I know this sounds crazy, but I am Facebook friends with my rapist. I was 14, he asked me to hang out, I showed up, and I was the only one there. I had never even had my first kiss yet. I didn’t kiss him back. He forced entry on me. I ended up too scared to say anything and pregnant. I lost the baby before anyone even knew about it. This trauma had been apart of me for 5 years. A few years ago, I added him on Facebook. Progress. I could never prove he raped me. He would never be locked up for it. So I added him. I could see what he’s doing. I could see what he posts. I could see his family. Friends. More importantly: other girls. I never spoke to him. I never commented, liked, or shared any of his posts. I would scroll past him. I was too scared to speak to him. Today I spoke to him after 5 years. It was completely unrelated. I commented on his post about different kinds of housing. I made my point about the post. That was it. It helped me. I know this sounds stupid, but having this kind of outlook on the person who hurt me so much makes me feel in control. I’m not letting what he did determine my future. This is my way of reassuring myself that I’m strong enough to forgive, not forget, what he did. If I’m strong enough to forgive that, I can live my life. It’s a reminder to not let my guard down. To stand for others. My husband noticed that I was friends on FB with him. He compared it to him being friends with his ex on Instagram (I caught him liking all her pictures). He’s calling me hypocritical and saying I don’t care about his feelings. Am I in the wrong for trying to take control over my mental health? For trying to work through a trauma that happened to ME? How could he compare a situation of rape to a situation of lust? I simply cannot understand...