I’ve noticed I have something of a bad habit of comparing my case of molestation to fellow survivors cases. In the sense of me thinking or outright saying something like “Oh no, that’s much worse than what I went through.” As a logical person, I should know better and understand how negatively it can be perceived when I talk like that. It doesn’t matter how long one had to endure their abuse or how horrible it was. It’s all horrible and it’s not a damn competition! I don’t ever see any other survivors making comparisons like that. That should tell me something. I like to think I’m smart and able to handle myself when addressing this topic, but the reality is that I’m still fairly new to it and have a lot to learn. One could probably make the case that I shouldn’t even be talking about other peoples trauma when I haven’t overcome my own yet. It would probably be a more than fair criticism.

It's not a competition, but I think a lot of people see what others have been through as worse, and then question their own trauma. As far as I remember (important word- 'remember'- sometimes I wonder if there was more) I was victim only of 'bad touches'. Yet it affected me my entire life. It's been correctly pointed out, that sexual abuse is sexual abuse is sexual abuse, and if it affected you, then it carries weight and deserves to be treated as sexual abuse. That has saved me from too overly pooh-poohing my own experience with a pederast.