"Should I acknowledge that my girlfriend told me anything?"

Everyone is different with their recovery, but when I read this question, I exclaimed: Yes! Definitely yes. It is so hard to come out to someone about your sexual trauma, even harder to come out to someone you are sexual with... The alcohol probably gave her the courage to just say something she has been waiting to have enough guts and feel safe enough to share with you. Someone similar happened to me. I wanted to tell a close male friend in my life so badly, and I just couldn't cause I didn't know what would happen after that. One day we were high watching netflix and I just said it. We didn't address it after that until almost a year later, where he apologized to me for not knowing what to say. I think there was a missed opportunity there, for us to really understand each other and have deep relationship, but we both got weird and scared and hid from it. Don't let that happen. Also, you don't have to do anything. You don't need to pull up advice or offer some solution -- there rarely are any, and I'm sure she's heard it almost all before. You just need to listen, to be sensitive to her needs, and to try really try to empathize with her. It's beautiful that you came here. It shows you love her, and it shows you support her. One thing that stands out to me though is your title "how best to handle everything" and your last question. The thing is, it is hers to handle. I don't mean that in a way that discredits the emotional effects on you, but you might need to put more effort into remembering that, because as a trauma survivor it is scary to share with other people (like i can't tell my parents) because you don't want to burden them with it. You know it will hurt them and make them fear for you. That makes it harder to recover personally. You need to support her, wildly. You should be open and express your feelings because they are valid, and a healthy balanced relationship depends on it, but try to put more effort into understanding that she needs control of her life. Her going back there is really brave, and it might be really important to her to do this to feel in control, to take her life back. I'd strongly recommend couples counseling because these situations are really hard to work through alone. For what it is worth, I'd be grateful to have someone like you in my recovery. Keep caring and keep questioning and keep checking in with your partner. You'll make an incredible team.