Falls genug Interesse besteht, könnte ich auch noch zwei weitere Studien zum gleichen Thema aufbereiten und teilen.
Women’s Erotic Rape Fantasies: An Evaluation of Theory and Research
Joseph W. Critelli and Jenny M. Bivona
DOI: 10.1080/00224490701808191
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224490701808191
Current research indicates that between 31% and 57% of women have fantasies in which they are forced into sex against their will, and for 9% to 17% of women these are a frequent or favorite fantasy experience. Erotic rape fantasies are paradoxical: they do not appear to make sense. Why would a person have an erotic and pleasurable fantasy about an event that, in real life, would be abhorrent and traumatic?
One reason why these fantasies are not well understood is that the study of women’s rape fantasies may have been systematically avoided by some researchers and theorists.
Current Explanations for Rape Fantasies
Masochism
Bond and Mosher (1986) presented women with either realistic depictions of rape containing pain and suffering or with depictions containing minimal discomfort and found reported sexual arousal to be much higher in the latter. Most women, over 99% by one assessment (Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994), clearly state that they do not want to be raped in reality, and considerable evidence supports the demonstrated fact that they would be repulsed and traumatized by actual rape (Bond & Mosher, 1986; Gold et al., 1991; Resnick & Acierno, 1997; Wil- son, 1987).
On the other hand, Hsu and colleagues (1994) found that 8% of women in a sample of college students had fantasies of being sexually degraded, and 5% had fantasies of being whipped or beaten by a partner. Estimates are that between 5% and 10% of the general population has engaged in some form of sexual masochism and that these acts generally are consensual, pleasurable, and nonpathological (Baumeister & Butler, 1997). As might be expected, some research (Gosselin, Wilson, & Barrett, 1991) indicates that women who engage in masochistic sex are more likely than other women to fantasize about being forced to do something sexual. Taken together, these findings suggest that masochism may play a role in the rape fantasies of a small proportion of females.
Sexual Blame Avoidance
The most frequently cited explanation for why some women have rape fantasies is that these fantasies allow women to avoid blame or responsibility for expressing their sexuality (Crepault et al., 1977; Deutsch, 1944; Hollender, 1970; Knafo & Jaffe, 1984). According to this explanation, women have been socialized as to the importance of not being perceived as promiscuous, overly sexual, or insufficiently reticent with regard to sex.
Other research on rape fantasy and personality suggests that sexual blame avoidance may be applicable for some women. Hariton and Singer (1974), in a community sample of married women, found that having rape fantasies during intercourse correlated with marital contentment and erotic arousal leading to orgasm. Hariton (1976), in further qualitative analyses, suggested that there may be two different types of women who have rape fantasies and a third type that does not have any sexual fantasies during intercourse. The first type, comprising 14% of their sample, reported having rape fantasies during intercourse ‘‘very often.’’ These women described their rape fantasies as highly erotic, often leading to orgasm. Women in this category reported having positive relationships with their husbands and being relatively passive during intercourse. These women were characterized as dependent, unobtrusive, controlled, serious, inquisitive, and conformist. Hariton’s (1976) second group experienced a wide variety of sexual fantasies during intercourse, including rape fantasies. This high-variety group was described as impulsive, independent, aggressive, and nonconformist. This group engaged in rape fantasies, but not with the frequency of those in the first group. The high variety group showed an active, exploratory approach to sex, engaging in premarital and extramarital sex, suggesting that they were not sexually repressed. A third group was brought up in a background of sexual repression, but these women reported no fantasies at all during intercourse, and they had difficulty with orgasm and sexual arousal.
Openness to Sexual Experience
In direct contrast to sexual blame avoidance is the openness to sexual experience theory. Instead of being driven by repressed sexuality, this theory states that rape fantasies may just be part of a woman’s generally open and accepting attitude toward sex (Gold et al., 1991; Pelletier & Herold, 1988; Strassberg & Lockerd, 1998).
Although the openness theory does appear to describe the rape fantasies of many women, it may be deficient in explaining why women would choose to include force in their fantasies, and if force is chosen, why the self character in these fantasies experiences nonconsent. The openness theory avoids and thus fails to explain the most central, paradoxical aspects of rape fantasy.
Desirability
Another explanation for women’s use of rape fantasy considers its implications for a woman’s sense of sexual attractiveness and desirability. The essential idea here is that the rape fantasy portrays the woman as so attractive, seductive, and desirable that the man loses control, breaking core expectations of civil decency in order to have her (Hariton, 1973; Heiman et al., 1976; Kanin, 1982; Knafo & Jaffe, 1984). In this way, the rape becomes a testament to her sexual power. Kanin (1982) suggests that such a fantasy not only enhances the female’s selfesteem, but also generates excitement as she feels the extent of the man’s desire. Women often mention ‘‘feeling desired’’ by a partner as an excitatory factor in sex (Graham, Sanders, Milhausen, & McBride, 2004).
Male Rape Culture
Brownmiller (1975) argued that women’s rape fantasies are a pathological manifestation of male-dominated culture. She maintained that, ‘‘the rape fantasy exists in women as a man-made iceberg’’ that can and should be destroyed by feminism (p. 322). Brownmiller observed that American culture is saturated with fantasies of men as the conquering sexual hero and sexual aggressor, while women’s attractiveness to men is predicated on showing vulnerability and playing the victim. She argued that, as women have not been given the opportunity to explore and create their own sexual fantasies, the fantasies they do have are a product of male conditioning. In her view, rape fantasies are ‘‘a pitiful effort on the part of young girls . . . to find their sexuality within the context of male [desires]’’ (p. 325).
