I'm willing to say that rape is a much more intimate violation than assault. I don't agree with the corollary that usually goes with that that it's guaranteed to "traumatize" you forever—I think you can and should mentally recover from such a thing in most cases—but I have no issue with the idea that it would be more frightening or mentally painful than getting punched in the face, or even, maybe, than getting held down and repeatedly punched for an equivalent amount of time that a rape would take. (Although at that point the analogy falls apart a little because we wander back into the realm of "repeated bludgeoning is more likely to cause long-lasting physical damage.")