The issue is whether or not it was done maliciously.
No the question was whether it was done INTENTIONALLY.
She KNEW it was abuse, she knew it was sexual abuse. The difference is "She didn't care".
She isn't like most psychopathic protagonists who are like "What? You mean me forcing you into different costumes actually hurts your self-esteem? I had no idea, I thought we were just playing a game". She is quite clearly "Quick! I need you for your big boobs! STOP CRYING I need you to attract people for MY club so we can do what I want to do"
Woah, chillax. Like I said, it's still not cool. Haruhi is still in the wrong, I was only saying that the circumstances create a perception of a gray area. She also rather obviously did it intentionally, which is why I didn't even think it was a question. She wanted to achieve her own ends, she always does, that's who she is. She's not doing it to fuck with Mikuru, is the thing, at least not directly. Her goal isn't to emotionally scar Mikuru unless it's to get her more mature, but that still isn't the right way to go about it.
Her older self seemed very mature and well-adjusted. There aren't any signs of actual emotional scarring
You need to watch... quite a bit more.... because not only was there... but also
A Character not developing mental scaring because of terrible terrible abuse does not lighten the blow.
You kind of spoke gibberish there at the beginning. "but also" what? I didn't see any evidence of it, and I saw the whole thing. Maybe there's more of it in the books, or in the movie I haven't seen, or my recollection is just foggy. If you've got some evidence of it, just spoiler it and let me know.
You're also absolutely right about the lack of mental scarring, but what I'm saying is that the lack of mental scarring supports the theory that she was perhaps in part overreacting for Haruhi's benefit or only out of concern for Kyon's opinion.
Keep in mind that she's government trained and not your average high schooler. She comes off as one, absolutely, but how much of that is just a part of her cover? Given that she acts flustered and somewhat childish in Kyon's presence when alone, that's definitely a part of her character, but how much is unclear. Another point in support that it doesn't bother her nearly as much as it would for someone who was actually normal is that she recovers very quickly from the events, far more quickly than would otherwise be expected. That's not just baseless circumstance, either. There is definitely potential that Haruhi's abuse is not nearly as traumatic as it appears to be.
Keep in mind I'm not justifying Haruhi's actions, I'm only establishing that there's a gray area concerning her actions. You can think that Haruhi's actions are horrible abuse, and you'd be right, but you can also think that her actions aren't quite as horrible as other people think, despite it still being abuse, and I think you'd be right, too.
Abuse is abuse, after all. Just because one person doesn't classify it as abuse doesn't mean it isn't. However, the context of the situation very much determines how terrible it is. Girls grabbing each others' breasts or slapping each other on the ass is sexual abuse, sure, but if their response is light-hearted and they just laugh it off and it doesn't secretly really bother them, no one really cares.