Victim Falls For Rapist: Difference between revisions

Whichever genre, a [[Victim Falls For Rapist]] scene is used as a convenient plot device to give the victim an arousing experience without actually [[My Girl Is Not a Slut|soiling their innocence]], because it wasn't their choice to have sex in the first place. There's something kinky in forcing a person to realize his/her love. And if the victim falls in love with the rapist, that ups the angst meter.

A subtrope of [[Stockholm Syndrome]] and [[Hollywood Sex]]. See also [[Prison Rape]], [[Naughty Tentacles]]. Compare [[Stalking Is Love]], [[Black Comedy Rape]], [[Rape as Drama]]. Contrast [[Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil]], [["It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It"]]. For the G-rated but no less creepy (and no less [[Don't Try This At Home|illegal]]) version of this trope, see [[Abduction Is Love]]. Contrast [[Marital Rape License]], where the rape is generally portrayed as heinous although the rapist may [[From a Certain Point of View|consider]] the rape to be an act of love and also his husbandly right -- which in some cultural contexts it actually is. Often results in an [[Esoteric Happy Ending]].

* In ''[[Okane ga Nai]]'', Kanou rapes Ayase in an attempt to convey his feelings, but Ayase eventually falls in love with him anyways. Then it's played for [[Black Comedy Rape|comedy]] in an extra by having Kanou travel back in time back to the moment of the rape and proceed to attack his past-self for what he is about to do to Ayase. Ayase also gets hit with this trope at nearly every corner, where ''every single straight male'' in this manga either falls in love with and wants to or attempts to rape Ayase. And Ayase, being the living embodiment of [[Too Dumb to Live]] and [[The Ingenue]], only narrowly avoids said rape--when it's not [[Karma Houdini|Kanou]]--by virtue of the people around him who ''don't'' want him to get raped noticing the danger signs. Ironically, the only men who aren't interested in Ayase at all are the gay guys. Who are interested in Kanou.

* It is up to debate whether Shizuru raped Natsuki in her sleep in ''[[Mai-HiME]]'', as the details are sketchy and the plot never goes back and addresses it and exactly how far she went. However, the [[Victim Falls For Rapist]] plot is used straight in the same series between Yukariko the nun and the art teacher Ishigami. Many fans [[Hand Wave]] actions done in the series as the "dark influence" of various plot devices, as most everyone is [[Easily Forgiven|miraculously forgiven in the end]].

* ''[[Hot Gimmick]]'' romanticizes an abusive relationship: readers are expected to support the heroine's [[Love Martyr|decision to remain]] with her [[Troubled but Cute]] love interest at the end -- his blackmail, physical force, and coerced sexual encounters with her are supposed to be how he expresses his love for her. {{spoiler|And then it's subverted in the novels, where Hatsumi is paired up... with Shinogu.}}

* Just-about-averted in ''[[Rose of Versailles]]'', in which the male romantic lead Andre forces himself on the heroine Lady Oscar--he does come to his senses and [[Near-Rape Experience|stop short of actual rape]], however, and repeatedly tells her he's sorry. The whole incident is treated as evidence of his unrequited passion for her, and doesn't stop her from falling in love with him in return by the end of the series.

* In ''[[After School Nightmare]]'', Sou sexually assaults Mashiro twice--first forcing a kiss on him and later actually attempting to rape him. Mashiro nevertheless falls for him.

* [[Tanaka Yutaka]] pretty much puts this concept to the sword in ''Doubt'' (from the [[Virgin Night]] anthology). The first part shows a ''very'' unpleasant impelled sex scene which proves to be [[Poor Communication Kills]]-catalyzed (Tsutsui was making a ''bad'' assumption about Motoko's hesitancy to respond to his desire for sex as merely playing hard-to-get; she wasn't, she was just nervous about proper broaching), and leaves ''both'' Tsutsui and Motoko feeling degraded. The second part, once both participants open up about their desire for each other, is affection and pleasure distillate--and not so much as a cubic micron of anything forced (or, for that matter, hurried). Tanaka isn't really leaving any question as to which form actually fits with long-lasting love.

** Indeed, the current ''[[Red Sonja]]'' series has shown the oath to be rather more nuanced. For example, she's in no way compelled to sleep with a man who defeats her--it's an option, but she doesn't have to submit if she finds him odious. (Fighting a demigod along with two allies, she was still trounced, but he had no knowledge of her oath; later, when she comes to admire him as a person, she comes to him at night.) Similarly, she can love anyone she chooses, but cannot be physically intimate with the man. It is not just a gift, but a test of Sonja's own willpower in staying true to her quest at the expense of a permanent home, family and love--one story outright said that Sonja was free to give up her skills any time she wanted, should she find a worthy man she wished to spend her life with who was not capable of besting her in battle.

