Threshold for "rape" tag

The rape tag deals with potentially very sensitive subject matter, so I think it's important that it be tagged well on the site. However, the frequency of submissive coyness (where the sub says "stop" but wants it and could hypothetically have a safe word they aren't using) and artists that use doujin logic (stuff like "it's not rape if there are heart-shaped_pupils") in submissions to the site have muddied the waters. There are a number of recurring situations in which it's not clear to people whether the tag is called for. Now technically the wiki entry for rape is completely definitive.

Forcing perverted or sexual acts on an unwilling participant.

However, the method for determining whether something is forced or whether the participant is unwilling can be less clear-cut in some cases. In other cases, some taggers seem to simply be confused as to whether or not the sexual action being forced on an unwilling participant still qualifies. In this thread I aim to list out as many of these supposedly-ambigous situations as I can think of. I would appreciate your input on creating guidelines to simplify the matter for taggers who struggle with heuristic evaluations. Please excuse the large body of text; I hope to put this issue to bed as comprehensively as I can.

For the sake of brevity, I will refer to the following elements under the collective term "signs of distress" for the entirety of this thread:

• crying or tearing_up
• distressed, shocked, angered, or pained facial expression
• attempting to physically escape or visual evidence of such attempts (e.g. fingernail marks on the floor, self-injury likely caused by struggling)
• attempting to push away or fight off the perpetrator
• empty_eyes
• serious and unattended injury (e.g. post #4074282)

Of course, not every image with one or multiple of these elements is rape. I am merely establishing a collective term for a class of potentially-relevant elements. In context, some of these potentially aren't signs of distress but it is inevitable that there will be a degree of heuristic judgement left in deciding whether this tag is appropriate. If you can think of any signs I've missed, please say so.

Things that would physically stop the person in question from exiting or escaping the encounter should also be taken into consideration when there are one or more signs of distress. I won't give examples at this time; please ask if you need them.
I will also be assuming that non-physical means of forcing the unwilling participant are also valid. Try to make the case for the opposite if you disagree.

Here's what I can think of:

The subject explicitly states they don't consent or asks the other person to stop. They exhibit signs of unhappiness but do not make any earnest attempt to physically escape or fight off the aggressor in circumstances where it is reasonably possible that they would be able to escape if they did everything in their power. Does your opinion change if they don't explicitly exhibit signs of unhappiness?

In a post with multiple_views, the character is being raped in one view. In a later view, they are shown to be either:
A. enjoying themselves
B. experiencing orgasm or a degree of arousal

In series pools and parent/child collections of sequential events, the character is being raped in one image. In subsequent images depicting the same sexual encounter, they are shown to be either:
A. enjoying themselves
B. experiencing orgasm or a degree of arousal
At no point do they explicitly state that they've changed their minds. In the later images, should the rape tag be used?

The subject consents to a non-zero amount of sexual activity but explicitly indicates they don't consent to another type of sexual activity, which is then performed on them while they show signs of distress. I can provide examples of common types of this if needed.
What about scenarios where distress can't be discerned one way or the other (for any reason)? Scenarios where a lack of distress is depicted?

Withdrawn consent. The subject consents to something but later explicitly indicates that they no longer consent.

As a final note, I am already aware that many of these are unquestionably rape in real life; I'm only here to discuss tagging. Some of these may be obvious in your opinion, but all of them have thrown some taggers off in the past.

In a post with multiple_views, the character is being raped in one view. In a later view, they are shown to be either:
A. enjoying themselves
B. experiencing orgasm or a degree of arousal

In series pools and parent/child collections of sequential events, the character is being raped in one image. In subsequent images depicting the same sexual encounter, they are shown to be either:
A. enjoying themselves
B. experiencing orgasm or a degree of arousal
At no point do they explicitly state that they've changed their minds. In the later images, should the rape tag be used?

My inclination would be to treat each post separately for determining the tag, without considering other related posts, so you treat each post as though it were a standalone. So yes to using rape in the first one and no to using it in the second if there is no sign in that image that they are being raped.

I know this leads to odd situations like where you get three images where in the first you get someone having sex, the second shows one partner doesn't want it, and the third shows it continuing, where only the second would be tagged with rape but that's just how it is - and given that the tag wouldn't be expected to be used on the other two were the second image not there, it makes sense that it shouldn't be used on the other images in my opinion.

The subject consents to a non-zero amount of sexual activity but explicitly indicates they don't consent to another type of sexual activity, which is then performed on them while they show signs of distress. I can provide examples of common types of this if needed.

Withdrawn consent. The subject consents to something but later explicitly indicates that they no longer consent.

These are both unquestionably rape, and should be tagged as such (in the second case under the presumption that the "something" continues after consent is withdrawn, and again is shown within the same image as above).

@skylightcrystal

I agree with you on all accounts.

The only situation which hasn't been addressed so far is the following:

The subject explicitly states they don't consent or asks the other person to stop. They exhibit signs of unhappiness but do not make any earnest attempt to physically escape or fight off the aggressor in circumstances where it is reasonably possible that they would be able to escape if they did everything in their power. Does your opinion change if they don't explicitly exhibit signs of unhappiness?

I'll take the liberty of providing my own opinion on the matter, then. I think this should tagged as rape because the condition for the tag that the subject has to be forced into it doesn't specify that they have to be physically forced into it. There can be other means of forcing someone to do things, such as making them afraid of what the consequences will be if they don't submit.
In my opinion, this doesn't really change much if the artist doesn't go out of their way to make the subject exhibit signs of unhappiness. If their reaction gives the impression that this is what they wanted all along then I'd say the tag doesn't fit, but that's a rather uncommon occurrence and not the easiest thing to show rather than tell. Of course, physical signs of arousal don't constitute this.