My first response to this essay was honestly that I don’t feel comfortable with you using the term molestation to describe this event. I was abused for years by a family member. I don’t think it’s right for you to use the same word to describe something done by another kid your age.

So that was my first reaction.

But the bottom line is that sexual violence impacts everybody. I know that boy was abused. I was abused, and I harmed other kids when I was just a kid myself. It’s not right. But it’s foolish to blame children for basically acting like the abuse victims they probably are. It’s a cycle of violence that adults start and adults must end.

If even one incident of violence has such an impact, imagine the impact that years of abuse has.