((CalmingOcean)),

The therapist who works at the sexual assault center missed giving you the correct answer. The truth is what happened to you "does" happen and more than people admit
too. My therapist has explained this to me and that "yes" he has addressed this issue with several patients over the years.

That being said, children who "explore" this way don't know what "rape" means and they really don't truly understand it as adults do either. Children "do" discover themselves sexually, even at surprisingly young ages. When this happens children do what is TYPICAL child behavior in that they want to know if others can do or know about it too.
Children who discover an orgasm really don't understand it other than it feels amazing and because it feels amazing, guess what, they want to explore it and do it. And, as I mentioned see if others know about it too because that is typical human behavior.

Unless parents explain it to their children (something I did with my child), they discover it and explore etc, not understanding what it really means and that yes this is something we as human beings can experience and it isn't something we explore with others or allow others to encourage us to explore either.

I will say, that because I talked about it with my daughter at a young age, she had a friend that was struggling with her brother and his friend this way and not only did my daughter tell her it was wrong, but that she should "tell" and it was OK if they came to me to talk about it too, it was "safe". So, when my daughter and her friend came to me, I talked to her friend and then I also talked to the mother who was a single mom and often left her two children alone while she worked.

I think it is very important that when looking back on a history where this did take place that it "does" happen and that children really do "not" understand it as we do once we are adults. For a person with this in their history to feed into thinking they are such a stupid messed up (you can think of swear words here) individual is not being "fair" to that person.

Also, children are known to experiment with a lot things they see their parents doing too. They will try smoking if they see their parents do it, try drinking, try wearing their parents clothes, are even known to find Playboy magazines and hide them so they can look at them. This was something a friend of my daughter's at a very young age did and it was a girl and her older brother too who showed my daughter who came home upset and told me, something that mother did not "know" was taking place either. Not only that but this mother discribed her daughter and son as "very close" and often slept together in her son's bed. I would find it "easy" to believe that these two "explored" too.

It is important that when reviewing the past to really understand "where" the psychological capacity of a child is as well as the "fact" that it is actually something that many experience so one doesn't be "traumatized" when they recall these experiences as an adult and believe they are the "only" person who has been challenged this way and they are the only messed up individual somehow.

((Supportive Hugs))
OE