When discussing sexual assault, often the side effects discussed mainly concern mental diseases like depression, anxiety, apathy, etc. What is not as discussed is the physical manifestations these mental illnesses can create. The focus of my study is how rape victims physically respond to the trauma that was inflicted on them.
Strangely enough, this documentation of the physical responses to trauma and PTSD in rape victims is difficult to find. Most of the articles are concerning PTSD in the military, etc. Is it possible that these studies will increase now that there is a more open audience regarding sexual assault? Hopefully.
The main article that I found was regarding childhood sexual assault in women, and later weight gain in life. The main reasons for this weight gain given were binge eating, used as a coping mechanism, and to make the women undesirable so they would not be attacked again. According to the research they found that these victims of childhood sexual assault were 85% more likely to be overweight by the age of 21. I prefer to be all-inclusive and egalitarian in my studies concerning sexual assault because it does happen to both sexes; however, this study reported that the findings were only for women who had suffered from penetrative sexual abuse and this may indicate how men and women’s brains process trauma differently.
Overall this article demonstrates the effects that mental distress has on the physical body after sexual assault, such as binge eating for comfort and protection. It also shows that women deal with trauma in a different way than men which proves that we cannot lump PTSD into one category from past studies of the military and use it for everyone.
https://search.proquest.com/docview/448820780?pq-origsite=summon
-Chelsea Cullen