In Margaret Atwood's short story "Rape Fantasies", how complicit is today's media in fostering the concerns highlighted by Atwood in her humorous tale?

The most controversial point of the story concerns the narrator, Estelle Some commentators take her to be a naive woman, while others laud her tactical maneuvers in self-defense. Barbara Hill Rigney claims that Estelle is a "naive narrator" who believes rape can be avoided "by simply reasoning with the rapist." Sherrill Grace and Lisa Tyler, however, assert that Estelle is Just the opposite. In her essay, "'I Just Don't Understand It': Teaching Margaret Atwood's 'Rape Fantasies'," Tyler discusses how students often find the story too "provocative," others "sail through the story blithely," and yet others are "scandalized" or "indignant" that rape is spoken about in such a cavalier fashion. Tyler notes that through the technique of a dramatic monologue, the reader must first sympathize with the speaker in order to understand the work; then and only then can the reader judge the speaker's character or even recognize the pathology of emotions presented. Thus, readers must sympathize with Estelle before judging her. Estelle does not withdraw from human connection; she struggles to establish connections in spite of her vulnerability and fear.