On the Relationship of Roark and Dominique

Question 39 in The Fountainhead Socratic Seminar questions intrigues me.  It is about the scene in which Roark rapes Dominique, and what the actions of the two characters could possibly mean.  It is stated in the question that Dominique pursues Roark aggressively, which I agree with.  She basically stalks him to the quarry each day and cannot stop thinking about him, almost admitting that she is in love with him.  The odd thing is that when he appears to her in her bedroom, she physically resists him even though she wants nothing more than to make love to him.  I believe that she resists him because giving in to anyone else completely contradicts her sense of self.  She would never give up control over her life for anyone but Roark. She believes that if he had not been so harsh and physical toward her, she would remain a cold and unfeeling person.  To me, it seems that this act that, which to others may seem like a horrible thing, actually aids Dominique to become free.  She has broken away from society’s conventions of the belief that rape is a horrible thing, and this allows her to be her true self.
 
                Now, in no way do I constitute rape as a good thing.  I think that it is one of the vilest things one human being can do to another, short of murder.  However, in this strictly literary context, it helps to characterize Dominique: she is a strong individual that, without control, cannot function as a person.  Rand stated about this scene that “it is rape by engraved invitation,” which I believe she means that both members involved must have some degree of responsibility for it to occur.  In the sense of Roark and Dominique, this makes sense.  She wanted him as much as he wanted her.  I believe, even though she originally resisted him, the only reason that she allowed it to continue was the fact that she was able to free herself in this act.

I thought about how this could apply to the world today.  There are many activists in this world that speak out against rape and vouch for the victims of it.  In this world, rape is seen as I see it: an evil act that should never be inflicted upon another person.  This world also sees rape as something in which one person has no control and the other completely overpowers the former.  Ayn Rand would disagree with that statement because of how she wrote the relations between Roark and Dominique.  I believe that she would agree that rape is mostly seen as a power struggle, but again both members would be responsible.  Rape in the literary and real world can be very different from each other, and although it can never be justified, it can be explained and, with reasoning, apply to the characterization of a person.