So, I am a 21 year old male but when I was a kid about 8 maybe 9 l had this friend from church also male, who is a couple years younger than me. One day were sitting somewhere and he mentioned something about wanting to touch my butt, and he tried to grab it. And then I think I was playing with something and dropped it so I reached down to pick it up and he smacked me like four times rapidly. He seemed to find it amusing. I thought it was kind of weird for a bit but eventually I forgot about it and we remained cool friends. He hasn’t acted that way since and this was over a decade ago. I know his grandma said he used to have a problem with seizures as a kid. He still goes to the church but not as often because he works now. Like I said, I hadn’t even thought about it until like a month ago when I read an article about a celebrity who had been sexually abused as a kid. And it triggered me for some reason and has been kind of bothering me. I just wanted to know if this was an assault or just inappropriate childhood behavior.
You should probably think about why that question matters for you. it is important for you to process whatever you need to. For example, it might be the case that separating your friends actions and intentions from your experience is helpful to you. It might be reasonable to say he didn’t intend to and the actions weren’t but your experience was. We experience what we believe and not “reality” and so if you believed it do be sa then you experience what you experienced. I don’t know what you actually experienced, so please don’t just take this. think about why you care and if you have the answer.