Let's Talk About Rape Fantasies
Some of this is probably going to be common sense. Other things I write here might be controversial. However, this is a topic that needs to be discussed because a lot of doms and subs struggle with it.
To preface, I do not advocate rape. I’ve said before that it is never okay to rape someone, and I view rape as a sign of weakness in a man. Real men do not have to take sex by force. Others give it to us willingly, grateful for the opportunity. The few occasions that I have agreed to fulfill a rape fantasy, I insisted on giving the sub my safe word and required them to text it to me immediately before I would begin the scene. Having said that, it is extremely common for males of all ages and sexual preferences to have rape fantasies.
I decided to write this post because the Lord of the Fags asked me this afternoon if I’ve ever had rape fantasies and whether it’s common for men to have those types of fantasies. He posed the question because a man contacted him and said he was feeling guilty about having rape fantasies. Because this topic resurfaces regularly in conversations I have with others on tumblr, I decided to write about it.
A lot of men are afraid to talk about rape fantasies because they don’t realize how common those fantasies are. Almost every male I’ve chatted with about the topic has had rape fantasies. Those who denied ever having such fantasies are a small minority, maybe around 5% of the guys I’ve talked to about this (which includes hundreds at this point), and I’m certain some of them were lying.Â
The real question is which side of the equation a male falls on. Dominant men and tops tend to imagine themselves as the rapist, whereas submissives fantasize about getting raped.Â
The other question is what type of rape fantasy the guy had. There are two broad categories of rape fantasies: (1) those where the sex turns consensual (usually because the victim wanted it all along or becomes overcome by passion and desire because the sex is so great); and (2) those where the sex remains non-consensual throughout (I will refer to the latter as “pure” rape fantasies because calling them non-consensual rape is redundant and makes it sound as though consensual rape exists, which its doesn’t). Most men have both sorts of fantasies at one time or another.Â
I’ll begin by talking about rape fantasies from the dom perspective because it’s what I have first-hand experience with and it’s what @fagsworshipstraights was asked about.Â
A lot of men who fantasize or have a wet dream about raping another person (whether it’s a woman or man) feel guilty after. That feeling of guilt is natural. It shows that the man recognizes the immorality of rape and that he has no intention of actually raping another person. However, the feeling can also be overly harsh. Most men recognize the difference between fantasy and reality, and we know we will never actually rape someone else. There is no reason to saddle yourself with guilt when you will never act on the fantasy.
As mentioned above, there are two general types of rape fantasies. Usually, when a man fantasizes about raping another person, the sex begins as rape but the woman or guy being raped becomes cooperative as the fantasy unfolds. Some psychologists theorize that this transformation occurs because the man is subconsciously justifying his fantasy. They say it allows his subconscious to think, “Raping this person is fine because s/he wanted it the whole time and likes it rough.” Personally, I think that’s bullshit. I think it shows that the man enjoys rough sex and kink, often a variety of kinks, and he is fantasizing about an extreme version of that because that’s what fantasies are for. Almost every dom or top has fantasized about a sexual encounter that started off as non-consensual but the person he was fucking enjoyed his dick so much that s/he started to love it. The fantasy make the man feel masculine and virile.Â
Most people accept that rape fantasies that turn into consensual sex are normal and very common. By contrast, “pure" rape fantasies (in which the victim struggles the whole time) are rarely discussed because they are viewed as dirtier or less moral. As a result, most men are particularly ashamed of having this type of rape fantasy.Â
Because they aren’t talked about, pure rape fantasies are often more harmful psychologically. A man thinks he must be a monster to become sexually aroused and have an intense orgasm while imagining himself actually raping another person. But for some reason, the man can’t help himself; he has the fantasy (often over and over again). The thrill of the struggle and extreme roughness of the encounter are so intense that he has especially powerful orgasms. At the same time, he knows it’s wrong. He thinks to himself that there can’t be any justification for having that sort of fantasy. And because almost nobody talks about this “incredibly wrong” type of sex fantasy, the adverse psychological impact is compounded. Without knowing that the fantasy is common, the man begins to think he is weird, that there is something wrong with him, some piece inside of him that is missing or broken.Â
If you’ve had one of these pure rape fantasies, I’m here to tell you that you aren’t alone. I’ve talked to many other doms and tops who have had these fantasies. For the record, I’ve had both types of rape fantasies at various stages of my life and sexual development, but I usually have the type of fantasy that transforms into a consensual encounter (as is true for most doms and tops).Â
Doms and tops who have pure rape fantasies also should not feel alone because submissive guys also have those fantasies. Plus, unlike doms and tops (who tend to fantasize more about rape that turns consensual than “pure” rape based on my conversations with other men and my own experience), most submissives I talk to about rape tell me that they fantasize more often (and sometimes exclusively) about pure rape.Â
I think some doms/tops feel guilty about their pure rape fantasies because they assume submissives who want to be “raped” only fantasize about “rape” that turns into a consensual encounter. Since that’s really nothing more than rough consensual sex (albeit sometimes extremely rough) in which the submissive male was merely trying to hide his willingness, tops are afraid that subs will not understand if they admit to having fantasies about pure rape. That means they are usually not willing to talk openly about the fantasies with subs, which increases the adverse psychological effect on both the dom and the sub.Â
