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Date Rape Averted

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George: Hey, you! Get your damn hands off... Ohh...
Biff: I think you got the wrong car, McFly.
Lorraine: [gasping, near tears] George! Help me, please—!
Biff: Just turn around, McFly, and walk away... Are you deaf, McFly? Close the door and beat it.
George: No, Biff. You leave her alone.

A teenage girl is on a date with a guy (maybe even her boyfriend). They are sitting in his car, often at a Make-Out Point, and he's trying to put the moves on her or get into her pants, but she doesn't want it. ("No! No, stop that, I mean it!") This trope comes into play when it is somehow prevented from becoming full-on Date Rape.

Sometimes he stops in time, but sometimes she slaps him and/or leaves the car or wants to be brought home immediately. This can also be a situation in which her father or some other guy comes into play and rescues her (by pulling the boy out of the car and/or beating the living crap out of him). If it's not her father but "some other guy", then she will probably fall in love with him if there isn't already a hefty dose of UST between them.

If it is her father, he sometimes is a Boyfriend-Blocking Dad and the girl is mad at him for being exactly that, telling him that she could have handled the situation.

If the victim immediately wants to engage in romance or sex once the date rape is averted without any residual angst, they Got Over Rape Instantly.

Sometimes it's not her father or some other guy who saves her, but a killer or other Monster of the Week. In the best-case scenario, they will hold that Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil, kill the boy, and then leave the girl alone, in which case it's a form of the Villainous Rescue. It's commonly subverted, however, when he kills the boy (whether it's due to having standards or just seeing a potential victim), then, when she goes to thank him, kills her too. In really bad cases, he'll kill the boy, then rape her himself.

Rarely, the savior is none of the above and is instead the would-be victim's best friend, Alice, swooping in to save the day with the power of friendship.

See also Near-Rape Experience, Attempted Rape.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • During the cat-demon attack on Turlock in Creature Tech, one of the demonized cats interrupts a teenage boy getting aggressive with his unwilling girlfriend. The boy decides to run for it, and succeeds only in getting the monster's attention. The girl apparently survives.
  • In Preacher, Tulip and her friend Amy attend a party at a frat house. Amy is drugged by several frat boys, who begin to assault her, but she's saved in the nick of time when Tulip drives a truck through the wall and fires several warning shots with her shotgun at the would-be rapists.
  • In Robin (1993), Tim's first girlfriend Ariana goes to a movie with three classmates and learns the boy who invited her along considered it a double date when he pulls over the car instead of taking her home. When he insists that he "knows she was coming on to him" and tries to force himself on her, she slams a six-pack from the back seat in his face and flees the car in a panic.
  • In Suburban Glamour, Astrid and her two best friends are invited to a party where a classmate of theirs offers her a beer. Turns out he spikes girls' drinks with speed in order to hook up with them. Luckily for Astrid, her friends recognize that she's been drugged and take her home before the classmate can act.

    Fan Fiction 
  • NGE: Nobody Dies. When Asuka's blind date drugs her, Shinji, Hikari, and Gendo stop by their table as the date tries to run off with her. Gendo promptly delivers the page quote to the would-be rapist: her "security detail" is every other patron at the restaurant, all of them disguised Section 2 agents. Then they hand the perp off to Rei.

