While sitting for two hours in a movie theater, watching a ridiculous soap opera-like film called a ‘A Family that Prey’s’, Tyler Perry once again left me, confused and disappointed by his “black girls need a man and Jesus” message.

I’m not the biggest fan of Tyler Perry, however I do in fact respect his work but in “A Family that Prey’s” there was one scene that left a sour taste in my mouth. I wasn’t necessarily shocked by what was flashed before my eyes because it is only a movie, but the reaction from the audience is what struck my attention.

In the movie, a woman was bad-mouthing her husband at a diner in front of her mother, sister, and the customers. While talking down to her husband, she revealed to him that she’s been having a love affair with her boss (who is also his) and that she has a child by him. The husband, now pissed that he has been caring for a child that is not even his own was pushed to his limits from his wife’s foul mouth and slapped her. She then flew across the counter in front of everyone. The mother and the daughter said NOTHING to the husband.

As I’m watching this scene with disappointment, the women in the theater were applauding the slap in the wife’s face. I even over heard one girl saying, “That B*tch deserved to get to slapped.” To make matter worse, mother’s who were present in the theater brought their children. Children watched the crowd praising the slap and were laughing themselves, mocking their mothers. It seemed as if everyone was accepting that scene in the movie, as something funny and well deserved, when in fact that situation was very serious. I agree that every human being does have their breaking point, but there comes a time in your life where you should handle your emotions responsibly. Reacting in an extreme manner does not solve the issue; it just adds fuel to the fire.

For the women in the theater who agreed with that response I feel you should think otherwise. If your friend was bad mouthing her husband right in front of you, and he then swung on her, would you feel like she deserved it? Or would you stand up and do something about it?

Women are always preaching about how to avoid an abusive relationship, or how they were once in one and advise every woman to refrain from it. Apparently there must be some exceptions to that rule of physical abuse from your man. If a woman disrespects her husband or belittles him, then that woman is considered a B-I-T-C-H and for that, she deserves to get slapped, right?Well, leaving that theater I feel like the majority of the females who were watching that film agreed to that philosophy.

Now, I’m not trying to judge anybody’s relationship, if slapping solves problems in your relationship, then by all means, slap away. But for me, physical abuse, including verbal, is not acceptable. In the movie her husband slapped her so hard that she flew across the counter, and that deserves a standing ovation?

I wonder as women when did we start thinking less of ourselves to agree with this kind of behavior?

As Women, we are delicate human beings. We were genetically structured to not be as strong as a man. We are nurturers, mothers, sisters, daughters, grand daughters, and it’s ashamed that a woman feels like a slap from a man can be justified.

What people fail to realize is during that scene is the wife was unhappy with her husband, and was in love with her boss. She brought home most of the family income, cooked, clean and was exhausted. She felt like her husband was not full-filling a man’s role. Now, that’s no excuse for her to act bitter towards him and to sleep around, but I don’t hear anybody justifying the wife’s actions, so why the husband’s? They were both in the wrong.

I feel like Tyler Perry had everyone hating the wife to the point where no one felt sympathy for her when she was physically abused, not even from the mother. That was a cold scene to watch with a twisted message. The lesson from that scene was don’t over-step your boundaries with men; you might get slapped, which to me is an excuse for man to act irrational. Regardless from what the film portrayed, a man laying his hands on any women says a lot about his character– he has none.