How Rape and Sexual Assault Affect Survivors

Rape is more than just a memory or an incident for survivors. Through physical violence, a person's deepest sense of self is overtaken, affecting the mind, body and spirit. From physical pain and injury to lost wages and social estrangement, rape and sexual assault survivors live and often relive a nightmarish experience that threatens to destroy every aspect of their lives.

How Rape and Sexual Assault Affect Survivors

Rape victims pay a deep price for the violent actions of perpetrators, experiencing physical torture, emotional devastation and psychological effects.

• Physical Effects of Rape and Sexual Assault

  Survivors of rape and sexual assault often experience serious physical injuries, such as vaginal bleeding and trauma, infection, fibroid tumors, and chronic pelvic pain. Injuries are not confined to sexual ones, either many victims experience broken bones, dislocated joints, bruises, and even physical scars. One study of 4000 women 12 to 45 found that five percent of rapes result in pregnancy. Survivors of rape also experience higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, due to vaginal or anal abrasions and cuts that increase the likelihood of infection.

• Psychological Effects of Rape and Sexual Assault

  Because rape involves an extreme hostile takeover of another person, the psychological effects can be harrowing. Rape victims experience severe low self esteem and depression, as social messages and those spoken during violence by the rapist place blame on the victim. Self-blame and shame are common in rape survivors, leading to apathy, lowered empathy towards others, isolation, rage and aggressive behavior in previously nonaggressive individuals. Rape victims are more likely to attempt suicide, become anorexic or bulimic, or engage in self-injury such as cutting, in order to reestablish a sense of release and control over their bodies.

  One in three rape victims experiences post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leading to nightmares, flashbacks, dissociation, fear, hypervigilance, and panic attacks. Those sexually assaulted during childhood are at risk for Dissociative Identity Disorder and development of multiple personalities, as a means of coping with severe abuse during the developmental years. Childhood rape and sexual assault survivors are also more likely to engage in dangerous high risk behaviors, such as unprotected sex, multiple partners, prostitution and substance abuse.

• Social Effects of Rape and Sexual Assault

  Rape and sexual assault socially estrange survivors. Few can understand or relate to their experience, leading to isolation of the victim. Survivors also experience cognitive difficulties, with trouble focusing, thinking straight, and short-term memory problems. Financial problems also can mount, as half of rape survivors lose their employment within six months of the rape itself. Costs for therapy, medical attention, and legal action or protection can also mount, leaving the rape victim with monetary loss, as well.

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