Paul Rudd Fondles Eva Mendes for Laughs; Rosario Dawson Fondles Paul Rudd for Feminism

by Latoya Peterson

At the Independent Spirit Awards, the writers apparently thought it would be hilarious for Paul Rudd to grab Eva Mendes’ breasts. In the video above, Mendes talks about how they had “this really funny bit” where Rudd would “grab her tits,” then shock the audience, then presumably say something funny to incite more laughter.

But Rosario Dawson wasn’t having it.

The video cuts back to Dawson firmly grabbing Paul Rudd’s crotch. However, note what else she is holding in this picture:

CNN transcribed her interview with Access Hollywood:

“He did this vice grip on her breast, and I was like, OK, it was funny for like a second. But then it kept going and going and going. And then the lights went down and the clip started rolling and he was still vice-gripping her! I was sitting there with my fork like, ‘If he doesn’t stop, I’m going to stab him with my fork.’”

Rudd didn’t remove his hand, so Dawson went into action.

“I got up there and I stabbed him with my fork,” she says. “He didn’t stop, so I was like, alright, I’m going to grab his package… I was like, I’m really sorry, Paul, I don’t mean to be offensive. But you’re kind of being offensive.”

Dawson kept a hold on the surprised actor until he let go of Mendes.

“I’m a women’s rights activist and I was getting a little tired that he was grabbing her onstage for half an hour. I was kind of getting over it,” Dawson later explained to “Access Hollywood.” “Why do men always get to cop the feel? Women get to cop a feel too! Just keep it equal opportunity.”

Following the lines of discussion around this has been a bit of an education in what people expect to see on their screens and how strange our conversations around feminism and women’s bodies can become.

It’s important to look at the full context here – from the clips that have been floating around, it would seem that (1) Dawson jumped on stage immediately and went straight for Rudd’s crotch (which does not explain the fork) and (2) Dawson felt entitled to grab a feel because it was “equal opportunity.”

But that’s not what happened. Rudd and Mendes were doing a bit where both parties consented to boob touching. So it went on for the duration of the joke. But Rudd kept going, even after the lights dropped on stage, taking the joke a bit beyond what was intended. That’s what makes it a feminist issue – while Mendes may have consented to Rudd putting his hands on her in the context of the joke, Rudd continued to do so. Dawson noted that she waited for him to remove his hand and it didn’t happen She also notes that before she went for his genitals, she stabbed him with a fork to make him stop — and he still didn’t let go.

This echoes a lot of the battles around sexual consent that are key in feminism – when does someone cross the line? In particular, it mirrors the question of withdrawing consent once given. The idea batted around in a few different comment sections was that since Mendes consented to the initial joke, Dawson was overreacting. However, just because Mendes consented to him grabbing her breast in the context of the joke does not mean she consented to anything after that, nor gave Paul Rudd access to her breasts until the end of time (or, in this case, until the end of the show.)

Since Mendes hasn’t yet spoken out after the awards, we don’t know what she was thinking or feeling. But Dawson felt like a line had been crossed, and took action.

However, over at Necole Bitchie’s blog, questions surfaced in the comments as to whether this was really a feminist act:

missnoturbestie

March 1, 2011 at 11:57 am

Call me crazy but I dont believe that being a womens’ rights activist means doing exactly the same type of degrading behavior to someone because they are doing it to you or another. I thought womens’ rights was about eradicating degrading behavior and educating people about equal and just treatment. How is it activism to simply repeat that degrading behavior? She thinks its going to teach him a lesson and show him how it feels but the reality is men dont seem to act degraded or ashamed by having a woman grab their packages.

Page 1 of 2 | Next page