I had a conversation with a friend about libertarianism and the idea of the non-aggression principle and he brought up the case of emotional attacks. He seemed to be of the opinion that egregious verbal abuse could be grounds for retaliatory action, and thus laws regarding workplace harassment, for example, may be legitimate.
I don’t entirely buy the argument, but I see the point he was trying to make; namely that some psychological attacks could be as serious as physical attacks, especially if you factor in long-term consequences.
As far as the reason rape is punished to a greater extent than other emotional damage, I would say the feminist movement plays a large role in that. Just as racial “hate crimes” are commonly viewed as a greater crime than a comparable non-racially motivated attack, rape is seen almost as an attack on all women.