What is the psychological impact of rape on an asylum seeker?

99 F.3d at 963 (quotation marks omitted) (citing Note, Torture by Means of Rape , 84 Georgetown L.J. 1913, 1931 (1996) ). The comparison between the psychological effects of rape and the psychological effects of torture is telling. We have elsewhere explained that "torture is per se disproportionately harsh; it is inherently and impermissibly severe; and it is a fortiori conduct that reaches the level of persecution."⁴ Nuru v. Gonzales , 404 F.3d 1207, 1225 (9th Cir. 2005). Thus, rape's physical and psychological effects are equivalent to the most severe horrors inflicted upon asylum seekers.