4 ms·

Rape fantasies are very prevalent among women This in particular could do with a citation; it's a contentious topic and would do better with some formal verifi

Rape fantasies are very prevalent among women This in particular could do with a citation; it's a contentious topic and would do better with some formal verification.

angersock 11y ago
Yep. Anecdotes simply won't do here.
blfr 11y ago
They're pretty common. Most (62%) women supposedly have had them. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085605 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085605
- rada 11y ago
  As someone in this 62%, I can tell you that the numbers may be correct but the terms are anything but. Men hear "rape fantasies" and think real rape, while women think "intense sex with a hot stranger which requires no effort on my part and furthermore absolves me of any decision making so no one can brand me a hoe". As always, it helps to remember that women are people and therefore the overwhelming majority do not fantasize about actually being tortured and possibly killed or maimed for life. (Not saying that the parent actually said anything to that effect, just trying to drive home the point that these stats use bad terminology). Edit: for some reason I cannot reply so I will post an answer here. Is the survey methodology flawed in what they ask the respondents? I think so. The linked study said it counted self-reported incidents of fantasies of sexual encounters that fall within "the legal definition of rape", and that's where I have a problem. The central point of the legal definition of rape is the lack of consent. So how could sexual fantasies, which are by their nature something you want in that moment, be counted as non-consensual? You are asking people about a consensual sexual scenario that's only staged as non-consensual but then you are counting it as non-consensual. It's like asking people if they fantasize about the doctor/nurse scenario (or whatever) and when 20% report that they've had that fantasy, you conclude that 20% of the population wish they had a serious illness.
  - abduhl 11y ago
    I'm having trouble tracking this here. What is the difference between "real rape" and your description?
  - wavefunction 11y ago
    That's not rape though. I guess I wonder why this 62% figure comes up if it's actually "hot sex with an attractive stranger" rather than "forced intercourse." Is the survey methodology flawed in what they ask the respondents? Are the respondents confused about what they're agreeing with? Are the results being incorrectly reported?
    - magicalist 11y ago
      "absolves me of any decision making" certainly implies it (and meets the "legal definition of rape" the study was looking at). It's also easy to miss that figure is "have had" a rape fantasy, meaning at least once would qualify. This survey study[1], for instance, found estimates of 31% - 57% "have fantasies in which they are forced into sex against their will". However, for only "9% to 17% of women these are a frequent or favorite fantasy experience". In any case, I'm not sure why this is surprising. Power dynamics are a powerful part of any sexual experience, whether they be a central part of it or just fleeting. The point that rada made above is important, though, that when speaking of fantasies we are talking about people deriving pleasure from circumstances that are imagined by the very person who wouldn't be able to give consent were the situation reality. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18321031 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18321031
  - e12e 11y ago
    Apart from all the things you point out, I also can't help but wonder - for eg. the US "1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape)."[1, numbers from 1998] So, how those that jive with "rape fantasies"? Are we to assume that many women that have been the victim of rape, still have rape fantasies? Without going into the deep topic of coping strategies for trauma, and what is considered "normal" sexual behaviour etc -- at the very least it would seem that the "rape" in one survey isn't quite the same term as the one in the other? To reply to the sibling comment about "legal definition of rape" -- that kind of disregards the fact that these are fantasies. Isn't there something from Freud about us being everyone in our dreams? I don't think it's wrong to claim that when you fantasise about having control of someone else, you're also fantasising about being the one in control. As for the low numbers for men (3%), I came across an article[2] on the prison system -- that doesn't really seem to change the overall picture that much: Men are less likely to be sexually assaulted in general, while inmates (of both sexes) are more likely to assaulted. One depressing thing that can be gleaned from the second article, is that female correction officers apparently have a higher rate of abuse of juvenile inmates. Overall, I'm not sure the article adds much to the discussion of rape fantasies -- but I add it here as it might be of interest to those that are curious about rape statistics in general. [1] https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assa... [2] http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/oct/24/shame-our-prisons-new-evidence/ http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/oct/24/shame-o...

