History PlayingWith / RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil

** To avoid rape charge, the rapist murders the victim and mutilate the body beyond recognition so no one can prove the victim was raped. Going as far as burning the crime scene and killing people who might have heard the victim's scream. The rapist is already irredeemably evil by this trope so why holdback?

** To avoid rape charge, the rapist murders the victim and mutilate the body beyond recognition so no one can prove the victim was raped. Going as far as burning the crime scene and killing people who might have heard the victim's scream. The rapist is already irredeemably evil by this trope so why holding back?

* '''Downplayed''': The punishment for murder is 20 years in prison, and the punishment for raping someone is 21 years in prison.

* '''Exploited''': A villain looking to make the hero with a ThouShaltNotKill rule defy his principles and knowing that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, allows his mooks or his PsychoForHire to rape his LoveInterest or child in the hopes that this will drive the hero into a murderous rage.

** Murder can happen for any number of reasons, and are often known to happen in the heat of the moment. This is why modern judicial practice makes note for what are called "crimes of passion". While ending the life of another human being is recognized as a horrible act, raping someone is considered to be a more depraved and violating crime than "just" murdering them.

* '''Justified''': Several people consider rape to be a FateWorseThanDeath, so the punishment is greater than the one for murder.

%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???

** While fighting DepravedBisexual Bob, Alice is defeated. She asks Bob, "Are you going to rape me now?" The response Bob gives her is, "You wish," to show that Alice is in ''deep'' trouble.

** The mere ''inclusion'' of the word causes moral outrage, which causes everyone to use the word to receive blind support for whatever they're trying to achieve- Which eventually results in historians and linguists being confused as to the exact origin of the word.

* '''Exploited''': A DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain looking to make the hero with a ThouShaltNotKill rule defy his principles and knowing that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, allows his mooks or his PsychoForHire to rape his LoveInterest or child in the hopes that this will drive the hero into a murderous rage.
* '''Defied''': The hero, despite being devastated and hating the DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain with every fiber of his being, realizes what the villain was attempting and maintains his ThouShaltNotKill rule by restraining himself and carting the [[WrongGenreSavvy flabbergasted]] [[SmugSnake villain]] off to jail. [[KarmicDeath The villain is still given the death penalty, but this way the hero can see the villain dead without dirtying his hands]]. He then thanks ThePowersThatBe that, even though the event was traumatic and will take a long time to help them through it, his LoveInterest and/or child are still alive.

** A DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain looking to make a hero with a ThouShaltNotKill rule defy his principles, and knowing that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, specifically sets out to kidnap and rape the hero's LoveInterest (or, [[MoralEventHorizon even worse]], [[PapaWolf his]] [[WouldHurtAChild child]]) in the hopes that this will drive the hero into a murderous rage.

* '''Defied''': The hero, despite being devastated and hating the DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain with every fiber of his being, realizes what the villain was attempting and maintains his ThouShaltNotKill rule by restraining himself and carting the [[WrongGenreSavvy flabbergasted]] [[SmugSnake villain]] off to jail. He then thanks ThePowersThatBe that, even though the event was traumatic and will take a long time to help them through it, his LoveInterest and/or child are still alive.

* '''Exaggerated''': Emperor Evulz has [[EarthShatteringKaboom blown up several galaxies]] and inflicted AndIMustScream on an entire planet's population, but the time he raped a woman is considered the worst crime he has ever done.

** Bob is only good because he repented. Other rapists who never felt any guilt are viewed as scum of the earth.

** Emperor Evulz is an AllLovingHero, who has cured cancer and established world peace. The second people learn he raped someone, [[YouMonster he is considered a monster]] by the world.

** '''Subverted''':

* Emperor Evulz mocks the idea rape is super-evil, instead considering it a tool ''lesser'' evil minds resort to.

* '''Played For Laughs''': The mere inclusion of the word "rape" causes moral outrage, eventually leading it to be so overused people become confused as to ''why'' the word first appeared.

* '''Subverted''':

* Yet, knowing how it offends Alice, [[VillainousBreakdown Evulz]] incorporates rape in his plan to torture her.

* '''Exaggerated''':
** Emperor Evulz has [[EarthShatteringKaboom blown up several galaxies]] and inflicted AndIMustScream on an entire planet's population, but the time he raped a woman is considered the worst crime he has ever done.
** Emperor Evulz has killed a few innocent civilians, but the time he slept with a woman drunk off her ass, he's considered to have crossed the MoralEventHorizon.
** Emperor Evulz has tortured and killed some innocents, but the time he slept with Alice, a sex slave that Evulz believed was a willing prostitute, is considered his MoralEventHorizon.

