This is a spinoff from the 'asking for it' thread. It was pretty clear to me that in all the focus on rape victims' behaviour before a rapist attacked them, very little is ever said or known about the effects afterward.
So feel free to add your experiences if you feel up to it, and if not hopefully a little bit of this will still be helpful. I know that when I started reading this stuff, years and years after I was raped, I was finally able to forgive myself for the way I reacted to the rape.
I don't know how much of this will resonate with other survivors, but these are the things I wish I'd known:
'Psychologic symptoms of rape are potentially the most prominent. In the short term, most patients experience fear, nightmares, sleep problems, anger, embarrassment, shame, guilt, or a combination. Immediately after an assault, patient behavior can range from talkativeness, tenseness, crying, and trembling to shock and disbelief with dispassion, quiescence, and smiling. The latter responses rarely indicate lack of concern; rather, they reflect avoidance reactions, physical exhaustion, or coping mechanisms that require control of emotion.'
--From here
There's a tendency to re-enact the situation:
Adult survivors are at great risk of further victimization due to elevated PTSD levels. They find themselves reinacting the abusive situation in relationships in order to overcome it. They also have a tendency to get involved in toxic, co-dependant relationships. Adults previously assaulted as a child are twice as likely to be assaulted as an adult.
here
Then there's always self-blame, as if everyone else wasn't keen enough to help us with that:
"1/ Behavioral self blame refers to victims' feelings that they should have done something differently, and therefore feel at fault.
2/ Characterological self blame is when victims feel there is something inherently wrong with them, causing them to deserve to be assaulted. This type of blame is associated with an increased amount of negative psychological effects on the victim."
(same link as above)
And while this is by no means an exhaustive list, the one that inspired the spin-off was promiscuity. Interestingly, I couldn't find a quick academic source on this, but I found loads and loads of anecdotal and less academic sources. Here's one
"Sexual dysfunction and promiscuity can occur in the aftermath of rape. Sexual dysfunction usually occurs if the victim views sex as synonymous with rape. If promiscuity occurs after a rape, it can be the most difficult for friends and family to understand, and it often gives them an excuse to disbelieve the woman's story."