Posted by RubyTuesday at 165.134.150.27 on January 15, 2003 at 10:37:51:
In Reply to: Let's not speculate...oh nevermind, let's DO! posted by Isis on January 15, 2003 at 08:59:05:
Well, really, I don't have any idea what your years are. But you are as wise as my great grandmother, and I'm pretty sure you're not as old as she is. Wait, . . . Gram?
: This is going to be mad controversial.
: I think it's akin to the "rape fantasy" phenomenon noted among females back in the earlier parts of last century. Psychiatrists saw that many women harbored fantasies of being raped, which were also reflected in the popular culture, books, movies, etc. (think Scarlett being "overcome" by Rhett). This was even more pronounced in the Victorian era.
: The theory at the time was that women felt guilty for having sexual feelings and impulses, and that a rape fantasy freed them from having any responsibility over their own sexual actions.
: I think the fascination with male rape today is much similar. Male homosexuality is one of the biggest sexual taboos (outside of S&M and transgenderism, and those are small enough groups to be overlooked by the mainstream) left to us today. My PERSONAL OPINION -- by no means is this fact -- is that all humans are to some extent bisexual. Even if a person never actually experiences any sexual activity with a person of the same sex, everyone has at least IMAGINED such a thing happening.
: Men in the western world are forced to totally repress any homosexual, or even vaguely feminine, impulses that they may have. It's looser for women -- they can admire other women's looks, or be affectionate with other women without repercussion, and even lesbians are more acceptable than gay men (why this is, is a whole nother story).
: As we can see from the Victorian age, or even from the modern priest/molestation scandal, when you repress a healthy expression of sexuality, it comes out in unhealthy ways.
: Thus, the fascination with male rape. It's often mocked and made into a joke, but the fascination is there -- and I define fascination as a combination of fear and curiosity. I don't know a single woman who watches OZ or would count DELIVERANCE among their favorite movies. And though women are much more likely to be raped, it's men who fear it much more. It's men who are somehow intrigued.
: My personal feeling is that if men were allowed to express themselves more freely, hug and kiss other men (even if they're straight), you wouldn't see so much of this stuff popping up in the media.
: This doesn't mean every man who fears rape has homosexual tendencies; it just means that, like energy in physics, nothing ever really disappears in our culture. If you repress something, it takes a different form.