Rape fantasies :: essays research papers

Written in 1977, "Rape Fantasies" appears to be a recap of a communion among several women during their lunch hour, a few of them playing bridge, one--Chrissy the receptionist--reading aloud from a tabloid. When Chrissy asks the question, "How about it, girls, do you have rape fantasies?" the story unfolds with separately womans response, all retold from the location of Estelle, whos doing her best to deflect the entire conversation by concentrating on her bidding.The conversation is tragically ironic, moving from woman to woman, Darlene calling the entire subject "disgusting," Greta describing a Tarzan-like scenario, Chrissy describing hers in a bubble bath, when Estelle, ever the voice of reason, reminds them that what theyre describing are sexual fantasies "Listen . . . those arent rape fantasies. I mean, you arent getting raped, its clean some guy you havent met formally who happens to be more attractive than Derek Cummins . . . and you have a goo d time. Rape is when theyve got a knife or something and you dont want to" (104.)Estelle then describes her rape fantasy where she deflects her attacker by squirting juice from a plastic lemon in his eyes ("You should hear the one about the Easy Off Cleaner"), but in like manner includes the one where "this short, ugly fellow comes up and grabs my arm . . . and I say, kind of disgusted, Oh for Chrissake, and he starts to cry," which prompts a wave of sympathy in Estelle (106). And there are more, each with Estelle warding off her attacker through outsmarting him ("Ive just found out I have leukemia"), or talking him out of it.As the narrative continues, the reader becomes cognizant that Estelle is addressing someone in addition to the reader--"I hope you dont mind me holding my nose like this . . ." (107) and that person is probably a man (twice Estelle says, "But I guess its different for a guy"). As the story ends, we realize that Estel le all a abundant has been in a bar, speaking to a man she has just met, worrying about the possibility she will be raped by him. "Like, how could a fellow do that to a person hes just had a long conversation with, once you let them know youre human, you have a life too, I dont see how they could go ahead with it, right?