Abstract

This study conceptualizes rape trauma as embedded in the cultural construction of rape and consequently manifested in the psychological process of individual rape survivors. The author conducted indepth interviews with 35 female rape survivors in Taiwan to examine their self-reported traumatic experiences in relation to the cultural meaning of rape in Chinese society. In analyzing the interview accounts, this study identified several kinds of trauma predominantly experienced among the interviewed rape survivors. This study found that the psychological trauma among individual rape survivors in Taiwan, although similar to rape trauma symptoms documented in Western literature, seems to manifest a relatively distinct cultural construction of rape in Chinese society. Study implications for rape-related educational and treatment programs in Taiwan are suggested in the context of Chinese cultural construction of rape.