A Goose Winds Up With Gander Sauce...

[Lord Jim]

New York Times: Asia Argento, #MeToo leader, paid sexual assault accuser

(CNN)Actress and filmmaker Asia Argento has found herself on the other side of the #MeToo conversation.

The New York Times reported Sunday that months after publicly accusing Harvey Weinstein of rape, Argento made a deal with a young actor who accused her of sexual assault.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on Monday said it was trying to reach the actor in order to "appropriately document any potential criminal allegations."

Argento was among the first women to accuse now disgraced movie mogul Weinstein of sexual misconduct and has been a leading figure in the #MeToo movement.

The New York Times says it has lawyers' documents showing that actor and musician Jimmy Bennett alleged Argento sexually assaulted him in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37.

According to the publication, Bennett said the assault took place at a hotel in California, where the age of consent is 18. Bennett played Argento's son in the 2004 movie "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things."

The Times reported they received the documents "through encrypted email by an unidentified party," and that they included "a selfie dated May 9, 2013, of the two lying in bed."

"As part of the agreement, Mr. Bennett, who is now 22, gave the photograph and its copyright to Ms. Argento, now 42," the story said. "Three people familiar with the case said the documents were authentic."

Bennett reportedly asked Argento for $3.5 million in damages, a month after she spoke out about Weinstein last October and that Argento later arranged to pay Bennett $380,000.

The first installment was made in April 2018, the New York Times said.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to six felony sex crimes -- two counts of predatory sexual assault, two counts of rape, one first-degree criminal sex act charge and one criminal sex act.

The charges stem from allegations from three women, according to court documents.

Weinstein has denied all allegations of "nonconsensual sexual activity," and he's remained free after posting $1 million bail in cash.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/20/entertai ... index.html

Obviously this does nothing to diminish or mitigate Weinstein's crimes or the crimes of any other high-profile rapist or sexual assaulter that has been outed by the #MeToo movement, (which I have been, and remain, a strong supporter of) but geez, the chutzpah...

To be taking a leading public role in a movement designed to bring justice and public shame to sexual predators, while at the same time paying off a victim (who was a minor at the time) of your own sexual predations...

The sheer hubris required to think this would never become public is breath taking to behold...

I'm really glad I don't have Ms. Argento's nerve in my tooth...

And of course the worst thing she has done is to provide a propaganda tool for unprincipled people (like, well, our President) to use to try to bring discredit to the whole #MeToo effort...

[Burning Petard]

So do you think Al Franken will run for office in 2020, a simple application of 'what about. . . '

snailgate

[ex-khobar Andy]

Agree 100%, LJ. It's about power.

[Crackpot]

This seems a consentual situation at the “high end” of the statutory scale (In many states it wouldn’t have been considered criminal) and one that has only seemingly become an issue due to the current political situation of one of the participants. ( as opposed of any injuries perceived by the “victim”) Fogive me if I don’t see this as anything other than a cynical cash grab at the expense of delegitimizing an important national movement

[BoSoxGal]

I have so many feelings about this.

The incident occurred in 2013, and Bennett made no claims against Argento until after she came forward in the Ronan Farrow piece and then became the public face of the #metoo movement. So, it’s not like she went into #metoo knowing she had an accuser in the closet, necessarily.

But that only proves how completely clueless she was about the power dynamic and perversion inherent in her encounter with Bennett. Doubtless she saw it like CP does - as consensual other than the little issue of his not being the age of consent yet. But to see it that way, she had to be completely oblivious to the experience from his perspective, completely insensitive about how it might impact him, despite having the experiences she did with Weinstein. That’s just sad and very revealing about the damage done to her psyche.

Here’s a good piece that I found which captures a lot of my feelings about it: https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/0 ... s-why.html

I dialed up the movie The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things after this story broke; I didn’t watch it all yet because reviews I read revealed it has graphic content I’m not sure I can stomach watching (child rape), but I will say that seeing this very talented Bennett child acting in the movie with Argento, I couldn’t help struggling to understand how she could form a bond with a 7 year old in making a film requiring so much close interaction and then 10 years later feel sexual attraction toward him. I’m a very sexual person but I can’t imagine forming sexual attraction for a teenaged boy that I once babysat as a young child, that’s just very creepy to me. Plus the very obvious power difference between them - she fucked him and tweeted a couple of hours later that he was going to be in her next movie - really?!

