 Those who reject the charge of rape argue that in the 1940s and 50s, when Rand wrote her novels, it would have been seen as rough sex rather than non-consensual sex (McElroy 1999; Sheaffer 1999). That Rand herself thought of this scene as consensual is shown a few pages later, when she writes: “They had been united in an understanding beyond the violence, beyond the deliberate obscenity of his action” (1943: 218). And in letters to disturbed readers in 1946 and 1965, Rand denied that the scene is “actual rape” which, she stated, is “a dreadful crime”, a “vicious action and a violation of a woman’s rights” (Rand 1995a). On the other hand, she also depicts Dominique exultantly telling herself that she’s been raped. McElroy wonders if having her heroine call it rape is just another instance of Rand’s desire to provoke and shock the reader (McElroy 1999), as when she uses “selfishness” to mean “rational self-interest”.