ABSTRACT
Date rape is nonaggravated sexual assault, nonconsensual sex that does not involve physical injury, or the explicit threat of physical injury. The paradoxical feelings of the woman in our example indicate her awareness that what she feels about the incident stands in contradiction to the prevailing cultural assessment of it. She knows that she did not want to have sex with her date. She is not so sure, however, about how much her own desires count, and she is uncertain that she has made her desires clear Her uncertainty is reinforced by the cultural reading of this incident as an ordinary seduction. The position of the courts is supported by the widespread belief that male aggression and female reluctance are normal parts of seduction. Given their acceptance of this model, logic of their response must be respected. Attempts to explain that women have right to behave in sexually provocative ways without suffering dire consequences still meet with surprisingly tough resistance.