* ''Beautifully'' ''''subverted'''' in the [[Fate/stay night]]/[[Sekirei]] crossover [[In Flight]]. When [[Lightning Bruiser|Musubi]] tries to convince Shirou to take any measure necessary to wing [[Making a Splash|Tsukiumi]]--who is reluctant to accept an Ashikabi--[[Badass|Shirou]] isn't so impressed and compares the process--essentially a mating ritual to the alien species--to rape. He asks Musubi whether he would have approved of her being winged by someone she didn't want as an Ashikabi, and then turns to [[Playing with Fire|Homura]] and reminds him of his own reluctance to be winged by Shirou. Both become suitably uncomfortable at this. Incidentally, it is Shirou's willingness to let her ''choose'' whether she wants to be winged that convinces Tsukiumi to let herself be winged (particularly since the story establishes her as ''Agoraphobic''--fearful of sexual assault).

* Played straight AND played for laughs in Piers Anthony's "[[Bio of a Space Tyrant]]." When Hope Hubris is carrying out his anti-piracy crusade during the course of his military career in the second book, he eventaully elects to cut a deal with one of the "nicer" pirate clans, responsible for gambling and boozing and other "victimless" crimes, but not human trafficking and spaceship hijacking. The pirate clan leader requires that Hubris marry his daughter to seal the deal. The catch? Space pirate marital ceremonies consist of the groom breaking onto the bride's ship, fighting his way to the girl's chamber, kidnapping her onto his own vessel, and then raping her into submission. Of course, since marriages are usually arranged beforehand the ship's corridors are conveniently empty... but since the bride expects to have a "real man" for a husband, she's given a knife for protection. By the time it's over Hubris has done the deed--and he's the one who needs medical attention, not her. What makes it even more hilarious is that the culture turns the women into masochists; he finds it nigh impossible to convince his new wife to consent to gentle lovemaking. And when Hubris is finally court martialed by corrupt admirals to punish him for destroying the pirate clans that had been paying them bribes, the prosecutor is stunned when Hubris' pirate bride mentions the marital rape. "He raped you?" Her contemptuous response, "like you wouldn't if you had the chance!"

** Played with in ''Barrayar'', too. Koudelka and Drou have an unplanned, er, encounter, on the couch; Kou then takes to avoiding Drou. When finally confronted, he miserably apologizes for raping her. She is offended both by the implication that she couldn't have fought him off--Drou being the Empress's personal bodyguard, after all--and by the realization that Kou was so caught up in his own actions he didn't even notice Drou was participating (though perhaps being cold-shouldered after the fact confused him -- he didn't realize she was worried about pregnancy). She didn't enjoy the sex much, since it was her first time and neither of them were much good at it, but she ''absolutely'' wanted to be there. They eventually get things straightened out, and go on to marry, have four daughters, and live happily ever after.

*** In ''The Storm and the Splendor'' the hero saves the heroine from attempted rape by the villain, marries her (more or less against her will) and then explicitly resists the urge to consummate the marriage until she is truly willing (at one point, after they've been kissing and she gets upset, he abruptly leaves the bed and stands at the window, to, uh, de-arouse himself). A better example is ''Royal Seduction'' which can only be characterized as a guilty pleasure--no matter how witty and poetic Prince Rolfe is, no matter how noble his quest to find his brother's murderer, no matter how devastatingly good-looking he is, there is no getting around the fact that he ''explicitly'' rapes Angeline! And does so repeatedly in the days to follow. Other Blake examples include ''Golden Fancy'' (Ward at least apologizes to Serena immediately afterward) and ''Embrace and Conquer'' (Morgan rapes Felicite after believing her to have conspired with her half-brother to ambush him). And as for other authors, Rosemary Rogers is ''notorious'' for this; her books in the '70s frequently have heroines who ask (half-fearfully/half-coquettishly) "Are you going to rape me?" ''Love Play'', ''Sweet Savage Love''... The worst example is ''The Insiders'', a portrayal of '70s decadence at its worst -- Eve ends up marrying Brant, the gajillionaire who earlier had orchestrated her gang rape. Eve is also the victim of date-rape in anal form. Both Blake and Rogers are terrific writers whose books are certainly products of their times...

