The notion that women who fantasise about forced sex subliminally means they "want it" was a way of controling female fantasy. Feminism (and rightly so) argued a link between the fantasy of force as a woman's compliance in the mysoganistic theory that all women want it, but you need to force them, and in some ways, and for some people, this is true. Just as we fantasise about incest, or beastiality, or BDSM or religious figures, the anti-sociatal message will heavily influence all sexual desire.
However, what the mysoganistic theory of force really did, was refuse women the right to fantasise. By linking paractise and fantasy, a mysoganistic society could convince a woman that NOT fantqasising about rape and force was a way of controlling it. The logical progression is, if rape fantasy gives men permission to rape, not fantasising will remove that permission.
Feminism was (and continues to be) right, however the focus to control rape should be on rapists and not fantasisers, even in the redcesses of our minds. There is no question that there are females that comply with mysogany, but control over rape should not start with what happens when a female is masturbating or exploring sex intimately with her partner. In fact at this point in the on going debate, it would be better to allow these fantasies, bring them into the light, and debate the rights of women to dream what they like without having to think of managing male desire. Just as we did with other mythologies about female control over when, where, how and by whom she is raped.
Continued in Part Two tomorrow.
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