Coercion defined
To limit confusion I will present below a definition of coercion:
Coercion (/koʊˈɜːrʒən, -ʃən/) is the practice of forcing another party to act in an involuntary manner by use of threats or force.[1] It involves a set of various types of forceful actions that violate the free will of an individual to induce a desired response, for example: a bully demanding lunch money from a student or the student gets beaten. These actions may include extortion, blackmail, torture, threats to induce favors, or even sexual assault.
Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to act in an involuntary manner by threatening to use force against them if they don't. Coercion is the tactic of the rapist, the torturer, the blackmailer and the extortionist.
Rape is a form of coercion
Coercion is about one person gaining control over another person. The person using the tactic of coercion (threat of violence) is doing so to try to force another person to behave in a way which they want even if the other person disagrees. So the tactic of coercion is a tactic of control which violates the free will of the target. Rape is made possible by coercion because the threat of violence is used by the rapist to remove the free will and ability to consent from the person being raped. The rapist only seeks to gain complete and total control over the body of the other person with no concern for the psychological or emotional effect it could have on them.
Why coercion is the tactic of the psychopath
Psychopaths are known not to feel empathy. To coerce a person is to take away their free will (their ability to choose without the threat of violence to influence them). A non-psychopath is capable of empathy and does not want to cause unnecessary pain and suffering in other people. It is known that coercion produces pain and suffering but psychopaths (unlike non-psychopaths) simply do not care what the other person or other people in general might be feeling unless to exploit to gain even more power and control over others.
Why I despise the use of coercion
On a personal level I despise the use of coercion. In my opinion some may use coercion out of desperation because they have no other way which they know they can make money. This could be the extortionist for example. This kind of coercion is theft by threat of violence. The use of coercion justifies violence to be directed at potentially anyone. This means sooner or later someone you love and care about could be subjected to the coercion. For this reason alone it is enough for me to despise coercion as a tactic (just as I despise torture).
But I also recognize that how I might feel about the use of coercion has nothing to do with being secure from it. At the end of the day security is about risk management. That is the idea to reduce risks. Coercion is just a tactic (and a particularly cruel tactic). The world is an uncivilized place where extortionists, blackmailers, and rapists exist. This means we can only do our best to protect ourselves from their activities and protect others.
Why coercion renders democracy irrelevant
Because coercion can and does exist it is also the reason why democracy fails to work. Unless votes can be kept secret (unless privacy can be maintained) it is not possible for anyone to vote without being coerced to vote in a manner or for a candidate which they don't actually want to vote for. The threat of violence if a certain candidate loses an election is a form of coercion.