“Rape Fantasies”
The premise that “all women have rape fantasies” is a hasty generalization that the magazines use to fuel the female readers’ fancies about rape. For example, Darlene asserts, “I certainly don’t (have rape fantasies).” Darlene’s assertions refute the argument presented in the magazine concerning the generality of rape fantasies. Even though the Magazines put forward statistical proof to validate that the fantasies involve recognizable people such as bosses, all the rape fantasies presented by the narrator and her associates involve unacquainted men. If the characters in “Rape Fantasies” were a sample used to assess the hypothesis relating to the familiarity of rapists in rape fantasies, then the hypothesis would be false.
Clearly, the discussions in “Rape Fantasies” are grounded on the Rape Fantasy versus Sex Fantasy binary. The narrator deconstructs the binary when she says, “I mean, you are getting raped, it’s just some guy you haven’t met formally who happens to be more attractive than Derek Cummins…and you have a good time. Rape is when they’ve got a knife or something and you don’t want to.” Accordingly, a consensual sex fantasy triggers unconscious gratification and utility whereas a rape fantasy results in belligerence and discomfort.
Arguably, what many women visualize is agreeable sex (which is not the same as rape) with ‘handsome strangers.’ The narrator confesses, “Maybe I’m abnormal or something, I mean I have fantasies about handsome strangers coming in through the window too, like Mr. Clean, I wish one would, please somebody without flat feet and big sweat marks on his a shirt, and over five feet tall.” The narrator’s aspiration cannot be categorized as rape fantasy because she is envisaging herself having sex with her idyllic man. Accordingly, she would not repel the man’s attempts to be intimate with her because it is what she yearns. Conversely, in a rape fantasy, woman resorts to actions to thwart the rapist’s efforts to intrude upon her body.
“The Man From Mars”
Why is “The Man From Mars” mysterious? First, the man appeals to Christine to share her name by way of writing. Typically, people exchange their names verbally. Christine obliges in view of the possibility that the man is from a culture that is dissimilar to hers whereby sharing names through writing may be tolerable. Second, the man is resolute on going home with her on the first day that they pump into each other. His request is bizarre seeing that they have not been accustomed to each other for long. Third, the man calls Christine’s house, even though Christine did not give her telephone number. Details are not included on how he got the number though. Christine speculates, “most likely he went through the phone book, calling all the numbers with her last name until he hit on the right one.” If Christine’s theory is perfect, then the man must have been neurotic about being in Christine’s life. What is more, the man invites himself to Christine’s home for tea. On the occasions when Christine gives her the opportunity to speak out what he wants from her, the man does not express himself.
The man is preoccupied with Christine because “Initially he waited outside the lecture rooms for her to come out. She said hello to him curtly at first and kept on going, but this didn't work; he followed her at a distance, smiling his changeless smile. Then she stopped speaking altogether and pretended to ignore him, but it made no difference, he followed her anyway. The fact that she was in some way afraid of him—or was it just embarrassment?—seemed only to encourage him.” The man’s puzzling behavior is unfathomable because he does not declare explicitly why he keeps Christine under surveillance. One would construe him to be an fanatical lover who wants to be in command of Christine’s engagements. His fortitude, notwithstanding, Christine’s disinterest, is bothersome as he may put her safety on the line.
