ROME — Even as she emerged as one of the leading figures in the #MeToo movement — raised fist and all — the Italian actress Asia Argento was never a media favorite in Italy’s unbendingly patriarchal society.

She was for the most part portrayed neither sympathetically nor heroically, but rather as a disingenuous climber well versed in her country’s often transactional relationship between sex, power and the pursuit of ambition.

Now, with reports that Ms. Argento quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to Jimmy Bennett, an actor who said she had sexually assaulted him when he was 17, she has gone from being the imperfect spokeswoman of a movement already having difficulty gaining traction in Italy to one who may have damaged the cause irreparably, at least in her own country.

This week, Ms. Argento was the target of a broad and savage public pillorying on the front pages of virtually every newspaper in the country. The headlines were merciless. “Asia Minor” was one; “Et tu, Asia,” another; and, naturally, “Asia Weinstein.”