General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]Moostache
(9,895 posts)Rape is a violent act of theft. Contrary to your assertion, sex IS STOLEN in rape, it certainly is NOT given...
It involves sex to give it a distinction from murder or theft of property, but at its core it is theft of a woman's (or man's) agency. It objectifies the victim in service of the desires of the aggressor. It forces one to act or receive actions in opposition to their will, desire or consent.
Not all rape is the same either. Some is violently coercive (physical attack and aggressive infliction) and some is power being used as a threat to force compliance (a gun to the head, a threat to hurt others, etc.) others may simply be mental coercion (powerful people utilizing that power to force others to abandon their will and succumb to the will of the aggressor).
The sex act itself is not consistent either. Some rape would not even involve the act of intercourse - physically forced or emotionally forced.
Additionally, the lack of sex is not a condition that leads to rape...MANY millions of people are NOT having sex on an hourly basis, many of them in the prime years of reproductive health, complete with raging hormones and imbalances. Sex is an act, but it is also a pleasurable release of endorphins and excitation of highly compressed nerve endings. Sex is pleasurable and primal because of its necessity to propagate the species and spread one's genes into future generations.
Frustration, humiliation, self-loathing, misplaced angst in substitution for personal pain....all of those things can be a reason for sex to have additional emotional meaning above the biological urges. Mental health, mastery of one's impulses, empathy and social conditioning to recognize right from wrong all should play a regulating role in the behavior of a rationale, mature human adult. Rape eschews all of them in the name of forcing one's desire onto another in a show of dominance or aggression or control. It is the ugliest form of abuse short of taking a life, but is is NOT about sexual desire except in a tangential manner.