View source for Rape fantasy

{{Short description|Sexual fantasy involving coercible sex}}
{{redirect|Rape fantasies|the short story by Margaret Atwood|Rape Fantasies}}
{{Cite check|date=June 2014}}
{{Rape}}
A '''rape fantasy''' (sometimes referred to as '''rapeplay''') or a '''ravishment''' is a [[sexual fantasy]] involving imagining or pretending being [[coerced]] or forcefully coercing another into [[Human sexual activity|sexual activity]]. In [[sexual roleplay]], it involves acting out roles of [[Rape|coercive sex]]. [[Rape pornography]] is literature, images or video associated with rape (and sometimes [[Stockholm syndrome]]) as a means of [[Sexual intercourse|sex]].

== Fantasy ==
Studies have found rape fantasy among both men and women.<ref>{{Cite journal
|title=Women's Erotic Rape Fantasies: An Evaluation of Theory and Research
|last1=Critelli |first1=Joseph W.
|last2=Bivona |first2=Jenny M.
|jstor=20620339
|date=2008 |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=57–70
|doi=10.1080/00224490701808191
|journal=[[The Journal of Sex Research]]
|pmid=18321031 |s2cid=28276526 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224490701808191
|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Bivona |first1=Jenny |last2=Critelli |first2=Joseph |date=February 10, 2009 |title=The nature of women's rape fantasies: an analysis of prevalence, frequency, and contents |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224490802624406 |journal=[[The Journal of Sex Research]] |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=33–45 |doi=10.1080/00224490802624406 |pmid=19085605 |s2cid=44540712 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Lehmiller |first1=Justin J. |author-link=Justin Lehmiller |date=March 11, 2020 |title=Why Are "Rape Fantasies" So Common? |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-myths-sex/202003/why-are-rape-fantasies-so-common |website=[[Psychology Today]] |series=The Myths of Sex}}</ref> One study found that over half of their female respondents have had a fantasy of forced sex in their life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baumeister |first=R.F. |author-link=Roy Baumeister |title=Social Psychology and Human Sexuality: Essential Readings |date=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=1-84169-018-X |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=125}}</ref> The fantasy may involve the fantasist as either the one being forced into sex or being the perpetrator.

The most frequently cited hypothesis for why women fantasize about being forced and coerced into some sexual activity is that the fantasy avoids societally induced guilt: the woman does not have to admit responsibility for her sexual desires and behavior. 

A 1978 study by Moreault and [[Diane Follingstad|Follingstad]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moreault |first1=Denise |last2=Follingstad |first2=Diane R. |author-link2=Diane Follingstad |date=December 1978 |title=Sexual Fantasies of Females as a Function of Sex Guilt and Experimenta |url=http://uknowledge.uky.edu/crvaw_facpub/53/ |journal=[[Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology]] |location=Washington DC |publisher=[[American Psychological Association]] |volume=46 |issue=6 |pages=1385–1393 |doi=10.1037/0022-006X.46.6.1385 |pmid=730888 |url-access=subscription |access-date=June 16, 2014}}</ref> was consistent with this hypothesis and found that women with high levels of sex guilt were more likely to report fantasy themed around being overpowered, dominated, and helpless. In contrast, Pelletier and Herold used a different measure of guilt and found no correlation. Other research suggests that women who report forced sex fantasies have a more positive attitude towards sexuality, contradicting the guilt hypothesis.<ref name=":2" /> A newer study from 1998 by Strassberg and Locker found that women who fantasized about force were generally less guilty and more [[erotophilia|erotophilic]], and as a result had more frequent and varied fantasies. However, it said that force fantasies are not the most common or the most frequent.<ref name=":2" />

A male sexual fantasy of raping a woman may bring sexual arousal either from imagining a scene in which first a woman objects but then comes to like and eventually participate in the intercourse, or else one in which the woman does not like it and arousal is associated with the idea of hurting the woman.<ref>{{cite book |title=Arousal: The Secret Logic of Sexual Fantasies |last=Bader |first=Michael J. |year=2003 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] |location= London, England|isbn=0-312-30242-8 |page=126}}</ref>

=== Prevalence among genders ===

Numerous studies have found that fantasies about being forced to have sex are commonly found across all genders.<ref name=":1" /> 45.8% of men in a 1980 study reported fantasizing during heterosexual [[Sexual intercourse|intercourse]] about "a scene where [they had] the impression of being raped by a woman" (3.2% often and 42.6% sometimes), 44.7% of scenes where a seduced woman "pretends resisting" and 33% of raping a woman.<ref>{{cite journal
|first1=Claude |last1=Crépault
|first2=Marcel |last2=Couture
|title=Men's erotic fantasies
|journal=[[Archives of Sexual Behavior]] |publisher=[[Springer Science + Business Media]]
|location=Berlin, Germany
|volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=565–81
|date=December 1980
|pmid=7458662
|doi=10.1007/BF01542159 |s2cid=9021936
}}</ref>

