In June 2017, a report spread on several populist websites that a psychologist advised people to simply keep quiet during rape. Now this message is resurfacing again, and many are wondering, “Is she really advising that?”

Free World page :
“Criminal psychologist advises: keep quiet in the event of a rape”
The text also states that the criminal psychologist Lydia Benecke talked to a rapist from Ghana in prison and then put forward the thesis Kölner Express The perpetrators would only use as much violence as absolutely necessary to achieve their goal.”
What's behind it?
To do this we have to travel back to April 2017. At that time, the Ghanaian attacked a camping couple and raped the woman in front of her boyfriend. In June 2017, Benecke dealt with the perpetrator, and the “Kölner Express” then asked for an interview to find out “what makes a person like that tick”. The criminal psychologist then explained that the perpetrator was the “casual rapist” type. She further explains:
“Such perpetrators have an antisocial personality structure, they hardly feel any compassion or guilt, are impulsive and seek immediate satisfaction of needs. When such perpetrators encounter resistance, they do not shy away from drastic acts of violence, in extreme cases even homicide.”
And then the sentence that got the ball rolling:
“Resisting such a perpetrator can result in a deadly escalation of violence, which is why the behavior of the victim’s friend – as tragic as the experience was for everyone involved – was the only right behavior in this situation.”
She also made it clear that the type of perpetrator with this level of willingness to use violence is a statistically rather rare exceptional case and in this case it was subsequently confirmed that he had already killed a person, so he demonstrably did not shy away from this level of violence.
The avalanche of outrage
If you have read the above sentences carefully, you will quickly notice that Lydia Benecke did not generally recommend keeping quiet during rape, but in this specific case was the best option. This conclusion is further underlined by the fact that the perpetrator was armed with a machete and used it to hit the couple's tent. The police were also of the opinion that the friend, who only informed the police when the perpetrator fled, had acted correctly given the danger of the situation.
Now, however, various sides see it differently. It started with the PI-News , which reported on June 15, 2017 about the “criminal psychologist” who “explained to the stupid people how the Negro from Ghana is psychologically wired”.
This was followed by various links and mocking posts on Facebook, all of which referred to two things:
- A criminal psychologist dares to analyze a perpetrator (isn't that actually her job?)
- the last sentence of the interview
This is taken out of context in every posting and article, and the claim that Benecke generally advises such behavior has become more and more established.
The blog “ Journalenwatch ” went one step further on June 19, 2017, starting with the headline “Pippi from Balla-Balla-Land: Psychologist advises keeping quiet in the event of rape” and ending with venomous sentences like “Well, girls, there’s nothing wrong with it Migraine. Spread your legs well and keep still.”
The articles were now happily passed around the “alternative media”, from Staseve to Eva Herman to Unzensuriert and the aforementioned “Free World” were copypasted and linked until all that was actually found on the first pages of Google were the reports from those pages . Because a criminal fugitive is grist for their mill, and when a criminal psychologist also deals with it, it is a feast for the outraged mass of readers.
Let's summarize
A Ghanaian man raped a woman; her boyfriend only reacted when the man fled. The man is caught, the criminal psychologist Lydia Benecke deals with the perpetrator and gives an interview about it to a newspaper. Populist sides don't like it when someone tries to understand a perpetrator; they also don't understand when you, like your friend, just keep quiet. This meant that both the friend and the criminal psychologist were constantly criticized in social networks. To do this, they take the last sentence of the interview out of context, without even mentioning that she confirmed that the behavior of the boyfriend and the woman was correct in the specific case
At no time does it advise, as the sites claim, a “perpetrator analysis” (difficult for the layperson anyway) during an act, nor does it advise a general “keeping quiet during a rape”.
Ultimately, we are dealing with an almost perfectly networked, organized smear campaign that started a year ago and now appears to be reviving again.
However, this does not make these claims any truer.
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