Women's Erotic Rape Fantasies
Sexual Fantasies Size Matters  Workout Less to Lose Your Belly Fat Get Aroused with the Clitoral Pump Lose Weight By Eating More Nuts |
  by Elizabeth BurtonUpdated October 2008 If you’ve ever had a rape fantasy, you’re not alone. While some women are ashamed that they have rape fantasies, it is actually a very common occurrence. In fact, studies have found that between 31 and 57% of women have them. And consider romance novels, which make up 40% of book sales in the United States. These stories are written for women and often include thinly veiled rape themes. Yet despite its prevalence, rape fantasies are not well understood and have been the subject of formal research studies since the 1940s. In general, sexual fantasies can range from brief thoughts or images to stories with detailed plot lines, and may deal with actual past experiences, purely imagined experiences, or a mixture of both. Rape fantasies are defined the same way as the legal definition of rape and sexual assault. They must include force, sex, and non-consent. Two types of rape fantasies have been identified. The first is the erotic rape fantasy. Typically in this fantasy, a dominant and attractive man who is overcome with desire for the women approaches her aggressively. The woman feels or expresses non-consent but uses minimal resistance. The male then overpowers her and has sex with her. The second type of rape fantasy is the aversive rape fantasy. This usually includes a male who is more likely to be older, unattractive, and a stranger. These fantasies contain coercive and painful violence, and little or no sexual arousal. A typical scenario involves an assailant who grabs the woman, throws her to the ground, and rips her clothes off, while the woman is fighting back to prevent the rape. It has been argued that this type of fantasy is a consequence of previous sexual abuse, but in fact, women who have never been raped have more rape fantasies than those who have been raped in the past. Early reports (1940s) suggested that since fantasies are believed to operate in terms of wish fulfillment, it could be interpreted that women want to be raped. Many researches have argued against this interpretation, but without convincing explanations. A study published this year in the Journal of Sex Research reviewed more than thirty years of research on waking erotic rape fantasies. The information they gathered included percentages of women experiencing rape fantasies and their possible explanations. Theories that exist to explain rape fantasies vary considerably. One theory is sexual blame avoidance. In our culture, there is a negative stigma attached to a promiscuous woman, causing her to suppress her sexual feelings. As a consequence, some woman may have feelings of guilt associated with consensual sexual fantasies. The alternative is a rape fantasy. A Freudian-like theory is the association between rape fantasies and masochism. This theory states that since natural aggression in girls is suppressed, their outlet of these feelings is to be passively loved by a masochistic man. However, this theory has no evidence. A very different explanation is a woman’s increasing openness toward sex. As a woman becomes more sexually experienced, her acceptance of sex and fantasies becomes greater, and rape fantasies increase. Other theories include a woman’s sense of sexual desirability and attractiveness, manifestation of a male dominated society, biological predisposition to surrender, and a fight or flight reaction that can stimulate sexual arousal. It is probable that no single theory is the true explanation for all womens’ rape fantasy tendencies. Perhaps it is a combination of multiple factors. What is known is that rape fantasies are very common among women and not associated with past sexual abuse. Fantasies are one way to generate sexual arousal and have been found to promote healthy sex lives. back to top Reference: Critelli and Bivona, “Women’s Erotic Rape Fantasies: An Evaluation of Theory and Research”, Journal of Sex Research, 45, p57, 2008. Comment on this Article:  |
