My three sisters and I were abused by my mom’s Mormon best friends sons for many years. When the abuse was discovered, our mother shamed us into KNOWING that it was our fault. How does a 4 year old get blamed for a 12 year old playing doctor in the Mormon role of men and…
I was born/ raised in the church, and growing up I took my religion very seriously. I was attending a Young Single Adult Ward, and I’d been carrying around tremendous guilt for years. As a kid, I was repeatedly molested by my older brother. My memory on when it first started and ended is hazy,…
Self loathing is a good basis here. Starting adult life with the mindset that hating yourself is healthy and righteous messed me up. I’ve since learned that I am worth loving and that meeting with the old dude that gives me tremendous anxiety to talk about masturbating isn’t necessary to my happiness. I don’t need…
As a youth, there were very few times that I got free of the shame, guilt, and self loathing that accompanied worthiness interviews. Before my mission, I thought I cleared everything up, but my mission president would ask inapropriate and deeply probing questions that caused me to question if I really had confessed everything. I…
Hi Sam! I saw your Facebook feed months ago, and it intrigued me. As I was reading about your cause, my heart was so saddened, not only for the victims I read about, but it then dawned on me, my own children have been subjected to these interviews. I am an active member of our…
My son is an excellent, intelligent young man. Completely virtuous in every way. He wanted to serve a mission. The Bishop kept drilling him about pornography. He had never viewed any pornography. The Bishop then asked him if he ever was aroused by looking at any images. Being completely honest he said that he had…
I discovered masturbation at age 5. I did not know it was a “sin” until my mother had caught me. Ever after she would try to catch me in the act. So I had internalized the shame from a very tender age. Shortly after my baptism at age 8 after I had masturbated I had…
From when I was twelve onward, I was asked by my bishop in semi annual interviews sexual questions. He asked me, from when I was 12, if I engaged in petting or necking. I had to ask for clarification about what that meant. He asked me if I watched pornography. I had to ask for…
I first joined the church at 19, at this time I was suffering from depression and anxiety and even though I hadn’t had all of the missionary lessons – due to my mother not wanting the missionaries in the house – after repeated requests and pressure from the missionaries I agreed to be baptised. I…
When I was 14 I gave another boy in my ward oral sex. I wasn’t planning on confessing and was just going to move on from it. The boy apparently confessed what happened to the bishop and I was called in. My parents were briefed and I was forced into a one on one,. He…