    Film 
  • Back to the Future has a Double Subversion. Marty tries to stage this so that his father from the past, George McFly, can "rescue" Lorraine, Marty's mother from the past, but the plan is subverted when Lorraine is doing the advances. But when Biff takes over and tries to rape her for real, that's when George delivers the badass quote, "Hey, you, get your damn hands off her!", which was originally meant as part of the play, and then punches Biff out in a Moment of Awesome when he doesn't listen.
  • Happens in Live Free or Die Hard, with John McClane as the Boyfriend-Blocking Dad and Lucy McClane complaining about him observing her and barging into her business. And Lucy's actions later in the movie cast doubt on whether or not the boy would be able to date rape her without getting his ass handed to him by his would-be victim.
  • In the movie Eight Legged Freaks, the girl in question zaps the guy with a stun gun that her mother gave to her in case this happened — doubling as a Groin Attack. Suprisingly, while the movie certainly depicts the guy as wrong and the girl as right, it views his actions as more being due to a moment of teenage hormone-driven boneheadedness rather than those of an evil rapist. The guy and the girl eventually reunite without any problems at the end.
  • American Graffiti had an interesting variation. A 14-year-old girl somehow became a tag-along passenger to an 18-year-old graduate. She annoyed the hell out of him, but he didn't want to kick her out on the street at midnight, and she refused to tell him where she lived so he could take her home. To finally get her to tell him her address, he told her that he had "fallen in love" with her and started to move closer to her. She was so freaked out that she gave him directions.
  • In The Blob (1988), the girl in question doesn't have a choice, because the boy got her drunk first. But there's beautiful poetic justice because when the slimy boy goes to get his hands in her bra, he finds only the Blob, which had gotten into and consumed most of her insides already, leaving it gelatinously filling her empty flesh sack. Eww. However, though the would-be-rapist gets a nice comeuppance, the girl is still just as dead.
  • This one turned really ugly in Disturbing Behavior.
  • Happens in Face/Off. Castor Troy (while disguised as Sean Archer) watches his rival's daughter getting molested by her date in his car. Castor then kicks the boy through the closed window and drags him out, punching him a couple more times before running him off. Afterwards, he presents a knife to Jamie, demonstrating how to open it, telling her to ram it into the thigh of the next guy who tries something like that, and to twist. You can guess who gets the knife in the thigh at the end: Castor himself.
  • Happens in City of the Living Dead. The teens are surprised by a psychokinetic zombie priest who gets the girl to bleed from the eyes and vomit her entrails and rips a large amount of the boy´s brain out from the back of his skull.
  • In Beethoven's 2nd, Ryce appears to be in for something she doesn't want at the hands of her boyfriend, who's been knocking back a few underage drinks until the Great Big Dog turns up opportunely.
  • Uncle Buck. The Drill. Mistaken identity aside; the other girl didn't seem all that willing anyway.
  • In The Craft, Chris, who was under the influence of a love spell that Sarah had cast on him to make him want her, tries to date rape her. She manages to escape.
  • In The Big Hit, Melvin's way of kidnapping Keiko is replacing the limo driver who is supposed to take Keiko and her boyfriend home. Said boyfriend uses the limo ride in an attempt to rape her. Melvin immediately ends said boyfriend's life with a bullet.
  • Played for laughs in the film version of Grease, where Danny tries to put the moves on Sandy in a drive-in theater. Sandy gets away from him, and accidentally slams a car door into his hard-on in the process.
  • In Stoker, India goes into the woods with her classmate Whip, and makes out with him for a bit, but then changes her mind and tries to leave. He gets violent in response and prepares to take off his belt to rape her... not noticing India's uncle approaching him from behind. India's uncle takes off his own belt, and uses it to strangle Whip to death. While India's grateful for her rescue, the whole thing has an incredibly creepy undertone when you realize that India's uncle is in love with her, and likely killed Whip not because he was violating his niece, but because he was jealous. Not to mention it's never explained how he even knew where India and Whip were...
  • At the start of Bloody Homecoming, Billy attempts to rape Annie, but is stopped by Loren, who knocks him out with the spirit staff.

    Literature 
  • In The Time Traveler's Wife, the teenage Clare tells adult Henry about her "date" with a football player. This does not end well for said football player.
  • Happens a lot in Sweet Valley High.
  • Happens (like every other possible bad thing that could happen to a college girl) to the title character in I Am Charlotte Simmons.