As the fantasy theme of perpetrating rape on women is not a dominant male fantasy (Leitenberg & Henning, 1995), and since a sizable minority of men themselves have fantasies of being forced into sex by women, it seems unlikely that men would be the source for women’s fantasies of forced sex. Currently, it does not seem likely that this theory plays a major role in explaining female rape fantasies, especially since gender roles have changed considerably over the past 40 years (New Strategist Editors, 2006) while, as indicated previously, the prevalence of rape fantasies has been stable.
Biological Predisposition to Surrender
In contrast to Brownmiller’s cultural explanation for women’s rape fantasies, this theory suggests that underlying biological factors play a role in the attractiveness of rape as a fantasy theme for women. In a number of species, for copulation to take place, the male must present a display of dominance, pursue, and sometimes physically subdue the female (Fisher, 1999). Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1989) explains that the reciprocal display of male dominance=female surrender is a basic pattern in the animal world, and that these predispositions originate from primitive brain regions that have evolved to insure successful mating in reptiles, birds, and mammals. Helen Fisher (1999) suggests that females may have a natural desire to surrender to a selected, dominant male.
Sympathetic Activation
Although theory and research on sympathetic physiological activation have not previously been linked to rape fantasies, this literature makes an important contribution to understanding how rape fantasies might function. Sympathetic activation enhances ‘‘fight or flight’’ reactions by, for example, dilating pupils to facilitate vision, constricting peripheral arteries to supply more blood to the muscles and brain, and secreting epinephrine to increase metabolism. A growing body of evidence indicates that anxiety, fear, and anger, which activate sympathetic arousal, can enhance sexual response.
No research has tested the sympathetic activation theory with reference to rape fantasies, but its empirical support in related areas is promising.
Adversary Transformation
Romance novels, which account for 40% of mass paperback sales in the United States (Salmon & Symons, 2003), are erotic love stories written almost exclusively by women for a female audience, and it is not uncommon for these novels to include themes of rape. One review of historical romance novels found that 54% included the rape of the lead female character (Thurston, 1987). In particular, Hazen’s (1983) analysis of rape in romance novels also functions as a theory of women’s erotic rape fantasies.
In essence, both romance novels and rape fantasies are created works of fiction. Sexual fantasies are selfgenerated erotic stories often intentionally initiated to provide enjoyment and sexual arousal. Romance novels are structured erotic fantasies that individuals intentionally expose themselves to, typically for emotional satisfaction and sexual arousal. In a rape fantasy women create an imaginary scenario and they participate in the fantasy through the rape experience of their self character. In a romance novel that includes rape, women identify with the lead female character and vicariously experience her rape.
Hazen (1983) notes that, although the hero in romance novels must be handsome, he may also be cruel. Gorry (1999), in a content analysis of male romance heroes, found that these men are strong, masculine, muscular, sexually bold, and dangerous. According to Salmon and Symons (2003), romance heroes are not gentle and sensitive; they are men with the physical and temperamental qualities of warriors.
Conclusion
Current research indicates that from 31% to 57% of women have had rape fantasies, with from 9% to 17% reporting that rape fantasies are either a frequent occurrence or a favorite fantasy. Because rape fantasies are perceived as socially unacceptable or potentially embarrassing, these are most likely underestimates. Although rape fantasies are not the most prevalent or most frequent sexual fantasies, they are among the most popular, and they play a major role in the fantasy lives of one or two women in 10.
Eight major theories have been identified. How do these theories relate to one another? Six of the theories are psychosocial in nature, and biological predisposition could be classified with these six, as its main implications are behavioral. Sympathetic activation operates at a different, physiological level of analysis. In this sense, sympathetic activation does not compete with the other seven theories, and it could potentially complement one or more of the psychosocial theories by providing the physiological grounding for its psychosocial effect. The remaining seven theories potentially compete with one another, but some theories overlap or show compatibilities such that they could be combined into a broader, internally consistent explanation, as will be illustrated in this section.
An integration of biological predisposition, sympathetic activation, and adversary transformation should be explored. These theories are not only mutually compatible, but they also seem to fit together and complement one another, despite being developed in widely different contexts. Biological theory sets the stage by identifying ritualistic displays of male dominance and female surrender as important parts of the courtship ritual in many species. The display of male dominance may function as a way for females to assess genetic quality and the ability to protect. Sympathetic activation provides the physiological basis for understanding how fantasies that generate feelings of fear and anger may enhance sexual arousal. Adversary transformation suggests that in rape fantasies, the idea of rape, because of women’s inherent fear of actual rape, functions as a powerful means for producing the danger and excitement that gives the fantasy sexual and emotional impact.
Rape fantasies, however, are certainly not the only mechanisms for generating a sense of sexual excitement. Consensual fantasies of sex with a special partner or sex in a romantic setting also are effective for many women. Which women show a particular attraction to rape fantasies may be determined by some combination of the blame avoidance, openness, and desirability theories.
Der Mensch ist die Krone der Schöpfung, das Mädchen ist die Krönung des Menschen. 
