Violence Against Women: "Goodbye Earl"

Jennifer Smith
Nina Perez
3/8/10
WST 3015


Violence against women is a major issue in U.S. society. In “Fighting Back," Megan Seely writes about how we live in a society where men are encouraged to see women as property and where violence against women is condoned (187). She states, “We create this reality through our movies, news media, and television shows” (Seely 187). The same holds true for the music we enjoy and listen to. While looking over the songs offered for this assignment, I was shocked and disgusted by some of the options. Most of the songs contained lyrics about beating, raping, and killing women. I finally decided on “Goodbye Earl,” by the Dixie Chicks, since it was one of the few that seemed to have the abused woman fighting back.

In “Goodbye Earl,” Wanda marries local man Earl and, shortly after, he starts beating her. Trying to escape the abuse, Wanda files for divorce and gets a restraining order. Unfortunately, Earl still comes after her and she ends up in the hospital. Wanda’s best friend, MaryAnn, comes back to town and the women make a plan to kill Earl (which is the only way they can think of to get him out of their lives). After killing Earl and escaping the cops’ detection, both women go on with their lives happily, Earl-free.

One of the aspects discussed in the Chapter 6 is the effect class has in violence against women. The chapter talks about how women of color, poor women, and prostituted women are often not included in surveys that ask women about their experiences with violence. Andy Smith is quoted when explaining with “patriarchal thinking, only a ‘pure’ body can be really violated" (Kirk 263). In “Goodbye Earl” everyone is from the country, and Wanda and Earl live in a lower class neighborhood. Being considered a lower class citizen, not “A”, violence committed against Wanda isn’t taken as seriously as it might be taken by someone who falls into the “A” category.

Also discussed in Chapter 6 is discrimination against women in the legal systems, including “inadequate laws and practices concerning violence against women, and insensitive treatment of women by police and the courts” (Kirk 267). In “Goodbye Earl” some of these flaws in our legal system are revealed and the question of how it needs to be improved to better protect women from abuse is raised. In the song Wanda filed for divorce and got a restraining order against Earl, but he just walked right through it (Linde 1.14). Judgments are further made on the cops in the town. They are depicted as bumbling fools, as they search for Earl and never find him.

There is a plethora of songs that depict violence against women, many that, surprisingly, show nothing wrong with the abusers. While I’m happy that the Dixie Chicks wrote a song that shows violence against women as a negative act in which the abuser gets punished, I feel like when you are actually listening to the song, the upbeat melody might confuse listeners and the message of the song might get lost in translation. Hopefully people will start actually listening to the words in their favorite songs and notice how some might depict violence against women.




Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. "Violence Against Women." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 257-73. Print.

Linde, Dennis. "Goodbye Earl." Rec. 1999. Fly. Dixie Chicks. Monument, 1999. CD.

Seely, Megan. "Fighting Back." Fight like a Girl: How to Be a Fearless Feminist. New York: New York UP, 2007. 185-217. Print.