    Live-Action Television 
  • Happened on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (didn't everything?). Of course, her "resistance" broke the guy's nose...
    • In "Reptile Boy", she gets drugged at a party by a group of cultists. One of the cultists seems to be planning this, but another stops him since she and the other girls have another purpose.
    • There was also a version of this with Dawn in "All the Way", where her date revealed that he was a vampire and that she was in the midst of a bunch of vamps. Cue the Big Damn Heroes moment for the Scoobies.
    • Leaving aside the soulless vampire bit, The Woobie factor gets ratcheted up when you realize Dawn was forced to kill the guy who gave her her first kiss with an arrow. Though she plays it off at the time, it certainly puts her neurosis later in the season into perspective.
    • And Angel hits a home run — with Faith's head as she was in the process of trying to rape and murder Xander in "Consequences".
  • Played with in The Facts of Life, when Tootie is about to have her first "encounter" with her boyfriend in a car. She thinks this is what she wants; it's definitely what he wants; but at the last second she begs off, locks him out of the car, and fulfills the trope.
    • Blair gets into this situation in the episode "The facts of Love" she gets involved with a young delivery man and he rapes her in his van.
    • Played straight with Jo and Harrison Andrews, a rich friend of Blair's. He invites scholarship student Jo to a country club cotillion over rich socialite Blair. Jo comes home from the dance with her hair and dress disheveled and one shoe (having used the other to beat Harrison off). She describes how Harrison took her through the club and out the back door. Harrison later tells Blair he passed her over for Jo because Jo was the type of girl he could "score" with.
  • Heroes — it wasn't in a car, but the date rape boy put the moves on Claire, who was interested until he started trying to force her. It was also subverted as he apparently killed Claire by knocking her down so a branch impaled her head, but she woke up on an autopsy table when the medical examiner pulled it out. He was boggled to see her after the fact given how violent things had gotten. And Claire then proceeded to disabuse him of the notion of trying it again. Of course, then her father gets to him...
  • This one was done twice in Supernatural; both in cars, both as disturbing as each other, both girls being saved by the Big Damn Heroes, and both attempted rapists suffering well-deserved deaths.
  • A Different World uses the rescued variation when Dwayne saves Freddie from a Jerk Jock serial rapist.
  • Happened in the very first episode of Mork & Mindy. The titular characters meet for the first time because Mindy has driven out into the woods with her date, who then drove off, taking her car when she refused to, ahem, play. Mork's spaceship lands nearby and he agrees to walk her home. The incident in the car gives us this line:
    Mindy: Don't EVER touch me like that again! Not even if my blouse is on fire!
  • Mildly subverted in Sex and the City when Charlotte is rescued (though not from attempted rape) by the 'hero' punching the attacker. Turned out he just liked punching people. When he started a fight over somebody bumping into Charlotte's chair (even after they apologised), she left.
  • Excruciatingly averted in the Mad Men "The Mountain King"; plenty of people who could have been in a position to come to Joan's rescue, and not one of them does. In this case, it counts as Deliberate Values Dissonance, since in the early 1960s, there was no popular consciousness of date rape. And the fact that Joan is engaged to the man in question would probably have led to it not even having been considered an incident. No one would have done a damned thing except said "Whoops!" and closed the door.
  • In at least four episodes of Step by Step, twice with Al (the one-time tomboy that was quickly becoming the hottest teen in Port Washington, thanks to Christine Lakin entering puberty):
    • In a 1995 episode, 15-year-old Al convinces Dana and Karen to take her to a college party, where she meets an attractive boy. After lying to him that she was of age, the boy takes Al back to his room to talk and make out. He tries to take things further and presses on despite her repeated pleas to stop. Dana and Karen show up in time to put the reins on the boy, after which they reveal that Al was 15. (The boy then runs off.) Although they don't press charges, the sisters do get a measure of revenge by throwing his stuff out the window and announcing she was 15.
    • Poor Al becomes date rape fodder again two years later when another cute guy tries to get it on with her in his '57 Chevrolet. (He had a trick seat in his car, which allowed it to recline; he then laid on top of her in an attempt to initiate sex, but the petite Al is able to fight him off.) Things become complicated later when Karen — who had also had her eye on Al's now-former boyfriend — refuses to believe Al, refusing to defend her even as rumors run rampant in school that Al was "easy" ... until Al breaks down in tears and says she wants to die. Karen then realizes that Al is telling the truth and that she has to expose Kyle as a predator (which she does quite well).
