"Rape Fantasies" is frequently anthologized and is commonly taught in high schools and colleges, but critics often tend to ignore this story and focus on Atwood's novels. The writers who have commented on the story, however, often note the humorous tone of the story, which seems to be at odds with the serious topic of rape. Lee Briscoe Thompson in her essay "Minuets and Madness: Margaret Atwood's Dancing Girls," notes that in "Rape Fantasies," "the cutting edge seems thoroughly dulled by the sheer zaniness of the dialogue." Another Atwood critic, Sherrill Grace, in Violent Duality. A Study of Margaret Atwood commends the story for "offering moving, indeed profound, insights into human nature and the problems of human relationships, without over-burdening the story form."

The most controversial point of the story concerns the narrator, Estelle Some commentators take her to be a naive woman, while others laud...