Sabrina McNeil
Dangerous Cultural Views from a Conflict/Feminist Perspective
Even though movies are forms of entertainment, they also portray social problems that
plague society. This is true with the movie “Enough”. It depicts the social problem of domestic
violence against a married woman. Domestic violence is a social issue that cuts across all
gender, economic, and racial boundaries (Petcosky & Swanger 3). It has devastating physical,
emotional, and financial effects on women when it occurs to them. The movie “Enough”
supports sociological evidence of how domestic violence against women result from society’s
cultural view of male dominance.
First, through this movie’s interpretation of the social problem of domestic violence, one
can draw two conclusions 1) that it is hard to find protection from the law against an abusive
husband who has money and 2) that domestic violence can happen to anyone. In the movie, a
working class woman meets a wealthy man. She sees him as her knight in shining armor. Years
later, she becomes aware that he is engaging in extramarital affairs. She is forced to live in an
unhappy marriage through physical abuse, intimidation, and threats. She is a stay-at-home with
no income but that of her husband, which makes her reluctant to leave. Subsequently, when
Slim, the main character, does get the courage to flee, she endures economic hardship, not only
for herself, but her daughter as well. She has no money and suddenly finds herself faced with
homelessness and poverty. Moving from place to place with the help of friends to escape her
husband’s reign of terror, she tries to provide some form of stability for her daughter.
Consequently, because her husband is wealthy and powerful, he uses his resources to undermine
every attempt she makes at having some form of peace in her life. Domestic violence in the
home is often stigmatized as being a problem that happens to a certain class of people, usually
those that are poor and uneducated. “Enough” is a prime example of how no one, not even the
rich are immune to this social problem.
Several scenes in the movie “Enough” support the conflict/feminist viewpoints. Viewing
the movie through the lens of a conflict/feminist perspective, domestic violence results from
gender inequality between men and women and the “historical view of women as property”
(Schacht, Mooney & Knox 174) . Gender inequality and the belief that a married woman is the
material possession of her husband stems from society’s cultural views. In one particular scene
in the movie, Slim confronts her husband about his infidelity when she smells the other woman’s
perfume on him. From a conflict/feminist standpoint, the physical abuse that she endured at that
moment was justifiable because she challenged male authority. Contrary to a wife’s belief, she
is expected to fulfill the needs of her husband by supporting or ignoring his indiscretions. The
society in which we live in is patriarchal. Under patriarchy society, a male-dominated family
system is found to be the norm (Schacht, Mooney & Knox 171) . The patriarchal system is built
upon the notion that the man is head of the household and always right. This scene also
illustrates how Slim and her husband follow traditional gender roles. As they argue she, states
that she stays at home and keeps his house and child. He responds by saying he makes the money
and therefore the rules. Through gender socialization, women at a young age learn to be
homemakers. This consists of staying at home tending to the house and kids, while the man
seeks employment that represents prestige and power outside the home. As a result, men use this
economic advantage over women to exert power and control just as Slim’s husband does. Men
and women follow the traditional roles just as Slim and her husband do because of cultural
norms. Furthermore, in another scene in the movie “Enough”, Slim and her husband are having
dinner at the table and her husband makes the statement that she belongs to him. Historically, a
married woman was considered physical property of her husband. This belief gave a man legal
right to discipline his wife through the use of physical force if he saw fit to. Because traditional
domestic roles between wives and husbands are open to interpretation, one can see how
traditional cultural views can have a dangerous affect on a marriage.
Although intimate and family relationships provide many individuals with a sense of
intimacy and well-being, for some it involves physical violence at the hands of a spouse
(Schacht, Mooney & Knox 175) . The concept of intimate partner violence occurs between two
people in a close relationship. This can be current and former spouses, boyfriends and
girlfriends. Annually, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner related physical
assaults (Center for Disease Control) . In the scene when Slim decides to leave her home while
her husband is asleep is a prime example of how severe intimate partner violence can escalate.
She is not running from a stranger but her husband--someone who has vowed to keep her safe.
This kind of violence includes physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as threats and
neglect. Intimate partner violence also extends to friends of the victim as revealed when her
husband awakens and threatens her and her friends with a gun. Also, as Slim leaves her home
due to intimate partner violence, she struggles to provide shelter and food for herself and her
child. The term feminization of poverty refers to the disproportionate distribution of poverty
among women ( Schacht, Mooney & Knox 220 ). When women along with a child leave violent
marriages where they were economic dependent on their abusive husbands, they are forced into a
female-headed single parent household. The wife and child now become another disparaging
statistic.
From a conflict/feminist approach domestic violence results from the social structure of
our society. As the conflict/feminists see it, society is socially structured by gender, and society
has a long history of male dominance (Petcosky & Swanger 46). Because males have
historically had a greater access to resources because traditionally they have worked outside the
home, they have maintained power over women. The movie “Enough” illustrates how married
women and men who follow society’s traditional roles create an unequal distribution of power in
their marriages. This enables a woman to have no financial security of her own leaving her
fewer options in life including a way of escaping an abusive husband.
Like all social problems, there are many causes. But above all, the socialization of
gender roles and our traditional male patriarchal system are at the root of the problem when it
comes to domestic violence against women in marriages as conflict/feminist suggest.
Works Cited
Enough. Dir. Michael Apted. Perf. Jennifer Lopez. Columbia Pictures, 2002. DVD.
“Injury Prevention & Control: Violence Prevention”. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
(2010). 20 March 2010 http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/IPV_factsheet-a.pdf
Schacht, Mooney, and David Knox. Understanding Social Problems. California: Wadsworth,
2009. 171-220.
Swanger, and Jacqueline L. Petcosky. Violence in the Home. New York: Oxford Press, 2003. 346.