The main trauma of rape is that of disempowerment. The woman feels like her body has been taken away from her. I propose a way to treat that trauma: Martial arts.
The most obvious benefit from martial arts is self-confidence that comes with knowing how to defend oneself. The woman knows that she can keep the same things from happening again. Not only that, but she can protect herself from any number of threats, including errant strangers and domestic violence. She learns that she can defend herself, and she learns confidence that comes from being able to defend herself.
But at a deeper level, martial arts addresses the trauma of rape. The worst trauma of rape is that of disempowerment. The woman feels like her body has been taken away from her. Martial arts build a relationship of self-mastery with one's body. Not only does that address the trauma of disempowerment – of the body being taken away – but it inaugurates a deeper relationship with the body. The body becomes something that is mastered. The body becomes in every meaningful sense one's own, which empowers the woman over it to a greater extent than she had prior to the rape.
And then of course it may be healthy to go kicking some butt when you have had something like that happen to you.
But the most important benefit of martial arts is, once again, that it builds a relationship of self-mastery with one's body. And that addresses the trauma of disempowerment at the core. The body becomes something that is mastered and is in every meaningful sense one's own.
For this reason I advocate martial arts as treatment for rape.