Effects of Rape

Rape also known as sexual assault can be defined as forced and unwanted sexual contact. What comes to your mind when you hear the word rape? How do you feel when you read an article about a young girl that has just been raped? Do you feel sorry for her? or do you just think' oh too bad she was at the wrong place at the wrong time' .Instead of being sorry for her or just being indifferent we should be asking ourselves this questions, did she die? Is she pregnant? Or is she suffering from psychological trauma somewhere? These are the questions that we should ask ourselves and this brings me to my topic: the effects of rape on teenage girls.

Two therapists, Ann Burgess and Lynda Holmstrom during their research about rape came up with some physical, emotional and psychological effects of rape which are identified as the Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS).Rape trauma syndrome is a cluster of emotional responses that survivors of rape experience. Rape victims experience similar symptoms on a physical, emotional, behavioral and psychological level. They grouped the effects of rape into two stages which are: the acute or immediate phase, the outer adjustment stage, and the renormalization stage/ long term phase or reorganization.

First and foremost we are going to look at the acute immediate phase of a victim that has been raped. In this phase we see the immediate reaction of the victim experiences some emotional traumas which is shock, anger, fear, withdrawal, shame, guilt and denial. After the victim has been raped, she suffers from the shock of what had just happened and when the she is starting to get out of the shock, she now filled with the fear of anyone hurting them. Therefore, she tends to withdraw from anyone that comes close to her or tries to touch her. In addition, she displaces her anger and frustration at everybody because of the incident and she has a lot of mood swings. The victim also have difficulty in expressing themselves and even if they want to they would express emotions like crying when they are telling the story of the assault She would feel like she's helpless and doesn't have control on her life anymore. The victim is filled with shame and would not want to show her face is public again. After the sudden effects on the victim, as the day goes by it beyond just a shock or fear. In the physical aspect the victim's body starts to feel sore because of the force that was used .Victims that are forced to do oral sex have irritations in their mouth and throat .Victims that are forced to have anal sex may have rectal pain and bleeding after the rape .Victims that are forced to have vaginal sex may have irregular discharge, itching and general pain. The victim eating pattern would change .she won't be eaten as much as before and sometimes their stomach hurts. Often but rarely the victim can become pregnant. Also sexual transmitted diseases (STD) such as HIV/AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis can