Sexy rape: What Ayn Rand, Michael Winterbottom, and Ang Lee have in common

Atlas Shrugged is at long last being made into a movie, on the cheap and with a largely unknown cast.  As someone who was a big fan of, shall we say, large portions of the book (there are certain parts I think strongly reflect arrogance on Rand's part, and reflect a morality I'm uncomfortable with) in my teen years, I can't help being disappointed that an adaptation once rumored to be starring Angelina Jolie is being set up for mediocrity.  Any fan of Rand knows that mediocrity is the ultimate sin.

But what is the ultimate virtue in her world?  I would say "excellence," but Amanda Hess points out that it's an excellence tinged with an ugly sort of male dominance, one that translated into both Rand's personal life and her works of fiction.  Two pivotal scenes in Ayn Rand's most famous works of fiction revolve around the "sexy rape" of the lead female characters.  In The Fountainhead, it's Howard Roarke's rape of Dominique, with whom the sexual chemistry is so sizzling, he needs to break into her home and take her by force.  From Amanda Hess's transcription:

She tried to tear herself away from him. The effort broke against his arms that had not felt it. Her fists beat against his shoulders, against his face. He moved one hand, took her two wrists and pinned them behind her, under his arm, wrenching her shoulder blades.…She fell back against the dressing table, she stood crouching, her hands clasping the edge behind her, her eyes wide, colorless, shapeless in terror. He was laughing. There was the movement of laughter on his face, but no sound.…Then he approached. He lifted her without effort. She let her teeth sink into his hand and felt blood on the tip of her tongue. He pulled her head back and he forced her mouth open against his.

Of this scene, Rand has said "if it was rape, it was rape by engraved invitation," presumably because Dominique had flirted with Roarke beforehand.  A lot.  Rand also wrote in her letters,

But the fact is that Roark did not actually rape Dominique; she had asked for it, and he knew that she wanted it. A man who would force himself on a woman against her wishes would be committing a dreadful crime. What Dominique liked about Roark was the fact that he took the responsibility for their romance and for his own actions. Most men nowadays, like Peter Keating, expect to seduce a woman, or rather they let her seduce them and thus shift the responsibility to her. That is what a truly feminine woman would despise. The lesson in the Roark-Dominique romance is one of spiritual strength and self-confidence, not of physical violence.

In Rand's view, not raping a woman is apparently what hurts her, by shifting responsibility for seduction to her.  This. Is. Terrible.  And I say that as someone who, again, has enjoyed Ayn Rand's books and really really wishes her views on gender and sexuality were any measure less messed up than they are.

In Atlas Shrugged,  Dagny and John Galt finally consummate their unspoken affection (which exists because she is the smartest, most capable woman around and he is the smartest, most capable man--except for Francisco D'Anconia, who always seemed pretty awesome to me, but somehow didn't deserve her) when he tracks her down in a train tunnel, sneaking up on her from behind.  As a teenager, I didn't know how to read this scene.  Now I see it as rape, pure and simple.

The problem with Ayn Rand's philosophy is that she admires strong and powerful (and of course beautiful women), but admires more when they are crushed by a man of the same characteristics.  This is what she means by "femininity": submission to domination and violence.  From Amanda Hess and Sady Doyle's Sexist Beatdown on the subject:

SADY: This was always my favorite part of Ayn Rand: There’s always ONE WOMAN who is, like, super-smart and super-competent and super-skilled at all this industry stuff that everyone else sucks at because they’re socialists. (Also, this woman is always thin and “angular.” “Angular” is the key defining visual attribute of Virtue, in the Rand lexicography.) She is, explicitly, better at this than every man in the entire world. EXCEPT FOR HER BOYFRIEND! He chooses her to smack around or rape or whatever (AND SHE LOVES IT) because that is how very superior she is. Like, I’d really rather NOT be superior if it means getting slapped all the time?
...AMANDA: Ayn Rand loves gender equality, to a point—the point where she personally thinks it’s really not sexy, at which point the greatest man in the world rapes the greatest woman in the world, who he knows will just love it. Because that’s how great she is. Are inferior beings allowed to rape people in Ayn Rand novels? Or is middle-class intimate partner violence not as glamorous?

Make no mistake, the idea that powerful women want nothing more than to be put in their place by an equally powerful man is dangerous.  And the people who defend it are rape apologists.

But also make no mistake that this mindset died with Ayn Rand.  Artists who examine the nature of sex for some reason cherish the idea of women secretly loving sexual violence against them.  And the viewers who watch these scenes far too often approach them uncritically, accepting the confirmation of their preferred status quo of male domination and female submission.  [Note: What I am talking about is completely different than voluntary, agreed upon BDSM.  All of the examples I am citing are ones where the woman offered no consent before the sex act.]

In the recently released film The Killer Inside Me, directed by Michael Winterbottom, the main character beats a woman after she slaps him, then carries her into the bedroom and rapes her, which (I gather, haven't seen it and won't) she suddenly begins to enjoy.  He later kills her.  Male reviewers were momentarily bothered by this scene, but notes that overall it paints a picture of the character as a sadistic murderer, and so its depiction of violence are warranted.  Is it ever warranted to promote the idea that a woman wants to be raped, though?

For a more nuanced portrayal, take Ang Lee's film Lust, Caution.  In it, a Chinese revolutionary spies on a Japanese collaborator during the WWII occupation of China, intending to lead assassins to him.  She plans to seduce him.  But, when they meet for their first sexual encounter, he brutally rapes her.  She is in a strange position, because she must maintain the relationship and her cover or risk her life.  So after this experience, she continues to have a sexual relationship with him, that is by turns tender and sadistic.  In the end, she grows to have deep feelings for him, that she potentially mistakes for love.  However, what I saw portrayed on screen was more a depiction of Stockholm syndrome than one of love.  Forced to act as though she enjoyed the company of someone who was abusive of her, the main character adjusted to this reality to such an extent that she couldn't envision herself without it.  Unfortunately, male reviewers saw this as a simple case of "He raped her, and she liked it." (ETA: Ang's eroticization of the relationship is still troubling, but the portrayal is definitely one of him as abuser her her as victim with torn loyalties)

Is it realistic that a woman who has experienced psychological harm might think that she deserves sexual violence?  Might believe that she enjoys it?  Might not fight back against her attacker?  Might protect him?  Yes.  All of these things are realistic.

But it's not romantic.  It's tragic.

And if I ever had lunch with Dominique or Dagny, I'd tell them so.  And then I'd call the police.