Anyone else later on in life think back to their teenage years and think omg i was taken advantage of/abused by older men?
I don't know why this has resurfaced for me recently. I think it's because of something I read on Twitter about teenage girls being sexualised by older men.
When I was 14 a family members boyfriend (mid 30's) used to flirt with me and touch my bum all the time. One night he kissed me and I didn't know how to react. The same night I had fallen asleep on an arm chair and woke up to him kissing me/my neck and him trying to put his hands down my pants. I remember just keeping my eyes closed and pretending to be asleep because I didn't really know what to do.
My thoughts at the time were 'well I can't tell anyone because what if everyone thinks I went along with it and wanted it to happen?'
I was a very sort of street wise teenager so at the time never really thought of it as abuse. Just avoided him until he and family member eventually split up.
To think back to all the times I was approached by older men as a teenager is actually shocking!
Why am I upset by this now? Nearly 15 years later?