Don’t watch them. That’s the best way to “fight” soaps. Companies sponsor soaps because of the audience, and when there is no audience, sponsors walk away, and with no sponsors, there is no soap. That’s the way television works.
Several long-time soaps have gone off the air in recent years, and more will follow. They’re all doomed due to low ratings. Soap operas are suffering the same fate as figure skating broadcasts–women aren’t watching anymore because they have so many options on cable TV, TiVo, netflix, youtube, etc. Most women would rather watch the Food Network or HGTV or movies rather than a soap.
Soaps have always pushed the envelope when it comes to “sex scenes.” Back in my mother’s day when soaps were on the radio, it was “racy plots”; e.g., two unmarried people having an…gasp!..affair! Back in MY day, it was two unmarried people living together, or rape (Luke and Laura started out as a rape), or abortion. Back in my daughters’ days, it was gay couples.
And there have always been “racy” bedroom scenes. Many women would call soap scenes “romantic.” I would. Keep in mind that one of the target audiences for soaps is still women who are at home, often with babies and young children who are taking their naps during the soap. Another audience for soaps is elderly women who are at home. There is nothing sinful about a little romantic fantasy, especially if it leads the woman to seek a real-life romantic encounter with her delighted husband. My problem with the romantic fantasy is that on soaps, it is usually between a man and a woman who are not married… but not always. Soaps still show married couples enjoying a bedroom fantasy! Women need romance, and soaps often encourage them to try to revive the romance with their husbands.
Now don’t misinterpret me–there are definite problems with soaps and there always have been problems with soaps. I realize that another target audience for soaps is teenagers who are at home, which is the majority of young teens under 16 (too young to drive or work). My personal feeling is that if mom or dad watches the soap with the teen, it can be a great bonding experience, and mom or dad can use the soap to discuss real-life romantic scenaria with their teen. MY mother did this–she was a major All My Children fan for decades, and we talked about the soap all the time. (I didn’t watch it, but it’s easy enough to keep up with a soap’s characters by reading the newspaper summaries.)
I guess I just don’t think that soap operas are that serious a problem in the U.S. There are much worse media culprits that we need to pay more attention to.
I recall this stuff from middle school as my first exposure to immoral imagery. It has only gotten worse.