Trauma is what you make of it, in most cases. In our culture of hyper-victimization, the trauma is many times worse than it would be in a culture that promotes having the strength to simply overcome adversity.

Rape itself - in most cases - is not nearly as traumatic as many, many other crimes. It's basically just sex that you don't want to have. Really, it's far from the worst that can happen to you. But we've made it into something different - something much worse than it actually is. That's the real 'rape culture' - this perpetuation of self-victimization and appeals to authority.

Of course there are many different types of rape. Some are worse than others. Violent, damaging rape is much worse than simple forced penetration. We treat them the same, we treat all of them as though they're the worst thing that could happen. It's insulting to victims of the most destructive rapes, and it's a destructive ideology itself.