Rape is about controlling another person. It doesn't have to be overtly violent either. Ava had Kayla locked up somewhere and ordered Steve to bone her. EJ also did the same thing, refusing to permit Sami to save Lucas unless she boned him.
Neither victim was slapped, IIRC, but there was absolutely the threat of violence and death if Ava and EJ weren't obeyed.
And then there's Eric getting drugged and raped. Kristen and EJ laughed it off because he was "uptight" so obviously, getting laid was a gift to him. But that was rape.
Kristen pretending to be Nicole and boning Brady was also rape, purely because she misrepresented who she was and Brady couldn't make an informed decision. Had he consented to masked sex with someone, that'd be different. He thought it was really Nicole.
Susan also raped John by pretending to be Kristen and boning him. He never called it rape...but that's what it was.
There are a lot of problems with how rape is portrayed on this show...but it is especially disappointing how on TV and in real life men are thought of as being incapable of being victimized because their often involuntary physical reaction to stimulation is mistaken for consent.
Bottom line - guys organs can get hard even if they're not into the sexual encounter. Being hard doesn't mean you aren't getting raped.
I too once thought rape = violence....but that's not true. A rapist doesn't have to yell or leave bruises or hold a gun on you to be raping you. Young people are raped by adults who are being gentle...but are knowingly manipulating a child. That's why so many survivors of childhood abuse grow up confused and thinking they were complicit because "it felt good" or "he didn't hurt me".
Putting it simply, if the other person cannot consent, its wrong. Rape is about forcing yourself on someone. Whether the other person screams or cries is irrelevant.
To bring it back to soaps, Jake on Another World raped Marley...because he wanted to "show her how much he loved her". She was leaving him, their marriage was over. He couldn't accept that. He didn't punch her...he just didn't get that his desperate attempt to use sex as a solution was rape. I don't recall all the fine details (I watched the clip on YT only once), but I remember him expressing his determination to "show her his love", ignoring her feelings entirely.
She wept and said "no", making it a more clear cut case of rape, as we've been conditioned to view it, but my point is that Jake wasn't setting out to punish her. He wasn't thinking of violence. That wasn't his aim. He just wanted her not to leave him. He was trying to physically convince her. But it still was rape.
Sadly, a lot of people end up in situations where they are doing something wrong or having something wrong done to them, but because it doesn't present in a violent way, aren't able to see it for what it is: an assault.
We really need to change that dynamic. Establishing consent is so important. I'm glad you voiced your opinion on this MSTREE and hope this is some food for thought.
Just because it isn't aggressive doesn't mean it isn't rape. Just because someone doesn't scream out "Nooo!" doesn't mean it isn't rape. Just because the nerve endings responded with feelings of physical pleasure doesn't mean it wasn't rape.
And especially on soaps...just because the victim and their attacker end up getting into a relationship or getting married doesn't mean it wasn't rape.
Sigh.