AITA for saying to my friends that I've experienced sexual harassment too?

1,422 points302 commentssubmitted by AshamedObjective to r/AmItheAsshole

I was out drinking with two female friends, Susan and Carol, and one guy friend, Thomas, the other day. Sometime later Susan mentioned how at work today she had thought one of her male coworkers had touched her ass when walking by her but it happened really quick; she was pretty sure he actually did but she said she could probably not prove it and that made her feel shitty. Carol then said how she felt that that was really common and that it had also happened to her twice but that you were really out of luck if you didn't have any proof that it actually happened. She also said that we guys were lucky because we didn't have to worry about something like that. Thomas agreed with her and said it was horrible that some men did things like this.

I also said it was terrible that this had happened to Susan but I wanted to mention that Carol saying that this didn't happen to us simply wasn't true. I work out regularly and have a somewhat muscular body and it has happened a few times in the past that women, often older ones, touched me without a warning, usually squeezing my arms without my consent.

I mentioned this to them but they tried to shut me down. Carol argued that it wasn't really comparable and also not a big deal and Thomas even made a comment along the lines that I probably liked it since why else would I work out. And that I found quite hurtful because while of course I want my partner to like my body I don't just want any woman to come up to me and touch me without even asking me. I tried to explain my position to them but they claimed I was downplaying female harassment by comparing what happened to me and that I shouldn't compare the two.

I thought I could get some outsider opinions on this. AITA?