing it. It’s 2024. The show is being written as though it’s the 1950s and that there has to be a reason behind why a woman has sex. She can’t just want it because it feels good. Soapy and consensual.
Luna’s brought up poor and dreamed of being with a rich man who could take care of her, just like her mama. She wants RJ for her husband and Zende in the bedroom. Maybe she falls for Zende after all but it all blows up in her face when both men find out what she’s been up to. Still soapy and hey, it’s consensual.
The chemistry or lack thereof
Chemistry is subjective. I know. We all like and dislike characters and couples for our own reasons. My unpopular opinion is that I’m not a fan of RJ, and I also don’t care for him with Luna. I don’t see any chemistry between the two but I see a lot of chemistry between Luna and Zende.
I was rooting for Zende at first, siding with him, even about his beef with RJ to some extent. I was hoping that Luna would see Zende as a better match for her until things got a little too creepy for my taste. Until the show couldn’t help but beat the jealousy story to death, causing me to withdraw from caring at all about it.
Luna could have easily dumped him for Zende. There would still be drama between the men. It could still have been written soapy.
Viewers still would have taken sides, which the show thrives on, and the writing wouldn’t have been misogynistic.
Representation matters
Talk about negative representation, using a Black man, Zende, in the story as a predator, especially during Black History Month. For those still asking how, it’s giving regressive, racist messages. Please educate yourself on racism.
And keep in mind that yes, this is a recycled story with Ridge and Thomas, two white men, but Zende is one of the only two Black men on the show right now which doesn’t look good. (Xander seems to have disappeared for now).
Really B&B couldn’t wait to have this ridiculous storyline til after Black History Month
— Blackout♈ (@Walla_walla2) February 13, 2024
I could understand the story if this guy was trash from the beginning and purposely said, “Screw it. I’ll take what I want,” but that’s not Zende and isn’t what’s being written.
What is consent?
If a woman is on drugs or is drunk, she cannot consent to sex. PERIOD. Having sex with someone you never would have had sex with while sober is a violation whether or not you want to use the word rape.
This is not even the first time this story has been told with a male character taking advantage of a woman’s state of mind on this damned show — whether the man was written knowing they were or not. Hell, it’s been an ongoing theme of all of the soaps to some extent. Zende didn’t know Luna was high, but it still induces anger watching a story about a woman who would NEVER have consented if she wasn’t high. Can you imagine if this happened to you?
When Brooke was on anti-anxiety pills and Ridge had sex with her, it wasn’t consent. Ridge did it anyway and in the morning, Brooke was shocked and pulled Stephanie’s rifle on him. Ridge admitted that it wasn’t consensual. When Caroline took anti-anxiety pills and drank loads of wine, Thomas had sex with her. That’s not consent.