Invisible Crime

Most women who have been sexually assaulted go through periods of depression, loss interest in sex, and become distrustful of men. This can last for months, even years.
Some women develop eating disorders, self-medicated through drugs and alcohol as ways to cope with the after effects of such a painful experience.
In ways, rape is an invisible crime. The physcial effects usually heal within a matter of months, bruises fade and cuts heal, but the emotional injuries never disappear completely.
When a women is raped by someone she knows, however, it is harder to see the bad guy in him. They onced trusted, loved and devoted herself to him and then they turn into someone they never knew. The loss of a loved one is almost as painful as the rape itself. So she feels she can never trust a man again. Rape survivors are in todays society. Victims of crime often face insurmountable obstacles in trying to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Many women who have suffered rape or other forms of abuse are too intimidated by cultural attitudes and state inaction to seek redress. To do so can lead to hostility from family, the community and the police, with little hope of success. Those who do seek justice are confronted by the system that ignores, denies and even condones violence against women, and protects perpetrators, whether they are state officials or private individuals. Sexual violence, an invisible war crime.