A Feminist Double-Standard on Michelle Rodriguez’s Violence?

Los Angeles, CA–Recently Ann Friedman, editor of the prominent feminist blog www.feministing.com, devoted a blog post to praising actress Michelle Rodriguez (pictured), who Friedman says is a big favorite amongst the blog’s readership. Yet a few years ago Rodriguez apparently beat up a female roommate and/or lover. According to Josh Grossberg of www.eonline.com:
“[Rodriguez] was arrested for allegedly getting into some real-life fisticuffs with another woman in Rodriguez’s Jersey City home. “According to the police report, the 22-year-old woman–who refused to be identified but apparently lived with the actress–accused Rodriguez of coming into one of the apartment’s bedrooms and interrupting the other woman while she was lying in bed talking on the phone. “For some reason left unexplained in the police report, Rodriguez forcibly disconnected the phone, landed a blow across the other woman’s right eye and started pulling her hair. When the woman tried to leave, Rodriguez blocked the door, and the woman apparently pulled a Mike Tyson on her and bit her on the arm. “The tussle spilled onto the street, where the thespian, with fists clenched, again allegedly pummeled the victim in the face and pulled her hair. The report stated that when police arrived on the scene, they witnessed Rodriguez threatening to get Resident Evil on the other woman, saying, ‘I’m going to beat you up if you don’t leave.’ “Rodriguez was charged with simple assault and one count of making a terrorist threat. She eventually entered a plea of not guilty and released on $2,500 bail. The actress was also taken to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment for the bite on her arm. “No word on how the fight affected the living situation, however. A spokesperson for the Jersey City Police Department said the victim refused a temporary restraining order against Rodriguez. “They both lived at the same address. We assume it’s her roommate,’ the officer said, adding that Rodriquez ‘does have the option of filing assault charges against the woman for the bite.'” The charges were later dropped after the roommate declined to press the allegations in court. It has been speculated that the roommate was also a lover. We don’t know to what extent the charges are true, though the police did witness some of the incident. But I suspect that if a male movie or TV star had apparently beat up a lover or roommate, he would not be an admired figure among feminists, and would probably be condemned for his actions. The full article on Rodriguez’s arrest is “Girlfight” Star Busted for Girl Fight. Rodriguez has had a variety of other arrests and legal problems.