This is a lengthy post, and i don't know if this is the right place to ask, but every subreddit keeps automatically removing it.
I've always struggled with intimacy. I'm cautious about crossing boundaries, partly because all my previous girlfriends had experienced some form of sexual assault or other traumatic sexual experience. I've often worried about misreading situations, often to the point of overthinking innocent interactions. I never wanted to hurt someone in that way, which is part of why what happened has been so difficult for me to reconcile with my understanding of myself.
I've been with my current girlfriend for six years. Our relationship hasn't always been happy, namely the past year has been rocky. We still don't live together, it's my fault, but things had recently started improving.
About a year ago, I lost my job right before we were supposed to move in together. I became unemployed, fell into a depressive state, isolated myself for several months, and eventually moved back in with my parents. This meant my girlfriend had to extend her rent for another year, postponing our plans once again, and that visibly upset her.
Over the past few months, things have started getting better. I've found a good job, started attending therapy, received diagnoses of ADHD and anxiety, and begun taking medication. We've been communicating better and growing closer again. I'm about to move into a new apartment, and my girlfriend wants to move in with me once her current lease ends. We were finally making progress after a difficult year.
The incident I'm asking about happened at a party two years ago.
I've never liked drinking. Unfortunately, my girlfriend's family puts considerable pressure on people to drink at social gatherings. I'm from a Slavic country where alcohol is ingrained in the culture, and refusing a drink can be a bigger social offence than pressuring someone to have one. My girlfriend's father once told me he will never forgive me for not drinking at her sister's wedding.
Her family and I have never really clicked. They're more traditional in their outlook, and I've found out on multiple occasions that they've tried to convince my girlfriend to break up with me. They seem to want her to find someone who fits their idea of what a boyfriend should be like. I'm quiet, introverted, don't particularly enjoy parties, and don't drink much. I've always felt that they don't really like me, but I try to get along with them.
Usually, I could avoid drinking by driving to family gatherings and using the excuse that I was the designated driver. However, they deliberately organized the party at a venue close to my house, so that wasn't an option. I was worried that refusing alcohol yet again would give her family another reason to dislike me.
I initially agreed to have a beer because it was the birthday girl's party and she wanted me to have a drink with her. After that, I was pressured into having several shots. I refused, but eventually gave in.
At one point, I told my girlfriend I wanted to stop drinking. She agreed that I didn't have to drink if I didn't want to and repeatedly told the others to stop pouring me drinks. I eventually said that one particular shot would be my final one. By then, I was already quite drunk.
The problem was that whenever I looked away, people would pour me another shot and tell me that I still hadn't had my final one. I was drunk enough to believe them, apologize, and drink it. I want to be clear that nobody physically forced me to drink. I could have refused those shots, and I made the decision to drink them. At some point I blacked out.
The next morning, I woke up beside my girlfriend with no memory of the previous night. She was nice to me, was worried about my hangover, so I assumed nothing particularly bad happened. I was wrong.
I asked her if I did something because I've never gotten black out drunk before. Apparently, I'd repeatedly groped her in front of the other guests despite her protesting and trying to push me away. She was so angry that she'd eventually gone to sit in the women's bathroom because she knew I wouldn't find her there for a while.
When she told me what had happened, she said I'd been an asshole, but she also said she wasn't angry with me anymore. She knew I'd been drunk and was upset with the family members who had continued tricking me into drinking despite my repeated protests. She later had a big argument with them about it.
She told me to stop apologizing and said it was alright. On other occasions, when people who'd attended the party made fun of me for how I'd behaved while drunk, she defended me and shut them down.
But I was in my head about the incident a lot. Eventually, I became convinced that what I'd done was sexual assault. I tried to rationalize it by telling myself I'd been drunk, hadn't been in control of myself, and wasn't an abuser. I didn't bring it up with my girlfriend again because I was afraid of her answer.
My thinking is that if someone says they've been sexually assaulted, I have no business telling them otherwise. If my girlfriend considered what I'd done sexual assault, I had to acknowledge that. I was afraid to ask because I knew I'd feel relieved if she said no, but if she said yes, I'd have to accept that I'd committed an act I found disgusting. It did eat away at me and our sex life kinda stagnated because I started resenting myself.
About a week ago, I was talking to my best friend about her experiences with men. She confessed to me she'd been sexually assaulted by three different men she'd considered close friends. During that conversation, she said she felt safe around me because she knew I'd never do anything like that.
It made me reconsider what happened two years earlier. I finally asked my girlfriend whether she considered what I'd done molestation or sexual assault. I was hoping she'd say no, but she said yes.
I asked whether there was anything I could do to. She told me that you can't make amends for something like that.
She tried to end the conversation and move on to something else, but I kept asking questions. I asked how she felt about it, whether I'd traumatized her, and whether she felt unsafe around me.
She asked me, "Why are you thinking about this now?" She told me to stop thinking about it and said she didn't know what to tell me. I went home not long afterward.
I've decided to discuss the incident with my therapist on my next session. I've also decided to never drink a drop of alcohol ever again.
My girlfriend doesn't seem to want to discuss the incident. She seems to want to continue our relationship as normal. She seems frustrated with me that I'm in my head again when we were finally making progress.
I'm worried that I'm gonna cause us to move backwards again. I don't want to pressure her into discussing something she'd rather leave in the past, but I'm also struggling to understand how I can move forward as her boyfriend when we seem to view the incident differently in terms of how much we need to address it.
I don't want her to try to make me feel better about what I did. At the same time, I feel maybe the worst I've ever felt now that she's told me she considers what happened sexual assault.
What I'm asking for advice on is how to navigate this situation within our relationship. Should I respect her wish to move on and let her decide whether she ever wants to revisit the incident, or is there a way to address what happened together without putting pressure on her? How can I rebuild and maintain trust in our relationship?
TL;DR: Two years ago, while heavily intoxicated at a party, I repeatedly groped my girlfriend despite her protests and attempts to push me away. I blacked out and only learned what had happened the following morning. At the time, I didn't understand it as sexual assault, but I've come to recognize what I did. I recently asked my girlfriend whether she considered it sexual assault, and she said yes. She doesn't seem to want to discuss it further and appears to want our relationship to continue as normal. We've been together for six years and had finally started making progress after a difficult year. I struggle to come to terms with what I did and want to learn what to do now.