*** Content Warning: Descriptions of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault ***

Yes, as a young male teenager, I was sexually assaulted by two male teenagers.  I was standing in the same locker room where the young woman I’ve talked about before was sexually assaulted by more than one boy.

I was standing in a stall.  Two boys came up behind me and started pinching my ass and kicking me in the ass while I was urinating.  They were trying to intimidate me with sexually suggestive commentary, trying to get a reaction.  Because of what they did, I ended up pissing on my hands.  I washed up and left without rising to their bait.  This was in junior high school.

In high school, I was sexually harassed more than once by a female teenager who wasn’t picking up on the fact that I was uncomfortable with her attentions.  Oddly enough, these incidents happened within or close to a locker room.  She would touch my shoulder or let her hand drift to my hips and butt and would say that she liked me.  I froze.  She continued and I didn’t respond.  She tried the same thing at different times and I always froze.  She eventually picked up on the fact that I didn’t appreciate that and left me alone.  I never said I liked her attention or indicated what she was doing was okay.  The absence of “no” is not a “yes.”

I don’t bring up these incidents to say that I, as a man, understand what it’s like to be serially sexually harassed and even assaulted the way women experience it.  I’m not asking for sympathy or understanding.  I’m just bringing up these incidents to acknowledge that they happened.

Tellingly, this only happened twice in my lifetime and never as an adult.  Women usually tell a much different story.*

* I’m not erasing sexual harassment and sexual assault perpetrated against men and other genders.  That’s bad, too.