A Goose Winds Up With Gander Sauce...

[Scooter]

He didn't bring criminal charges (statute of limitations may have come into play, I don't know) so that point is moot. But the fact that she knew or should have known that it was illegal to have sex with him should have been another reason to give her pause long enough to consider whether she was doing the right thing.

[BoSoxGal]

Asia Argento, looking very much like she just got ‘jumped’ and is ‘frozen’ . . . or NOT!


Where’s that barfing emoji when you need it?

[RayThom]

I won't know how I feel about this hook-up until I see the video. Where is the video?

[Big RR]

Not only that, TMZ is like the national Enquirer, I wouldn't trust anything from them. It may be real, or it may be faked (and given the payment, something is likely real), but I wouldn't trust anything from TMZ.

[BoSoxGal]

[Big RR]

Roll your eyes all you want, but I stand by my statement. I'd sooner trust Fox News than TMZ, and I never trust Fox news. TMZ sensationalizes pretty much everything it reports on, and has a strong dislike of facts. But that's what passes for "journalism" in broadcast media.

Sure, this might well be genuine, and I sad I think she has likely done what she is being accused of, but I won't accept anything from TMZ anymore than I'd accept the word of Donald Trump on anything.

[BoSoxGal]

The picture has been published elsewhere.

I’m just more than a bit annoyed with the ‘it’s not sexual assault if it’s a very young man and an older woman’ theme running through the posts here.

[Crackpot]

No but here is a health amount of “it’s not sexual assault if there is informed consent” going on but I can see how that might be confusing to you.

[BoSoxGal]

Oh go fuck yourself, CP. I know a very great deal more about sexual assault than you do, from the legalities to the incredible devastation it wreaks in the lives of victims.

Fucktard.

You are just being a complete pig about this case - which does not in any way surprise me.

[Crackpot]

Glad to be of service.

[Big RR]

BSG--I have not seen that hoto from anywhere else.

As for "it’s not sexual assault if it’s a very young man and an older woman", I can assure you that my views would be the same if the genders were reversed or if it was two men or two women.

[BoSoxGal]

The New York Times has the photo, along with the lawsuit materials and other materials relevant to the case - including the many text messages in which Argento ADMITS having sex with the boy, and engaging in the subsequent coverup.

I don’t know what to say about your position, and CP’s, that it’s ok for an adult to sexually exploit a teenager who was under their protection as a young child. Frankly I think it would’ve been just as gross if he was 18. I can’t really wrap my head around the mentality that thinks this is ok or worse yet, ‘hot’.

So, I’d rather just not engage with either of you on the subject anymore before my remaining good opinion is entirely obliterated.

[datsunaholic]

I have a lot of trouble with this. I can still remember what I felt like at 16, 17 years old, and there were a few women over the age of 35 I thought were certainly hot enough. Not that I'd ever have a chance, but I certainly thought I was old enough.

I'm not saying what she did was right. I do have a problem with him bringing it up the way he did, because it appears that he was in it for money and when he only got $380K he figured he could get a lot more. I still think he was perfectly OK with it- right up until he saw $$$.

This brings up an interesting argument, though, because it's pretty clear now that paying off your accusers isn't keeping them silent. I don't agree with paying off accusers anyhow- that's just burying the issue and other than financial it has no repercussions on the abuser. It's the whole "make it public" part that the abusers are trying to avoid. So I don't really have a lot of sympathy for those that take the money, because that leaved the offenders free to do it again... and again. I suppose, having never been the victim, that I would feel differently if I were. I just don't see how money makes up for the damage caused when the offender is let off the hook via payment.

[rubato]

A 40 year old using a difference in sophistication, wealth and power to seduce a 20 year old is no less wrong but perfectly legal. The law in this area is completely arbitrary.

The woman in this case is a damned liar for blaming Bourdain for paying the victim off when anyone will know that she had to agree to it for him to follow through.

yrs,
rubato

[datsunaholic]

Gotta set the limit somewhere, though. Some people are (arguably, and probably not) mature enough to make sexual decisions at 16, the lowest legal level in the US (outside of Marriage). Some people aren't mature enough, ever. But you can't leave it up to interpretation so widely that laws are unenforceable. Since it's up to the States to make the laws in that regard, they vary. Which is why you had (have) instances of "Crossing State lines for immoral purposes*".

That's why some States, even though the age of consent is 18, have "Romeo & Juliet" exceptions. California does not. I knew a guy in the Navy who was convicted, imprisoned, and labelled a sex offender for having consensual sex with his girlfriend when they were BOTH 17. Her parents pressed charges. She received no (governmental) punishment, as the guys parents didn't press charges. THAT is stupid. 17 -37? Not a Romeo-Juliet situation. Squick, but gray. Legal in most States. Not in California. 20-40? Legal. Squick? Depends on your point of view. There were plenty of MILFs and/or Cougars I'd seen when I was a young US Navy Sailor. Not that I'd ever ask. If one of those had asked me, I wouldn't be a 44 year old virgin today. No, the drug-addled wife of one of my shipmates doesn't count. She looked all of what 25+ years of booze and blow will do. He was 19 and she was 40 and the only reason I met her was to give her his paycheck as he was restricted to the ship for failing a whizz quiz. She came on to me like a freight train, and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Literally, unfortunately, as my car battery died. My folks had to come to the rescue. I digress badly.

35-55? That OK? I read in Cosmo (I got stuck in a waiting room and it was the only reading material available, OK?) once that the "acceptable" age difference was take half the older persons age, and add 8. That's Cosmo, though, and not real life.




*(vs crossing sedate lions for immortal porpoises, but that's just a bad joke)

[rubato]

Exploitation, sexual and otherwise can occur at any age and with any age difference. The law is an inept and crude tool to address this problem.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Really disgusted by her blaming Anthony Bourdain for having made the payoff, too

To me that part was really revealing of her character, (or more precisely, her complete lack thereof)

What kind of a person tries to make claims like this about someone, (someone who she supposedly had deep feelings for) who committed suicide (and is therefore, well, dead) and is unable to deny her allegations, defend himself, or tell his side of the story?

A completely amoral sleazoid, that's what kind of a person...

The same sort of person who seduces an under legal age person twenty years her junior with whom she has had a long term quasi-maternal relationship, and then accuses them of "jumping" her...

Argento is a virtual bottomless pit of self-centeredness and gall....

[Big RR]

She certainly does seem like a self centered jerk, but just as it isn't illegal for her to try and throw Bordain under the bus, I question whether this should be illegal. As rubato said, the law is inept and cruel in this regard, and I would add, unsuited to address this complex problem. IMHO, there are a lot of things that are immoral or improper, that are not, and should not be, illegal. I agree many children are harmed greatly by sexual abuse and I've seen it firsthand many times), but then the arguments advanced here are pretty much the same (admitted BS arguments) that were advanced in the 50s for keeping homosexuality illegal.

[BoSoxGal]

Public statement from Jimmy Bennett:

"I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me. My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself," Bennett's statement read in part. "I was underage when the event took place, and I tried to seek justice in a way that made sense to me at the time because I was not ready to deal with the ramifications of my story becoming public. At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society."

Yup, like right here at Plan B where according to some, if you don’t like being fucked by an older woman, you’re not a real man.

[Crackpot]

You have a real knack for reading and responding to stuff that isn’t there. Perhaps we shouldn’t update call you Dorthy dour to your love of strawmen