We Gotta Talk About The Way That GH Treats Its Female Characters!!!

So ever since Frank Valentini and friends came onto GH, I've noticed a very significant change in the writing for so many of the female characters that it drives me insane. And now it's gotten even worse over the years, especially regarding characters that are fawning around a certain newbie with pathetic daddy issues that should've never existed. GH fans everywhere, you know who I'm talking about!

Let's start with some of the big ones for me: using female pain to redeem and glorify the men!

One of the first examples of this was back in '12 and how Kate Howard's (Kelly Sullivan) rape by Joe Scully Jr. (Richard Steinmetz) was treated by the narrative. When it was revealed that Kate was raped by a childhood rival of Sonny's as a way to hurt him already bile catches in the throat. I know that we as a society have become more informed about the ways in which female bodies and sexuality are treated within the media, but it still makes my skin crawl the way that sexual assault against female characters can be used to this day as a way not to tell a story about their survival and their emotions, but as a way to focus on the man-pain of their significant others. And that's exactly how Kate's rape was treated. There was no true focus on how she coped with her attack except to portray her as mentally ill with a split personality. And then to add insult to injury, said split personality was little more than a sexually aggressive cartoon baddie with poor taste in fashion. This was not a part of the storyline that appealed well with viewers. In contrast, Kate's rapist--Joe--was given much more screen time with Kate's lover and the actual target of his reprehensible actions, Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard).

Never once do I remember hearing dialogue about Sonny trying to help Kate come to terms with her attack and siring the child of her rapist, it was more so about Sonny revenge-killing Joe and down the road getting Kate to emerge from behind her alter, Connie, so that he could have his girlfriend back and all could be right in his world. The story never had any intention of making Kate/Connie's POV a front-runner. All roads inevitably led back to Sonny and more of the mob BS. (Not that I have a problem with the mob on GH, but there is a time and place for everything for a reason.)

This was a similar route for when Franco (then portrayed by--and if I must say so for the better--James Franco) had raped, or pretended to rape as recent writing would have us believe to make the character's return bearable for some fans, Sam Morgan (Kelly Monaco) as a way to torment her husband Jason Morgan (Steve Burton). While the storyline was brilliantly acted by all parties, I do not like the way that Sam and her mental and emotional well-being were hardly ever touched on. The beginning of this storyline had followed how Sam's attack was impacting Jason most of the time until he eventually confronted and "killed" Franco. I can't remember if Sam ever truly dealt with her sexual assault (and yes, what Franco did was sexual assault, even though some Franco apologists will try to convince you otherwise) in a healthy and constructive way, she just sort of, moved past it.

Now, I'm not saying victims of sexual assault do not have the right to process their trauma in a way that's best for them, but that's the point, they need to process it for their own sakes. Right now, we just get Sam giving Franco (now played for some reason I will never understand by Roger Howarth) the stank eye or shooting him a verbal barb every now and then. When did Sam every TRULY get to express how what Franco did to her impacted HER and only HER? And then there was the way that her getting pregnant as a result of her rape was used as fodder to create some stupid, disgusting, tacky love quadrangle with Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and John McBain (Michael Easton). I won't even touch on the ways that I hated that turd nugget of a storyline.

I hate the way that sexual assault is treated on soaps in general, but GH has a particularly bad history of being the worst at handling it. (At least in my opinion).

Now that brings me to 2020, where so many of the females on GH have been made butt monkeys and dickmatized to the point that stretches beyond all logic and comprehension. I can think of few female characters on the roster who I truly like and find engaging to watch, except Ava Jerome (played magnificently despite the biased-ass writing by Maura motherfreaking West). However, I like Ava in spite of how abused she is by the writing and most of the hypocritical ass GH population. Laura Collins (Genie Francis) has managed to last truly unscathed but who knows how long that will last. I do not trust these writers!

The first black, female commissioner in Port Charles, Jordan Ashford (Briana Nicole Henry), should be the most boss-ass bitch in the city and yet time and time again she is outmaneuvered and outsmarted by nearly every last criminal and their mother (literally) in the game.

Ava Jerome I've touched upon, but let me reiterate. Why does she have to be the town pariah and eternally suffer for crimes that her male counterparts have committed and then some with no one in her corner to have her back? (I'm looking at you Sonny Corinthos!) This woman has more than paid for so much of her shit but I guess for most people, the only way to truly pay for crimes is to be convicted and sent to jail for three months or more, and sometimes not even that. And what astounds me is how much so many of these characters want the justice system to work for them when those very people are the ones spitting in the face of the justice system every goddamn time. In the words of Zoe Johnson: "F@%k those people!" I remember this scene and how it perfectly summarized Ava's life when it comes to the way people treat her.

And then, there's Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen) and Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattson), the latest duet of basic ass females added to the mix. Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) practically exists to be bamboozled by any tall, strapping dude with a sad daddy story and a bad reputation. Lulu Spencer (Emme Rylan) is...let's lust be nice and call her a ditz. Kristina Corinthos-Davis never left high school it seems since she still has the personality of a rebellious teenage princess.

Now these ladies are just the most specific examples I can think of. the most egregious crimes against female characters to date have been the decimation of fan favs Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) and Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms).

These two are practically shells of their former glory nowadays. The way the writers make these two formerly strong, perceptive women lap up the BS from unpopular newbie Peter August (Wes Ramsey) just because he had the bad luck of being raised by GH villain Cesar Faison (Anders Hove) is so undignified. Just because Peter had a mean daddy doesn't excuse all his sociopathic behavior as of late. And the fact they believe that Obrecht (Kathleen Gati) was the mastermind behind all of Peter's shenanigans without a single doubt given his history just makes them look even worse. These writers want to make fetch (Peter) happen so bad they have to have Maxie and Anna fall on their swords to do it. It's disgusting and a disrespect to the fans who have followed these characters for so long and know that ten years ago, Anna and Maxie would not be falling for this shit!

I know that I may be naive in saying this, but I can't help but hope that in this day and age, the writers would hope to promote stronger female characters (or as strong as they can be, given this is a soap opera), especially since their largest demographic in viewers are women. I will not feel an ounce of pity for Maxie or Anna when this Peter mess is revealed. Given their history, they should know better and smell a frame-job from a mile away, especially a woman who spent her life as a spy. Women on soaps have never been written great but for God's sake the lack of awareness within this show when it comes to the way these girls are treated next to their male counterparts should be illegal at this point.