Rape fantasies are very prevalent among women This in particular could do with a citation; it's a contentious topic and would do better with some formal verification.

angersock 11y ago

Yep. Anecdotes simply won't do here.

blfr 11y ago

They're pretty common. Most (62%) women supposedly have had them. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085605 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085605

rada 11y ago
As someone in this 62%, I can tell you that the numbers may be correct but the terms are anything but. Men hear "rape fantasies" and think real rape, while women think "intense sex with a hot stranger which requires no effort on my part and furthermore absolves me of any decision making so no one can brand me a hoe". As always, it helps to remember that women are people and therefore the overwhelming majority do not fantasize about actually being tortured and possibly killed or maimed for life. (Not saying that the parent actually said anything to that effect, just trying to drive home the point that these stats use bad terminology). Edit: for some reason I cannot reply so I will post an answer here. Is the survey methodology flawed in what they ask the respondents? I think so. The linked study said it counted self-reported incidents of fantasies of sexual encounters that fall within "the legal definition of rape", and that's where I have a problem. The central point of the legal definition of rape is the lack of consent. So how could sexual fantasies, which are by their nature something you want in that moment, be counted as non-consensual? You are asking people about a consensual sexual scenario that's only staged as non-consensual but then you are counting it as non-consensual. It's like asking people if they fantasize about the doctor/nurse scenario (or whatever) and when 20% report that they've had that fantasy, you conclude that 20% of the population wish they had a serious illness.
- abduhl 11y ago
  I'm having trouble tracking this here. What is the difference between "real rape" and your description?
- wavefunction 11y ago
  That's not rape though. I guess I wonder why this 62% figure comes up if it's actually "hot sex with an attractive stranger" rather than "forced intercourse." Is the survey methodology flawed in what they ask the respondents? Are the respondents confused about what they're agreeing with? Are the results being incorrectly reported?
  - magicalist 11y ago
    "absolves me of any decision making" certainly implies it (and meets the "legal definition of rape" the study was looking at). It's also easy to miss that figure is "have had" a rape fantasy, meaning at least once would qualify. This survey study[1], for instance, found estimates of 31% - 57% "have fantasies in which they are forced into sex against their will". However, for only "9% to 17% of women these are a frequent or favorite fantasy experience". In any case, I'm not sure why this is surprising. Power dynamics are a powerful part of any sexual experience, whether they be a central part of it or just fleeting. The point that rada made above is important, though, that when speaking of fantasies we are talking about people deriving pleasure from circumstances that are imagined by the very person who wouldn't be able to give consent were the situation reality. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18321031 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18321031
- e12e 11y ago
  Apart from all the things you point out, I also can't help but wonder - for eg. the US "1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape)."[1, numbers from 1998] So, how those that jive with "rape fantasies"? Are we to assume that many women that have been the victim of rape, still have rape fantasies? Without going into the deep topic of coping strategies for trauma, and what is considered "normal" sexual behaviour etc -- at the very least it would seem that the "rape" in one survey isn't quite the same term as the one in the other? To reply to the sibling comment about "legal definition of rape" -- that kind of disregards the fact that these are fantasies. Isn't there something from Freud about us being everyone in our dreams? I don't think it's wrong to claim that when you fantasise about having control of someone else, you're also fantasising about being the one in control. As for the low numbers for men (3%), I came across an article[2] on the prison system -- that doesn't really seem to change the overall picture that much: Men are less likely to be sexually assaulted in general, while inmates (of both sexes) are more likely to assaulted. One depressing thing that can be gleaned from the second article, is that female correction officers apparently have a higher rate of abuse of juvenile inmates. Overall, I'm not sure the article adds much to the discussion of rape fantasies -- but I add it here as it might be of interest to those that are curious about rape statistics in general. [1] https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assa... [2] http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/oct/24/shame-our-prisons-new-evidence/ http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/oct/24/shame-o...