So at my uni there’s this middle school aged girl who’s going there. She and I are in the same study group and I said something along the lines of “I wish i got to go to college at your age” (just because I like the class structure more) and she replied with “there are a lot of pedophiles on campus so there’s some trade offs.”
I didn’t like…freak out externally. Luckily I’m good at hiding my emotions. But I just felt sick. Like physically sick. Like i nearly wanted to go throw up in a bin sick.
I don’t even know why specifically I felt like that. To be honest I don’t know how much she was being sarcastic. I don’t know if its that I feel like i can’t trust people at my campus [I already know there are bad people here. No shit. So why would that cause it?], or if its because i felt bad for her for having to be afraid of that [she’s pretty “mature” (for lack of a better term) so i don’t know if that makes sense either] or…I don’t know. I just wanted to tell someone because my therapy appointment got canceled and I just flet really, really bad.
i think your response is completely justified. as salah said it’s something a lot of girls experience early on, but even i as a cis girl have never really had an outright experience with creeps directly hitting on me. so it’s still very blindsiding when you first realize the extent of that experience and how some girls have simply… grown around it.
it’s something that would obviously cause alarm and negative emotions, whether or not you think the extent to which it threw you off is ‘reasonable’ is something i wouldn’t think too hard about. it’s fair to feel like puking. it’s fair to feel completely off or knocked off balance. your mind is responding to a stimulus and maybe something else is converging that makes you have a much more intense reaction. it’s totally reasonable, it’s rational, it’s empathetic of you. take care of yourself today.