    • In 1993, Dana was once a near-victim of date rape when her boyfriend came over (unannounced) to talk to her and hopefully make out. Her stepfather Frank (with whom she had a major argument about for his buffoonish attempt to check out the boy after Cody warns that the boy is trouble) arrives in time to run the boy off.
    • At another college party (this one hosted by a fraternity Cody was hoping to join), Karen had to deal with unwanted advances by a guy she began talking with. Cody, along with Dana and Al's friends, run the guy off.
  • NCIS. "Hung Out To Dry" begins with a teenager forcing his attentions on his date in what appears to be the Crime of the Week, when events are brought to a sudden halt by a parachutist crashing through the roof of their car.
  • It happens on an episode of Dead Like Me where Mason saves a college student and the trope is lampshaded.
  • Kelly Taylor in Beverly Hills, 90210 dressed as a sexy witch (in a clingy dress with plunging neckline and high-slit skirt) for a Halloween party. A partygoer dressed as a cowboy attempts to rape her, but Donna, Brenda, and Dylan come to the rescue. Brenda tells Kelly that she shouldn't have worn the provocative dress, but Dylan rightfully points out that as much as Kelly chose to wear the sexy dress, her attacker could have, and should have, chosen not to assault her just because she did.
  • Mr. Belvedere: A 1990 episode saw the teen-aged girl of the Owens' family (Heather) date a cute guy, who was hoping to get a sports intern job at the local TV station where Mr. Owens (Bob Uecker) worked. While at a Make-Out Point, the boy takes things a little too far — the scene fades to black as he pushes her down and she screams, "NO!". Not until she confesses to Mr. Belvedere does the audience learn she was able to fight him off, though she's still shaken by the incident. Eventually, she tells her father, who promptly warns the boy to stay the hell away from his family.
  • Quantum Leap: Played straight, as Sam (the series' hero) leaps into the body of a woman who was raped by the local high school football hero on their date. (In a rare twist, the female victim is brought into the Imaging Chamber to testify.) The boy is acquitted... but Sam (still playing the role of the boy's victim) gets very satisfying revenge; the boy comes over to try to rape the girl again, only this time, Sam bashes apart the kid's groin.
  • City Guys: In the episode "Raise the Roofies," Cassidy's date makes two attempts to slip her some Rohypnol (the notorious "date rape drug"). When both attempts fail (Dawn inadvertently drank the first one and Cassidy simply declined the second), he tries to rape her by sheer physical force. She is rescued by Chris.
  • Hang Time: In "Secrets and Lies," Mary Beth is nearly mauled by a guy named Brett while in a back room at a concert at a nightclub. She manages to get away on her own (threatening to bash him with a guitar), while Brett threatens to get Deering kicked out of the tournament as Mary Beth and her friends used fake IDs (that he sold them) to get into the club. Antonio and Michael confront Brett when Mary Beth, Kristy, and Julie inform them about what happened, but Mary Beth and Coach Katowinski step in before things get out of hand and have Brett arrested.
  • During the final season of Blossom, the title character went on a date with a popular athlete. She resists when he wants to do more than make out. He hits her in anger, but she manages to get away after hitting back.
  • In an episode of One Tree Hill, Brook and Peyton sneak into a college party. Peyton is lured into a bedroom by a guy who she's been talking about music with as he promises to show her his really cool music collection. Once inside, he locks them in and Peyton shows clear signs of being drugged. She struggles to leave and yells for help but can't be heard over the music from the party and the guy forces her onto a bed. Brooke notices that Peyton is gone and begins to look for her. Two of the guys' friends try to keep Brooke from accessing the locked room, but Brooke is able to find party-goers who are willing to help and they rescue Peyton before anything can happen.
  • The Boys (2019): In the second episode, Starlight works off her frustrations on a couple of would-be rapists. Unfortunately, it turns out Supes don't have automatic Hero Insurance; they have to prove a criminal case like anyone else. The girl runs off and it's pointed out that statistically she's unlikely to even report the assault. The rapists of course claim that Starlight attacked them just for larking about while drunk.
  • Scoundrels (2010): Heather's Smooth-Talking Talent Agent who pulled a Model Scam on her also attempts to rape her via Slipping a Mickey, but Heather sees it coming, and switches the drinks. Then she leaves him Chained to a Bed while she robs him.

