We are so grateful that you reached out with this question. We’re sure it took a lot of courage to bring this up and we want to help as best we can. The short answer is that any unwanted sexual behavior to a person of any age can be considered assault, but the specifics vary from situation to situation. The most important thing is that if you feel hurt by what has happened to you, then that’s evidence enough that what happened was wrong and you are entitled to take care of yourself about it. We strongly encourage you to talk to a trusted adult to get advice about how to take care of yourself about this – it could be a parent/guardian, your primary care doctor, a counselor, a coach, a friend’s parent.
Our health guides are developed through a systematic, rigorous process to ensure accuracy, reliability, and trustworthiness. Written and reviewed by experienced healthcare clinicians from Boston Children's Hospital, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital and consistently ranked as a top hospital by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, these guides combine clinical expertise, specialized knowledge, and evidence-based medicine. We also incorporate research and best practices from authoritative sources such as the CDC, NIH, PubMed, top medical journals, and UpToDate.com. Clinical specialists and subject matter experts review and edit each guide, reinforcing our commitment to high-quality, factual, scientifically accurate health information for young people.