Women who get into and stay in abusive relationships have self-esteem issues. She even said in the film that she thought that jerk "was the best she deserved, the best she could do" so seeing if she could bed the local sheriff was her way of dealing with her self esteem issues and proving that she could do better than that ugly redhead.

Hold on a second, how am I off base? Yes, of course actors are going to be associated with their
most memorable
screen roles. But to say that because of her fictional character's actions, it means that Jennifer is trying to portray herself in the same light, is a bit extreme. Jennifer's CHARACTER is an abused woman who is manifesting her emotions through flirting and moments of vulnerability. Throughout the movie, the role of Jean is played both ways-which I think is pretty accurate based on the situation. She's been emotionally/physically scarred, so she's vulnerable, she starts flirting with the sheriff, and then acts impulsively. You could make a case that with her history with men, her sense of how she thinks of herself and how she should be treated in a relationship is warped.
Also, just because the thread was created, doesn't really do anything to prove your point. First of all, the OP was addressing their confusion regarding the scene's placement in the movie. They didn't seem to understand why the CHARACTER would make that decision. I, along with some others seemed to feel the opposite way; that the scene added depth to Jean's emotional progression throughout the film. Lastly, yes, the thread did spark six pages of comments. That's what the board is for, discussion. I also disagree about the "movie that almost no one has seen" comment. That's obviously not true. The movie was released in select cities and in very few theatres when it came out. But it did relatively well when it was released on DVD. Trust me, there are plenty of people who have seen this film.

nicee18, your opinion is totally off base here.
Actors are forever associated with the fictional roles they play. Anyone knows that.
This scene is clearly skanky/raunchy enough for me to stand by my previous statements.
I have two offers of proof on that:
One is that the post was made in the first place, and the second is that this one post has garnered SIX PAGES of comments on the board of a movie that almost no one has seen.

WTF, you can't be serious with your post! It's a MOVIE, she's playing a CHARACTERyou know, not herself. If that's what the script/producer/director called for her character to do in the moviethat's what she did. And LOL at the scene being raunchy. If it was anything it was sexually suggestive.

It was beyond raunchy.
The story aside, I can't even believe Lopez would have even done the scene. Women hate her so much as being such a skank, this senseless scene only perpetuates that.