Conky - Exactly what I was driving at; I apologize if I wasn't clear. The point is, while the rape in the Accused is the catalyst that drives the story, it's not just something that occurs offscreen. The rape scene itself is meant to have dramatic tension, is meant to elicit *something* from us as viewers. Clearly not *pleasure*, of course, not in a sexual sense, but there IS a kind of "pleasure" or "enjoyment" from watching a well acted, dramatic scene, isn't there? There is certainly a context in which the question, "Did you think the rape scene from the Accused was good?" is neither offensive nor surprising. I think it WAS a good scene, in as much as the acting and the direction were dead on. Scenes in movies that are difficult to watch for reasons of the content they portray are often impossible not to watch for the way in which it is portrayed. It's possible to have an intellectual, even an aesthetic, appreciation for a scene that depicts a horrible act.

But it appears to cross a line when we allow ourselves a more visceral enjoyment of it. Is it because rape is sexually charged to begin with? I know the line for a long time has been that rape is a power thing, not a sex thing, but there's a lot of dissenting scholarship out there that points out there's a lot of ways to establish dominance over a victim and that while rape may be ALSO about power, it cannot be accurately understood unless viewed as a sexual act as well. So maybe the *sexual* enjoyment of a rape scene is objectionable because it's the *sexual* nature of the act that is itself so disturbing. I mean, forcing someone to the ground and preventing them from moving or escaping is a crime, but a much, much lesser one than rape. The addition of the sexual element defines the crime. Is the idea that only a rapist - or potential rapist - could find rape arousing?

If that's the objection, I think it's clearly wrong. Lots of people - male and female - have rape fantasies and extremely few of them actually ever rape anyone. Other than that, I'm not sure what the exact objection is to taking pleasure in fantasy rape scenes.