What's the historical experience of surviving rape?

There seem to be a few threads in GD discussing rape in the here and now. But historically, in the context of war, raping, looting, and pillaging has been going on since time immemorial. Cities were sacked, the men killed, and the women enslaved. Do we have any historical evidence of the experiences of these women? Vis-a-vis being raped, that is, rather than enslaved. How does this compare to civilian experiences?

I’m not sure I understand the question. What are you looking for? Rates of death, trauma, STDs, pregnancy? Personal descriptions? What do you mean compared to civilians? Rates of rape in non-war situations? Any time, anywhere?

Some clarity would help.

Personal accounts of life afterwards (I’m not interested in descriptions of the rapes themselves) and the like. I don’t recall any in my readings of Julius Caesar, for example, but even as recently as WW2, the Soviets engaged in mass rape of E German women.

As far as historical experiences go, all I have to offer is the attack on the transport ship “Gang-I-Sawai”, which was a heavily armed ship of the Great Mogul of India.

The attack was carried out by Captain Thomas Tew in 1693.

He was considered to be a pirate although his voyage was financed by “honest” investors in Boston.

Anyway, after the capture, his crew went on a raping spree, and according to the accounts, many women threw themselves overboard rather than subject themselves to it.

I made a mistake.

It was Henry Every, not Thomas Tew who carried out the attack.

Well, some of my East German relatives kept journals and wrote letters (and a few got raped, IIRC, and they all starved for a long time, and some didn’t survive), so I would say yes, such accounts do exist.

It goes on today. Mainly in war-torn parts of Africa, but also recorded in Chechnya and during the Balkans wars. I’m sure you can find personal accounts if you follow the Amnesty links on that search.

Specifically on the subject of German women at the mercy of the Russian army, a diary was recently reprinted as A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City. It was previously printed, non-anonymously, in the 50’s and the author was evidently widely reviled for discussing what nobody wanted to talk about.

This book focuses on the so-called “comfort women,” which Japan forced into prostitiution for its troops. The book itself contains personal accounts from many women who survived to talk about it later.

I suspect that women (and girls, and boys) dealt with it as best they could.

Take a look at Maslow’s Hierarchy. If there’s no food to be had, physical safety matters less than getting some food and water. So do shelter and clothing. The next important thing is physical safety, so any population at risk of rape as a tactic of war is obviously unable to provide for its physical safety.

Until it can, all other considerations come to a screeching halt.

Once that danger is removed, people recover as best they can. Some are resilient, and when they find safety, they blossom back into health. Others are fragile and never quite recover from what they endured. Most people, I would assume, fall somewhere in the middle. They have scars they bear. They do the best they can. Perhaps there are some things they can no longer enjoy or do, just like someone who’s been physically harmed may always have a limp.

I don’t know of any long time studies done of survivor populations. You could certainly look at Bosnia and Serbia, at Darfur, at the Chinese “comfort” woman, and so forth. There are some harrowing stories there and some inspiring ones.