A 1998 study in the ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'' which surveyed 137 female undergraduate students aged 18 to 40 found that 40% had at some time had a fantasy where they were "overpowered or forced to surrender". This was lower than the population who had had a fantasy where they imagined "having [[Exhibitionism|sex in a public or semipublic place]]" (57%) but higher than the number who had had fantasies where they imagined themselves "as a [[Stripper|striptease dancer]]‚ harem girl‚ or other performers" (35%). The population that reported these fantasies and were "very likely to act out that fantasy" was 6%. Among women who said they had had a rape fantasy in the past, the average frequency of their experience was three times a month.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal
|title=Force in Women's Sexual Fantasies
|last1=Strassberg |first1=Donald S.
|last2=Locker |first2=Lisa K.
|journal=[[Archives of Sexual Behavior]]  |publisher=[[Springer Science + Business Media]]
|location=Berlin, Germany 
|issn=1573-2800 
|volume=27 
|issue=4
|date=August 1998
|pages=403–414
|doi=10.1023/A:1018740210472
|pmid=9681121|s2cid=32056579 }}</ref>

In contrast a study published in ''The Journal of Sex Research'' from 2009 using a survey of 355 undergraduates, 81% of whom were between the ages of 18 and 21 indicated that "62% of women have had a rape fantasy". It found that over the entire population sampled 32% had not had a rape fantasy, 49% had had a rape fantasy once a month or less, and 14% had had rape fantasies once a week or more.<ref name=":0" />

In a more recent study among more than 4,000 Americans, 61% of female respondents had fantasized about being forced to have sex; meanwhile, the numbers were 54% among men.<ref name=":1" />

== Roleplay ==
{{Refimprovesection|date=July 2020}}
One form of [[sexual roleplay]]ing is the rape fantasy, also called "ravishment" or "forced sex roleplay".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gold |first1=Steven R. |last2=Balzano |first2=Bill L. |last3=Stamey |first3=Robin |date=1991 |title=Two Studies of Females' Sexual Force Fantasies |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01614576.1991.11074001 |journal=[[Journal of Sex Education and Therapy]] |location=New York City |publisher= |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=15–26 |doi=10.1080/01614576.1991.11074001 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In [[BDSM]] circles (and occasionally outside these circles as well), some people choose to roleplay rape scenes—with communication, [[Sexual consent|consent]] and safety being especially crucial elements. Though consent is a crucial component of any sexual roleplay,<ref>{{cite journal
|first1=Kathryn R. |last1=Klement
|first2=Brad J. |last2=Sagarin
|first3=Ellen M. |last3=Lee
|title=Participating in a Culture of Consent May Be Associated With Lower Rape Supportive Beliefs
|journal=[[The Journal of Sex Research]]
|publisher=[[Routledge]]
|location=Abingdon, England
|date=2017|volume=54|issue=1
|pages=130–134
|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301686229 
|url-access=registration
|doi=10.1080/00224499.2016.1168353|pmid=27120005
|s2cid=25788140
}}</ref> the illusion of non-consent (i.e. rape) is important to maintaining this type of fantasy. A [[safe word]] is therefore a common safety measure, given that words that would normally halt sexual activity (e.g. "stop") are often disregarded in these scenes.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bauer |first1=Robin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCNHBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT117 |title=Queer BDSM Intimacies: Critical Consent and Pushing Boundaries |date=Oct 28, 2014 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137435026 |pages=117–118 |url-access=limited}}</ref> Continuing with the sexual roleplay after a safeword has been used constitutes [[rape]], as the use of a safeword indicates the withdrawal of consent.

==See also==
*[[Consent in BDSM]]
*[[Forced seduction]]
*[[Hybristophilia]]
*[[Seduction]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*Desmond Ravenstone (2005). ''Ravishment: The Dark Side of Erotic Fantasy.'' {{ISBN|1-4116-5547-8}}.
*[https://ravishmentinfo.blogspot.com/2009/02/ravishment-101-by-desmond-ravenstone.html Desmond Ravenstone, "Ravishment 101"]

{{Human sexuality and sexology}}
{{BDSM}}
{{Sex fetish}}

[[Category:Sexual emotions]]
[[Category:Sexual roleplay]]
[[Category:Rape]]
[[Category:Sexual fantasies]]