Noël Busch-Armendariz knows that the immediate aftermath of sexual trauma can take many forms. Victims can appear fidgety or calm, talkative or quiet, engaged or totally blank, she says. And they often cannot remember details of what happened to them until much later. Ms. Busch-Armendariz, a professor in the School of Social Work and director of the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at the University of Texas at Austin, also knows that this wide range of behaviors conflicts with common perceptions about how victims of rape should behave. People don’t understand what trauma looks like, says Ms. Busch-Armendariz, and they make assumptions, like "Well, she doesn’t seem like a victim because she’s not crying."

August 30, 2016 ・ From Chronicle of Higher Education