I’m trying to understand something that happened to me in childhood.

I’m currently 23 male, and I’m trying to understand some things I witnessed and experienced when I was around 9 years old.

When I was a child, an older person pressed/squeezed my buttocks quite hard, and another older person pinched my stomach several times. I remember being shocked when it happened, although my memory of the surrounding context is limited.

Around the same period, I also remember seeing older people do similar things to some of my young friends ( all males) — including grabbing or pressing their breasts or buttocks quite hard, sometimes presented as joking or playing around. I remember that older guy is 30 aged police and my male friend was 9 or 10, my friend was grabbed even harder like to the point of pain.

Looking back as an adult, I’m confused about where the line is between rough joking, inappropriate touching, and sexual abuse, especially when an older person is doing it to a child.Also i saw these kinds of things so many times in my locality ( india) , where few elders did that in joking way.

Would these kinds of incidents generally be considered sexual abuse or inappropriate touching, or does it depend on the circumstances? What details, such as the ages involved, intent, relationship, or context, matter when determining this?

I’m not trying to exaggerate or minimize any of it. I’m trying to understand how these experiences should be interpreted.