** While fighting DepravedBisexual Bob, Alice is defeated. She asks Bob: ''"Are you going to rape me now?"'' The response Bob gives her is, '''"You wish"''', to show that Alice is in ''deep'' trouble.

* '''Zig Zagged''': Emperor Evulz rapes a captive woman and that event is what cements his reputation as a monster, but due to BlueAndOrangeMorality, Emperor Evulz and his Empire genuinely think it's a heroic act and celebrate the rape, but the victim doesn't feel that way and tells Emperor Evulz so, at which point Emperor Evulz wonders if it is evil, but then shrugs and [[CrossingTheLineTwice continues to rape her]] because EvilFeelsGood until she starts [[BreakTheCutie to accept it as normal and not "special" at all....]]

** The writer feels that this trope is a bit overdone, and seeks to subvert it by having a character commit a rape and then be portrayed as sympathetic later. However, his editor believes that this will cause a backlash from readers and MoralGuardians everywhere, and thus "[[ExecutiveMeddling strongly encourages]]" the writer to change the story so that the rapist dies a painful death.
** The author or a friend/family member of his/hers is a rape victim

** Two random mooks are preparing to violently rape a woman in an alley. One looks at the other and says "Isn't it weird how, even though the psychopath we're working for is going to blow up the earth, we're still seen as more monstrous because of stuff like this?" His friend agrees, just in time for the hero to swoop in and [[CruelAndUnusualDeath violently execute them]].

* '''Discussed''': "Hmmm... I'm bored with [[KickTheDog kicking puppies]]. How about we go the next level and rape?"
* '''Conversed''': "Wow... That kind of evil is above and beyond!"

** Because rape is considered so much worse than everything else, anyone in the setting who is merely ''accused'' of rape is immediately jailed without trial (or at least any man, if [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale Double]] [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale Standards]] apply in this setting), the justification being that it doesn't matter how many innocents are locked up along the way as long as the rapists eventually get locked up too. Anyone who thinks that rape cases should be investigated like any other crime, and that the accused should be considered innocent until proven guilty, is viewed as being just as morally abhorrent as a rapist and jailed right along with them. [[PrisonRape Hopefully they are lucky enough to get the innocent people as cellmates]]. Bonus Irony if the wardens observe PrisonRape happening all the time with the captives, but do nothing about it and show no empathy whatsoever, deeming all inmates "[[CompleteMonster Complete Monsters]]".

* '''Reconstructed''': People become more reasonable and, even though rape is still a revolting crime, it's not placed higher on the evilness scale than crimes that are just as bad or worse.

** Bob raped someone in his backstory, but he feels deeply remorseful over it. He turns himself in, and when he gets out he speeds the rest of his life repenting. In other words, deity being a rapist, Bob didn't cross the MoralEventHorizon.

** Because rape is considered so much worse than everything else, anyone in the setting who is merely ''accused'' of rape is immediately jailed without trial (or at least any man, if DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale still applies in this setting), the justification being that it doesn't matter how many innocents are locked up along the way as long as the rapists eventually get locked up too. Anyone who thinks that rape cases should be investigated like any other crime, and that the accused should be considered innocent until proven guilty, is viewed as being just as morally abhorrent as a rapist and jailed right along with them. [[PrisonRape Hopefully they are lucky enough to get the innocent people as cellmates]].

* '''Deconstructed''': Because rape is considered worse than anything else, only rape is eventually considered a crime in the setting. Which means that killing people, ColdBloodedTorture, genocide, killing children, starving people to death etc. is considered perfectly acceptable as long as there's no rape involved.

** Bob raped someone in his backstory, but he feels deeply remorseful over it. He turns himself in, and when he gets out he speeds the rest of his life repenting. In other words, deity being a rapist, Bob didn't cross the MoralEventHorizen.

* '''Invoked''': A DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain looking to make a hero with a ThouShaltNotKill rule defy his principles, and knowing that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, specifically sets out to kidnap and rape the hero's LoveInterest (or, [[MoralEventHorizon even worse]], [[PapaWolf his]] [[WouldHurtAChild child]]) in the hopes that this will drive the hero into a murderous rage.

* '''Subverted''': Rape is so common, it's not really considered "special".
* '''Double Subverted''': Just because it happens often, doesn't make it any less evil.

* '''Parodied''': The Super Hero team is trying to stop Doctor Destructo's [[WaveMotionGun Planet Exploder Ray]], but stop in order to arrest a rapist instead.

** Emperor Evulz has killed a few innocent civilians, but the time he slept with a woman drunk off her ass (thus making it dubiously consensual), he's considered to have crossed the MoralEventHorizon.

** Emperor Evulz is an AllLovingHero, who has cured cancer and established world peace. The second people learn he raped someone, he is considered a CompleteMonster by the world.