* [[Ayn Rand]] is rather notorious for ([[Useful Notes Objectivism|amongst other things]]) her very "bodice-ripper" style sex scenes. In ''[[The Fountainhead]]'', the first sex scene between Roark and Dominique Francon is arguably an instance of this trope being played straight (although a legitimate, if not necessarily correct, case can be made for the sex being dubiously or implicitly consensual given the rather obvious flirting between Roark and Dominique that occurred beforehand). Certainly to a [[Values Dissonance|modern reader that considers the no-means-yes-coy courtship game to be ridiculous]], the scene can plausibly be read as [[Victim Falls For Rapist]]. In ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'' on the other hand, this trope is averted, because although the sex scenes are clearly on the rough and violent side, they are all explicitly consensual. Arguably this is a subversion since most modern readers ''expect'' an Ayn Rand sex scene to be a [[Victim Falls For Rapist]] scenario.

* Subverted in the French science fiction juggernaut (11.500+ pages without counting the sequel and spinoffs) ''La Compagnie des Glaces'' (''The Ice Company''): The "Rail Pirate" Kurts and his crew rape the powerful [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Corrupt Corporate]] [[European Union|European]] [[Femme Fatale]] Floa Sadon, who acts as if she was enjoying it. The subversion comes from the fact that Kurts then falls in love with Floa, but she starts to love him only once their relationship becomes consensual and she has him wrapped around her little finger. Well, since they both are [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastards]], maybe they were meant to be together...

* The entire ''plot'' of the ''[[Anita Blake]]'' series seems to revolve around this. The ''ardeur'' forces her, previously a [[Chaste Hero]] to have sex with people -- nonconsensual on ''both'' sides more frequently than not -- and afterwards usually they're somehow in love and fanatically loyal to her. Not helped by the fact that in later books (when the ''ardeur'' is introduced) she's a [[Canon Sue]]. Not to mention in the first appearance of the ''ardeur'', Micah finds Anita in the shower and, despite Anita repeatedly saying NO, has sex with her. From that point on apparently he's the most perfect giving forgiving partner ever, and they love each other.

** The late 70's/early 80's spawned a new genre of historical romance novels which became known as 'bodice rippers'. Invariably, this was the entire plot of all of them. Our hapless heroine was raped by the hero--sometimes as the result of a 'misunderstanding' (he mistakenly thought she was a prostitute was a common excuse) but enjoyed the experience so much that she eventually fell in love with him and they rode happily into the sunset by the end of the book.

** Subverted and toyed with to the breaking point by Spike's later relationship with Buffy. Both inflict rape-like behavior on one another until Spike ''actually'' tries to rape Buffy in her house--at which point, both realize that, even for them, lines have been crossed. (They still love one another, though. Maybe. He has a soul now, so it blurs things a little)

*** Subverted years later when the show FINALLY dealt with the issue by having their teen-aged son Lucky find about the incident. Lucky was furious and disgusted with BOTH parents--calling his father a monster and coldly insinuating to his own mother that she had sick sexual fetishes. (It didn't help that one of his best friends had recently been raped, in a storyline that had shown the trauma in a realistic manner.) His separate confrontations with both parents was an acting tour-de-force for the young actor, Jonathan Jackson. (This being a soap opera, the subversion might itself have been subverted many times over since then--this trouper stopped watching shortly afterward.)

** Frequently seen as the motive behind many of soaps [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)]] storylines--the woman is often desperately in love with the man whom she gets into bed via drugs and/or alcohol and hopes that the sex or resulting pregnancy will make him reciprocate the feelings.

* "Gimme The Night" by eurobeat alias Dave McCloud sounds like [[Crowning Music of Awesome]] at first, but listen to the lyrics closely and you get creepy lines like "[[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Like a nice empty shell]] / Such a beautiful girl" and "[[Victim Falls For Rapist|You're my beautiful toy]]".

* The original version of Eve Ensler's ''The Vagina Monologues'' features an ''extremely'' controversial section about a teenage girl who is given massive amounts of booze by an adult woman, who then takes advantage of her while she's drunk. The character in question finds herself ''enjoying'' the experience, and closes the monologue with the line, "If it was rape, it was a ''good'' rape." Later versions of the script attempt to rectify it by making the girl sixteen and removing the good rape line... but still portraying a [[Victim Falls For Rapist]] scenario.

* Not quite rape, but sexual harassment--If you allow Ocelot to grab Snake from behind during the final battle in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'', Ocelot {{spoiler|moans 'Snake...' and gives him a tender kiss.}} ''It restores Snake's Psyche''. Considering Snake's [[Love Hurts|weird romantic issues]], this makes sense.

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]