What Science Says About Arousal During Rape

Yes, orgasms can happen to rape victims.

By Jenny Morber/ Double X Science

“Rape. Most of us don’t like to talk about it. We don’t like to think about it. But when we do think about it, or at least when I do, it is always violent. I am struggling and overpowered. I am screaming. And I am certainly not getting off.

Although in the United States, where I live, rape survivors are now more common than smokers, I am not currently among the nearly 20% of women or 3% of men (or more) who are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. I am not one of the 1 in 3 Native Americans who are raped. My mother has never felt the need to tell a doctor, as one Native American mother did, “I need to learn more about Plan B for when my daughter gets raped.”