Fans of Emmerdale have lashed out at the soap’s portrayal of women recently, branding it ‘awful.’ This comes amidst storylines for characters such as Charity, Chloe, Gabby and Manpreet, all of whom have suffered a series of humiliating revelations… most at the hands of bullying, cheating, gaslighting men.
Recent weeks have seen Charity Dingle come to terms with the fact that husband Mack cheated on her with teenage Chloe. Since splitting up with Charity, Mack has moved on to Chloe, who took him in without much of a thought as to his behaviour in the past year.
Meanwhile, Nicky dumped Gabby on their wedding – finally admitting the truth about his sexuality and his dad’s plan to rob Kim Tate. All of the above has led some fans to condemn the soap for its portrayal of women, branding the writing as ‘awful.’
Emmerdale fans call out ‘awful’ writing of women
Writing on social media, a number of the soap’s viewers called out the writing as it pertained to the female characters. Many felt that it has been severely lacking of late.
“It’s awful. And that whole episode has made women look like we all fall apart without a man by our sides. Charity, Chloe, Gabby and Leyla,” wrote one fan.
In last night’s episode (Wednesday, June), Leyla was visibly shaken when she learned that Caleb had slept with Charity. Fawning over him like a lovesick puppy, she retreated into the company of a defensive David.
Chloe, in particular, came in for a hammering from fans – most notably her apparent lack of self-respect and her folding at Mack’s disrespectful treatment of her.
“Chloe seriously needs to raise her standards and get some self respect, the guy bullied and gaslighted her for months. He also wants his wife back. Does Jane Hudson just not like female characters, nearly every single one is written awfully?” asked one fan.
“Modern Women according to Emmerdale: ‘Never carries protection but gives in to ONS with distressed men from the village. Gets pregnant, decides to have the baby and raise it by herself. Then, at the drop of a hat, starts pursuing him to ‘be a family for the sake of the baby’,” agreed another.
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“Just for once could they introduce a likeable character, especially a likeable female character. What’s wrong with Jane? Does she just hate everyone?” another viewer asked.
“Again just to serve a ridiculous plot they change a character from a defiant stubborn tough as hell women into a snivelling whining wet wipe in double quick time. Totally bloody ridiculous claptrap,” one fan said, referring to the transformation of characters such as Charity Dingle into a subservient ‘wet wipe.’
Another fan called out the show’s writing of Manpreet, who has struggled with the arrival of Charles’s mother, Claudette. “Is Manpreet really how a predominantly female production team view a professional woman?” this fan wrote. “Charles must have seen Wednesday’s dinner from where he was seated. Rodney must have got a right eyeful serving her coffee,” they said, referring to the demeaning way Manpreet had been dressed for the scene.
Meanwhile, star Lucy Pargeter has had to defend herself from online trolls after her own character, Chas Dingle, turned into an unlikable cheat and a hypocrite in recent years.
Does the soap have a problem with its female characters?
Read more: Complete Emmerdale cast list 2023 – meet them all here!
Emmerdale usually airs on weekdays at 7:30pm, with an hour long episode on Thursdays.
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