I’m not saying he wasn’t possibly attracted to her and a ‘willing’ participant - I’m saying it’s like your 40ish math teacher seducing you in high school; it’s very gross and entirely not ok. Some things just should NOT be done. It very often does cause serious emotional blowback for the young participant because of the prior relationship dynamic - they don’t feel free to say no in the same way they might if a random 40ish person make sexual advances on them. Plus imagine the dynamic of a woman who once treated you like a son suddenly demanding a fuck from you? I’m sorry but I very much disagree with the school of thought that says teenage boys who fuck grown women who are their teachers, coaches, friend’s mothers, etc. are all happy little clams in mud; that’s a twisted relationship dynamic and for many such boys it will result in negative emotions whether they are equipped to share and process those emotions or not.

Sadly, I think Argento is pretty messed in the head. I’ve done some reading about her and it sounds like that condition predates her victimization by Weinstein - she has a very fraught relationship with her father going back to early childhood and is pretty open about that. This incident seems move evidence of it.

My opinion of her now will rest entirely on how she responds to this case becoming public.

eta: She’s a fucked up POS.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... money.html

[Econoline]

In 39 of the 50 states (including 2 of the 3 states adjacent to California) this would not have been illegal.

[Scooter]

Then perhaps she should have flown him to Vegas if she wanted to fuck him.

I think the sex of the respective parties in the case has almost everything to do with the attempts to minimize what happened here, and/or to accuse the victim of ulterior motives in choosing to come forward.

[BoSoxGal]

Ya think?! Of course it does.


CP, I’ve actually handled dozens of sexual assault cases, and this is not a ‘Romeo’ case - two sexual partners of equal social and emotional standing (maturity) with just the matter of that pesky age of consent getting in the way. That’s the 19 year old boyfriend and his 15 year old girlfriend having sex when the age of consent is 16.

This is a woman 20 years older whose relationship with the victim was one involving a huge power differential and who has known him since he was a little boy. That’s not cool.

How old is your kid now? Would it be ok with you if the babysitter decides to fuck your kid in ten years? Would you be defending the babysitter and pointing out that the age difference is no matter because it would be legal in most other states?

You are missing the point entirely and I question your moral compass.

[Crackpot]

The age of convent in this state is sixtenn so there is not much I could do about it. At some point you have to draw the line where you say a person is old enough to be responsible for thier own actions regardless of the age of thier partner. What age is that? It differs from person to person. Given the timing and facts of this case it seems to be capitalizing on the letter of the law than any actual injury regardless of the behavior on the part of the defendant.

[Crackpot]

As for my kid in ten years he requireses a babysitter it would be due to him not being of sound mind or body us to some unforeseen accident and therefore one could be reasonably concerned that he was able to give concent. Outside of such an absurd occurance if he suddenly decides five years after the fact that he was abused (aside from it being perfectly legal here). I would doubt his motives.

[BoSoxGal]

Reading comprehension is an issue for you, I see - along with stringing together an articulate sentence or two.

Let me make it very simple:

Today your son (5? 7?) has a babysitter, one who is 20 years older than him. Ten years from now, this babysitter, upon bumping into him again at the movies or a family picnic, decides she wants to fuck your son.

You have no issue whatsoever with this?

Apparently, not. And I’m sure your feelings would be exactly the same if your child was a girl and the babysitter a man two decades older than her.


Disgusting, either way.

eta: The delay of 5 years in asserting an accusation of sexual abuse is very normal and your attack on the credibility of the victim because of that only shows what a Neanderthal you are in your comprehension of the dynamics of sexual abuse. Argento, by the way, didn’t make her accusations against Weinstein for almost 20 years - same with many of Cosby’s accusers. Delays in accusing were very common with many of Sandusky’s accusers, and hundreds of children raped by Catholic priests, for that matter. If you knew the first thing about the psychological impacts of sexual abuse, which are by the way well studied and documented, you would realize that.

Meanwhile if somebody is molesting your kid right now, you’re gonna disbelieve him when he tells you about it ten or twenty years from now because you’re ill-informed and opinionated. Or just maybe, you’ll take advantage of being called out on your ignorance now and educate yourself so you can be a good parent God forbid the time ever comes that you need to show some compassion about this issue to your own child or someone else’s.

[Big RR]

BSG--let me ask you, just because something is creepy or immoral, do you think it should be illegal? In your hypothetical, would it make a difference is he were 18 and she 38? Or 28 and 48? Is there a point where you think he would be capable of giving consent, or would it always be wrong. I agree it is an unbalanced power situation, but I think that is an issue face by adults all the time, and I am not sure the law should step in and sanction the arrangement. I do think there has to be a line drawn about the ability to consent, after which consent will be presumed unless it can be shown otherwise.

