Carb Free Pigs in a Blanket/RPD2

Research Paper Draft 2

Is It Acceptable?

Domestic violence was and is currently still a big issue in a lot of family homes around the world. Though the problem is immense, families will always try to keep their business private. There was not a lot of media broadcasting of broken family homes on television shows. However, the creators of the television show, The Honeymooners decided that they would also make a show that was different from what every other show previously portrayed a married couple to be. The Honeymooners was believed to be one of the first shows to publicize minor symbols that could suggest that domestic violence was present in the home. The genre of the show was romance comedy but not everyone thought the show was very romantic or funny. A lot of viewers criticized the show because they did not approve of the way the husband would treat his wife. Many people refused to watch the show or even left bad reviews of it. The show, The Honeymooners, was created for entertainment, but the mistreatment and verbal threats against the wife made viewers not like the show. People believed that the show portrayed the acceptance and ridicule of domestic violence.

Independence was something many married women did not have back then. There were numerous housewives whose only job was to take care of the children, the house, and her husband. Usually the husband would feel a lot of pressure to keep the family financially stable and want appreciation and respect in return. On the television show, The Honeymooners, the wife was a stay at home spouse while the husband was responsible for the finances. Viewers of the show inferred that the wife was a domestic violence victim. In The article, “Risk Factors for Domestic Violence in Women and Predictors of Development of Mental Disorders in These Women,” states, “Logistic regression analysis showed that employment status of spouse…were the factors that affected risk of physical violence of the women from their spouses” (Almis). There is a table in that article that compares different qualities a wife has that could put them at risk of becoming a domestic violence victim. The table results determined that if the wife was a housewife, then she would be more at a risk of physical violence than a wife that worked because they were easier to be controlled. In the article “Economic Stress and Domestic Violence”, it states, “That is, while economic stress and hardship may increase the risk of domestic violence, domestic violence may also cause financial problems for DV survivors and entrap them in poverty and an abusive relationship” (Renzetti and Larkin pg #?). The wife did not have any work experience or skills that could have helped her secure a job to help them financially. However, if she was to divorce her husband she would not be able to find work to take care of herself.

Physical abuse is not something that someone who is not mentally ill would just do for fun, there would have to be a root problem that makes the abuser resort to it. The article, “Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence”, states, “We meet theories that justify domestic violence by factors on the side of the individuals, they give specific explanations (different addictions, alcoholism, stress, psychological problems, etc.). . .” (Tittlová and Papáček). Out of all the reasons listed, one reason that was in connection to the show was stress, and that the wife was at risk of abuse. Stress was basically the whole storyline of the show and it would cause problems between the couple. The husband always came home stressed from not succeeding in his schemes. Then, he would argue with his wife and threaten her. This is what many viewers did not support in the show. Even though the creators of the show did this for laughs, the viewers believed that the creators was portraying that this was acceptable and that threats should be taken as a joke.

Even though the show never shown the husband actually becoming physically violent against his wife, the threats are still is a form of domestic violence. In the article, “Domestic Violence: Power Struggle with Lasting Consequences”, it states, “defines domestic violence as "a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner” (Babbel). The husband would always raise his fist to the wife while making a threat to hit her one day. That was a repetitive behavior that could be associated with domestic violence. However, after being threatened, the wife never acknowledged it. In the article, “The Truth about Domestic Violence”, the author writes, “The victim also may falsely believe that unless she is “beaten up,” she is not being abused” (“The Truth about Domestic Violence”). There are many women who do not see the signs of abuse in their marriage because they are blinded by love and they believe that their partners love them too much to hurt them. The article, “Why an abused spouse won't leave“, states, “This emotional up-and-down strategy keeps her off-balance and in a state of confusion” (Branson). Many times after an abuser would hurt their victim, they would apologize or give an excuse to why they do it. Some would buy gifts as an apology or simply tell the victim it is their fault. On the show, after all the disagreements the couple had, the husband would tell the wife that she is the greatest in the world.

There are various things that someone could notice that would lead them to believe if domestic violence is present inside a home. A number of signs that were on the show caught viewers’ attention and gave them the idea that The Honeymooners, was displaying indications of domestic abuse. The creators’ intentions are not known but since the sitcom was intended to be a comedy that would be the only explicit explanation. Around the time that the show was being aired, there were only a few other shows that were showing families that were not always ideally perfect. The similar shows were “I Love Lucy” and “Leave It to Beaver”. However, these shows did not receive as many bad reviews as “The Honeymooners” did because there were no direct threats from the husbands. They did cause a change in the genre by other creators also making shows that acknowledge that there are broken and unhappy families.