    Music 
  • "Womanhood," a country music song written by Bobby Braddock and made popular in 1978 by Tammy Wynette. The song is about a young woman named Patricia's sexual initiation, and it is strongly implied that her boyfriend — who insists to her that he "only tried to kiss 'ya" — had attempted to have sex with her against her will. A shaken Patricia tries to pray to God to help her through her ordeal.
  • In Nickelback's video for "I'd Come For You", this situation is played straight to the hilt. When the girl can't handle the boy by herself, she texts her father, and he comes to save her in a Papa Wolf moment.

    Video Games 
  • Ashley of Mass Effect will describe how this happened to her sister if you pursue all the dialogue options. Sara, the sister, had been dating a boy for a while and requested that they "go slow." Unfortunately, after she continually rebuffed his more adventurous advances, he became forceful and decided that it had finally been long enough. What he did not know, however, was that Sara and Ashley's father was himself a Marine and had taught all his daughters to defend themselves. So the guy got his ass kicked. He tried again a while later (with Ashley, the combat-trained Marine, there no less), only to end up face-down and bleeding again and began to sob his apologies as he was being loaded into an ambulance.
    • Played with in Mass Effect 2, Samara, an Asari vigilante known as a Justicar, asks Shepard to act as bait to draw out her daughter. The daughter, Morinth, uses mind control to force victims to have sex with her, whereupon they die. Characters without strong Paragon or Renegade scores will fall under her spell and be saved by Samara.
  • Rachel's gag reel in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift has Litchi and Kokonoe attempt to drug Ragna in an attempt to win his undying love. Noel shoots out Litchi's "Philtre of Unwavering Passion" while Litchi shatters Kokonoe's candy, which contained a sleeping pill that can "knock the Black Beast out". What makes it qualify as date rape in Kokonoe's case is what she says afterwards when Noel asked what she was going to do with him; the dialogue is peppered with double entendres that are Censored for Comedy.

    Webcomics 
  • General Protection Fault: In college, Ki begs off having sex with her Jerk Jock boyfriend. Boyfriend doesn't want to take "no" for an answer, but she's saved by Fooker (who, unknown to her at the time, was a government operative and more than a match for the larger boyfriend). When she confesses this to Nick, she admits to feeling somewhat guilty for having "led him on". (For what it's worth, the boyfriend did try to apologize, later on.)
  • A Love Potion induced example in this Sluggy Freelance strip.
  • A close call in Bittersweet Candy Bowl for Daisy. She's saved by Abbey.
  • Happens to Joyce in Dumbing of Age in this strip.

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • A completely played straight example in The Simpsons, which shows how Marge and Homer met and why Marge dislikes Artie Ziff for his "busy hands." Notably Homer isn't the one who saves her, she saves herself by slapping Artie away and demands that he take her home.
  • The Kaeloo episode "Let's Play Baby-Sitting" had Kaeloo and Mr. Cat go on a date. He gets a little carried away and tries to force himself onto her, but she Hulks Out and beats him up.
  • Hazbin Hotel, In the episode "Masquerade". Angel Dust gets back to the hotel after a long night of filming porn for his boss/pimp, Valentino. He tries to flirt with Husk but Husk rejects his advances and calls Angel Dust fake. This causes Angel to become angry and after ranting to Husk that Husk would be lucky to hook up with Angel Dust he leaves the hotel and goes to a bar, and Husk, being asked to follow Angel and keep him safe from harm from Charlie. Husk arrives at the bar where Angel is with some gangster sharks. Angel Dust requests a drink from a shark demon who attempts to spike the drink with a love potion. Husk gets angry seeing this and before the shark can give the drink to Angel, Husk beats him up and says “Nice try, fuckhead.” He and Angel Dust leave the bar after this having a heart to heart and performing a song but the ending is interrupted by the shark gangsters coming out of the bar and one says “There he is! They’re fuckin’ singing!?! Get ‘em!” This leads to a shootout where Husk and Angel Dust manage to kill the shark gangsters.


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