The actors Jimmy Bennett and Asia Argento combined a long-standing relationship. As it has now become known, he has made serious allegations against her: In 2013, when Bennett was 17 years old, Argento should have passed him.

According to the New York Times, Argento has paid $ 380,000 to Bennett in an out-of-court settlement after threatening to file a lawsuit. According to the cited documents, the 20-year-old Argento met him in May 2013 in a hotel in California. She had given him alcohol, kissed him, thrown on the bed and made oral sex on him. After that she had laid down on him and had sex with him. The experience had traumatized him and harmed his career, so Bennett reproach.

The years before the attack was argento for Benett as a mother and mentor, according to "New York Times" in the documents. In fact, she played in the 2004 published film "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" his mother. He was seven years old then.

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Jimmy Bennett and Asia Argento in "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things"

Legal psychologist Monika Egli-Alge has been working with perpetrators and victims of sexual violence for more than 20 years. She knows that attacks usually happen in family and trusting relationships and the perpetrators are predominantly men. However, the Swiss warns that one should not forget that women too can become perpetrators. Outdated role models, according to Egli-Alge, make the shame of the victims even bigger.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The actress Asia Argento should have passed on a 17-year-olds. How often does it happen that women commit sex acts?

Egli Alga: Compared to male perpetrators, the number of women who become violent is lower. According to recent studies, between 15 and 20 percent of women's abuses are committed. Whereby we assume a high number of unreported cases among both women and men. Many acts are not displayed or public, because most happen in the home.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What is a typical constellation between perpetrators and victims?

Egli alga: In addition to the attacks in the family, there is also the teacher-Lover-type. The woman is not motherly connected with her victim, but is in an educational responsibility to him. The abuse can also be committed by a teacher, babysitter or carer. In addition, we experience attacks in groups: Often it is adolescent girls who commit sexual border violations in their peers, by deliberately putting individuals under pressure as a group.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Teachers who had a relationship with their students often make headlines.

Egli-Alge: And this is a cliché served: The mature woman seduces the young man. We know that from films and literature. "The Reifeprüfung" or "The Reader" play with it. The myth that a boy desires the seduction of an older woman affects our perception. We do not trust women and mothers to be sexually aggressive.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What part does our image of men have?

Egli-Alge: This is another cliché that reinforces our perception: In principle, the man is the perpetrator and the woman the victim. This makes the abuse by women even more of a taboo.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: With what consequences?

Egli algae: Boys and men should not feel victimized because society or their own environment fuels the stereotype. Often, these young men are celebrated for having sexual experiences with an older woman. Shame comes to that. They wonder why they did not resist. The reaction of her body is crucial.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What do you mean?

Egli Algae: Many believe that men only have an erection when they are agitated and want physical contact. It is a functional reaction that occurs when the genital area of ​​the body is stimulated. Many young men are incredibly insecure after this experience. "Maybe I wanted that," they think. We also know this dilemma from women who came to orgasm during a rape, even though they felt terrible suffering. These physical reactions make it even harder to acknowledge a borderline violation.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Can that be one of the reasons why some victims only come to an ad years later?

Egli Alga: There may be different reasons for this. I think that it is above all the time gap and the life experience that play together. Many victims become aware of the dynamics of manipulation and dependency only when they have experienced new, different relationships.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: You have worked with perpetrators in the past. How do they perceive their abuses?

Egli alga: The reactions to the deed are very individual. However, both women and men observe that most people know exactly that they have crossed a border. Their conscience bothers them. Once the wall of denial collapses, they feel shame, remorse, and great suffering because they can not undo their deeds.