Dear Prudence,
I'm a guy in my late 40s in a long-term relationship and this summer I
attended a street festival alone. While watching a performance in a
crowded space, I couldn't help but notice that the younger woman next to
me seemed to be pointedly not shying away from the incidental contact
that occurred. We were literally rubbing elbows. So I made a point of
withdrawing to see if she initiated contact, which she did. At one point
she seemed to be deliberately pressing her breasts against me, and I
moved my arm back and forth a little. She did not recoil but eventually
withdrew. We went our separate ways with no acknowledgement of what
happened. I went away thinking that I may not be single but I'm also not
dead, and this was the sort of tiny thrill that makes life worth
living. But now I think about how ambiguous it all was and I worry that
I'm a bad person, no more than a common groper. What are the chances
that a younger woman would have enjoyed this casual encounter the same
way I did? I'm 99 percent sure this was all consensual, but that 1
percent troubles me.