But the desires and assertions we're seeing here from the self-described "Real Non-Con" proponents are nothing more than fantasy fulfillment of a different kind, and the hostility and attention-seeking trolling are an integral part of that. They don't just want to talk about their desires, they want people to be shocked and appalled by (and secretly envious of) their alleged behavior.
I think you're overcomplicating things. It's simply an overblown sense of entitlement whereby some folks feel its their God-given right to touch strangers with or without permission. Says a lot about a person when they angrily insist their desires override those of others, if'n you ask me.
That said, I'm gonna shake things up a little and insist that, people like our favorite creepy folk hero aside, I can understand where the "just do it" side of the argument comes from. Women, in general, have been socialized to both not make a scene if they don't like something, and also to not do much more than hint about it if they do. A woman is never going to tell you, "hey, I want you to touch me" - they'll just stand around and hope they're making it "obvious" and wait for you to go for it.
The double-edged sword to that is that if you misread their cues, you get labelled negatively - if they didn't want you to touch them, you're the creepy grabby guy. If they did, you're the idiot who doesn't "get" hints. It
also means that nine times out of ten, if they didn't want it, they won't say anything to you, either because they feel threatened (like, oh, if you're a really big/tall stranger) and don't want to escalate, or again, because society (somehow) trains them to be passive and not speak up and say "Hey, keep your hands to yourself, buster".
So what this means is that, ultimately, the non-con crowd is right in that you just have to go for it, and chances are, whether she welcomes your "advances" or not, nothing bad is going to happen to you.
However, all it takes is one bad experience to sour you to the idea, really. When I was younger, I was much more impulsive in tickling people I
thought I was on good terms with. Eventually, though, after enough boyfriends/well-meaning other people/supervisors threatened me to keep my hands to myself, I was broken of the habit. Most of us simply don't have the kind of rock-solid ego to have a woman yell "Will you keep your hands to YOURSELF?!" in a public place and not have it make us think twice about our actions.
So, yeh- you'll probably get away with it. Doesn't make it right, IMHO - and personally, I don't feel it's an attitude that we want to encourage. Shame Bella doesn't post much on this topic anymore. She, and a few other gals who make it clear that grabby people will lose few digits in the process, were always a good read.
In closing, I'll just relate a quick anecdote. I was over a friend's house putting together furniture for her, and we got to talking about our mutual friends. Eventually she started complaining about how so-and-so's other friends bother her because they get all touchy-feely, usually when her boyfriend isn't around. When I asked her why she didn't assert herself and say something, she said exactly what I related above; she didn't want to make a scene or embarrass anyone.
Edited to add: It's possible to engage in undesirable behavior and still have "lots of friends". I know a guy who's really passive-aggressive; he literally sidles up to/hits on every woman who comes near him, without actually coming right out and admitting it. I've heard from a fair number of folks that they don't like this, that it's very slimy behavior, and yet he's still fairly popular and has some fun stories to tell, I'm sure. I myself have been described in, shall we say, less-than-flattering terms - and that's by people who I've been friends with for years. Shades of grey, an' all that.