“’Forcisbly penetrating’? Why don’t they come out and say what it is, i.e., ‘raping’?’”
Probably because the penetration was by an object or fingers. Not trying to be crude, but the boys who did this might not have the physical ability to “rape”.
Usually, the oldest children in the same school as a nine-year-old would be 11 or 12. However, since some of the other incidents leading up to this involved the girl’s classmates, it’s likely these boys were her age at the time—9.
Even with an object, it’s still rape.
IMHO, the left has cried "rape" so much, and associated it with "sexual assault" (which truly does have a broad definition). So they feel the need to tell us "penetration" so that we know that this time they mean rape rape, not just wolf whistling or butt grabbing.