Like the doms and tops who feel guilty after fantasizing about rape, a sub often finds it psychologically disturbing to have a pure rape fantasy. He does not understand why his dick gets so hard that it throbs when he imagines truly getting physically hurt or struggling the whole time against a man having sex with him. (As an interesting side note, I’ve talked to 3 separate sub boys over the past couple of years who’ve said they had their first true prostate orgasm while imagining being raped. The rape fantasy was the key that allowed them to get over the edge and shoot a load of cum through anal stimulation.)Â
Getting back to the point, a sub might feel guilty and ask himself, “How could I possibly want that? What is wrong with me?“ The answer is that the fantasy isn’t about sex; it’s about feeling overpowered and used. Many subs realize this, which ironically makes them feel even more guilty (especially those subs who don’t identify as fags or slaves). They feel humiliated by their own fantasy. They want to be loved and treated like an equal, but they are more turned on by imagining themselves getting raped (”for real raped,” as one sub put it) than by any other fantasy. And that makes them feel worthless.Â
I believe the key to overcoming the guilt caused by rape fantasies is to recognize the vast differences between fantasy and reality. Having a fantasy does not mean a person wants the reality. Most people feel guilty about pure rape fantasies because they think the fantasy means they want to rape someone or to be raped. That isn’t true. Fantasizing about rape does not mean that a dom has a desire to actually commit rape or that a sub has a desire to actually be raped, just as imagining murdering someone does not mean that you actually want to kill another person.Â
When a man fantasizes about pure rape, he envisions power, control, and everything going right; he typically does not think about the other person being hurt (unless he’s a sadist, in which case there are masochists out there to satisfy his desires in real life). A dom might imagine slapping the person, yelling at them, forcing them to open their mouth and gag on his dick, hearing them scream as he thrusts his cock into them without any preparation, etc. But he is not thinking about how those things would actually feel to the other person. He simply imagines the looks of shock, defiance, and/or submission, the sound of the slap against the other person’s skin, etc. Those visions turn him on because he likes rough sex. Having the fantasy does not mean the doesn’t care about others, that he is a sociopath, or that he is willing to hurt another person in reality. It simply means that he has a good enough imagination to give himself a fulfilling sexual fantasy.Â
After the fantasy is over and the man has recovered from an especially intense orgasm, he begins to think about reality. He imagines the effect his actions would have on the other person in real life. He feels guilty that, in the heat of the moment, he thought only about how good it would feel to pull a person’s hair while fucking them roughly. One man I’ve chatted with about this felt especially guilty about his fantasy because imagining the other person crying was a particular turn on him. Even after I pointed out that many subs fantasize about being made to cry, he still felt a little guilty. He never wanted to disregard another person’s feelings so completely that he enjoyed them crying. I told him that he probably never would do that then, but he should keep his eyes open for a sub who wants to be made to cry because that would be fulfilling the sub’s emotional requirements rather than ignoring them. In the world of BDSM, perspective is everything.Â
Just as a dom/top who fantasizes about pure rape usually is only imagining the enjoyable aspects, a sub who fantasizes about pure rape doesn’t typically focus on the risk of being truly injured or abused. He doesn’t want to be raped in real life, but the feelings of helplessness and total loss of control cause the sub to feel aroused, often intensely so, because it is the most extreme form of submission. He imagines being slapped and might even slap himself to make the fantasy seem more real. But he is still merely craving the roughness, the feeling of being taken by a stronger man and losing control. He does not want to suffer extreme pain or actual abuse (unless he’s a masochist, which is also fine).Â
The point is that sex fantasies focus on the things that arouse us. We naturally block out everything that would ruin (or significantly detract from) the sexual encounter. That doesn’t mean the thoughts don’t pop into our heads. We’ve all had fantasies ruined by stray thoughts. However, whenever possible, we quickly shut out those negative thoughts so that we can continue enjoying the fantasy and maximize the sexual pleasure. That is the crucial difference between fantasy and reality. Almost every rape fantasy is unrealistic, whether because the scene turns into a consensual encounter (which would never happen in real life with a real rape) or because the person having the fantasy only thinks about the things that turn him on and not the negative aspects that would exist in reality. As long as the person recognizes that the fantasy can never play out in reality (for a variety of reasons), there is no risk of acting on the fantasy and no need to feel guilty.
I believe the reason rape fantasies are so common is that they often provide intense orgasms. And the reason they provide such intense pleasure is because they involve extreme behavior that we know we can only fantasize about. We know we cannot act on the fantasies, and so we allow ourselves to take the mental images to extremes. We allow our minds to focus on our secret desires that we feel ashamed to share with anyone else. By doing so, we satisfy an aspect of our sexuality that can only be satisfied by allowing ourselves to have those fantasies, which keeps us sexually and psychologically healthy. As long as we recognize the differences between fantasy and reality, the fantasies remain harmless fantasies that provide a needed sexual release.
In closing, I know that there are some people who think men should try to suppress rape fantasies. They think that the line between fantasy and reality will blur and that a man will begin to think his potential victims really do want to have sex with him or that he has to truly rape someone to ever feel completely sexually satisfied. Again, I think that’s bullshit. Although I’m sure there are some mentally unstable men who lose the ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, that inability does not stem from having rape fantasies; it comes from some fundamental mental or psychological impairment. The vast majority of men understand the difference between fantasy and reality and will never allow themselves to cross that line. No amount of fantasizing will cause a normal mentally healthy man to lose his grip on reality and commit rape.