Why Kenyan men hate soap operas that women love so much

For as long as men can remember, our girls, and women alike, have remained slaves to TV programs. But none of the programs captures their imagination to an almost stupendous proportions than those predictable Mexican soap operas.

Little wonder, then, that local TV line ups overflow with soap operas.

It’s unfortunate that after reading through magazines, watching a movie and more particularly these soap operas, many a girl’s imagination runs wild. She starts to think they can live the soap opera lifestyle in real life. “Oh my gosh...I just want a wedding like that of Camilla,” a woman would say. “Wow...how I wish I meet a dude with muscles like Alejandro. He’s so hot,” another one would gush.

Look here girls, stop those jokes. Stop dreaming, wake up and smell the coffee; the reality is that our life is nothing like a movie or a soap opera. There may be some things in the soap that happen to you, but in general whatever appears on TV is not reality.

I have severally heard from many men that they prefer ‘real’ things and hate anything emotional. “The emotional nature and lack of reality in soap are probably the biggest reasons for men disliking Soaps” argues my good pal Paula. But they could be other reasons.

The majority of men absolutely hate soap operas because they know that women are going to compare their lives with what is happening on the latest soap opera.

Women for some reason want to relive most of the moments on the soap opera. Fair enough they have conversations with their friends about what’s happened on the latest edition of what life took away from me or the Poor Princess.

But can men trust the girls not to make the big mistake and think life should be like a soap opera or a movie? The other day we were having a drink waiting to catch the Manchester United vs. Liverpool game and next table there were these two girls who looked like they were waiting to their big break.

But while the rest of us were consumed by the anxiety of the game, the girls spent the entire time chattering about nothing else but a soap opera.

A good friend of mine Mark says that in his initial days with the memsahib, life was a bit tricky for him because she had gotten used to watching virtually every soap opera on TV as she lived alone. But when they started living together everyone had his or her interests on TV.

The battle for the remote was suddenly sowing seeds of discontent in their early marriage.

For one, Mark could not comprehend how he would have to pay a premium package for Pay TV so as not to miss any of the action packed sports offering or good and enlightening documentaries. But here was his young partner still stuck to watching irritating soaps on free to air channels.

Women must stop taking soap operas as the life’s guide book. The perfectly scripted characters on the silver screen can never be found around the corner and the more they go searching for one, the more frustrating it gets for them in real life.

Meanwhile, their TV wannabe continues to enjoy horse riding in an expansive ranch.