There is no "typical" response to rape. Survivors of rape may vary dramatically in their response to a sexual assault. Some survivors may appear very calm and describe the assault with little or no emotion. Other survivors may express feelings verbally or by shaking, crying, restlessness, or tenseness. Remember, rape survivors have just experienced a terrifying event. Any response to the assault – whether it looks like the right response to you – is just her way of dealing with the rape.

Survivors of rape report feeling a number of different emotions after the assault:

• Fear of the rapist
• Guilt
• Sense of vulnerability
• Loss of control over her life
• Embarrassment
• Anxiety, shaking, nightmares
• Concern for the rapist
• Wondering “Why me?”
• Shame
• Anger