I believe engaging in either of the two practices is equally stigmatizing. But I like doing one of them… a lot. I am a soap fan. Probably the last of a dying breed gone the way of the newspaper. But like public smoking, people look down on the avid soap fan as some sort of big-haired, spandex wearing trailer resident. And for me it’s even worse. People have expectations! Because I’m a writer, folks imagine I watch BBC or PBS whilst perusing through The Economist. A career in freelance writing requires a tremendous amount of calorie-burning brain effort so it’s nice to just tune out and watch a bunch of actors pretending that it is perfectly natural for a woman to have an embryo transplant. I think people perceive my fetish for soaps as shameful, so I hide it most of the time. But everyone has to unwind and my poison is The Young & The Restless. I won’t apologize.

At least I don’t do THIS:

Truth be told, I watch BBC and occasionally read The Economist, but then I have to take a nap afterwards.