In a similar, albeit it different (because she did not know me as a child), I had a 6 month "affair" with a woman more than 12 years older than me when I was 18 (and she was 30-31). I went into it full well knowing that it was just for the sex (as did she) and we both got what we bargained for. I can honestly tell you I have never regretted it, and I would have willingly consented had I been 17 and 10 months, 17 and a half, or even 17 (15, not so much). I think in a lot of these situations, the biggest problem is that the parties want different things, and one gets hurt when they find out the other just wanted the sex and not a relationship (and the sex was all either of us wanted); the younger a party is, the less I think 9s)he might think clearly, and even a 16 year old boy wanting sex may be imagining/hoping/believing it is more, hence I do think we need to have some age of consent (but I do think it should be flexible and fact sensitive the closer you get to that age).

As for having been an authority figure during their childhood, that is an important factor that has to be considered, but it is only recently that such relationships were frowned upon and history and literature is replete with accounts of persons marrying an uncle/aunt, older cousin, even a teacher or guardian. Some of these relationships were pretty successful, some not, but then that is pretty much the same for all relationships.

[BoSoxGal]

I’m going to have to think a bit more and get back to you, but so far I can’t think of an example of anything I consider creepy and immoral that is also legal - maybe you have some examples you can point to?

As to the historical argument - thank goodness many of the creepy things that used to be common practice historically are no longer legal or socially acceptable, in modern developed societies at least.

Now Ms. Argento has gone from denying outright any sexual relationship with Mr. Bennett to saying he was a horny teenager who ‘jumped’ her and it felt ‘weird’. Plenty of articles online where you can read the many damning texts she shared discussing the situation with a ‘friend’.

She’s a hot mess. Really disgusted by her blaming Anthony Bourdain for having made the payoff, too - she’s not a fucking adult yet at 42?!

At this point I also can’t help but wonder what part this situation, and her hot messiness in general, played in Bourdain's suicide. His choice alone obviously, but he had her back in a very public way and finding out she was a total hypocrite might have been very devastating to him.

[Gob]

In a similar, albeit it different (because she did not know me as a child), I had a 6 month "affair" with a woman more than 12 years older than me when I was 18 (and she was 30-31). I went into it full well knowing that it was just for the sex (as did she) and we both got what we bargained for.

Ditto, I was 17 she was 28, we were banging like a shithouse door in a gale. Great times.

[BoSoxGal]

I had a 26 year old boyfriend when I was 16, we fucked like bunnies for months. I’m not even sure what the age of consent was where I lived at the time.

He wasn’t a teacher of mine, nor somebody who had any role of authority over me when I was a child ten years earlier. He was just a guy I met at the community pool and there was thus no weird or confusing dynamic.

Really not sure why this is so complicated and/or difficult to understand?

[Big RR]

I’m going to have to think a bit more and get back to you, but so far I can’t think of an example of anything I consider creepy and immoral that is also legal - maybe you have some examples you can point to?

Well, previous relationship or not, if he were 18, I would think this sexual relationship would be legal, while it was illegal before his 18th birthday.

As to the historical argument - thank goodness many of the creepy things that used to be common practice historically are no longer legal or socially acceptable, in modern developed societies at least.

True, but they are legal, absent too close a degree of consanguinity.

And that's my point, there are things adults can legally do that I consider immoral or creepy, and I do not think they should be illegal. Nor do I think the age of consent should be a bright line; I think we have to consider each situation on a case by case basis.

[BoSoxGal]

‘Can’t wait until you grow up Jimmy, so I can fuck you!’ - A.A.

[Scooter]

Nor do I think the age of consent should be a bright line; I think we have to consider each situation on a case by case basis.

Hmm, he was under the age of majority, she was formerly in a position of authority over him, they were then in a professional relationship where she probably could have said/done something to fuck with his career, she was 20 years older....however fuzzily one might draw the line, I have no problem declaring that she crossed it fifty times over in this case.

[Scooter]

double post

[Big RR]

so nice you said it twice?

And FWIW, I don't disagree with you (although you have far better knowledge of the facts surrounding this than I do); she appears to be the jerk here and deserves the criticism being heaped on her. I'm just not sure what she did should be illegal because he was a few months short of his 18th birthday.