I had to bring up instances of when I had masturbated during my teenage and pre-mission years to bishops and a stake president. The emotional and psychological toll this took on me was often unbearable while growing up and even while on my mission. The shaming and guilt I suffered for many years could have…
I discovered masturbation at age 11 before I had even heard of it. My parents had given me “the talk” and I knew that a man ejaculates sperm during sexual intercourse, and sex was only supposed to be for marriage. I put two and two together and I began to worry that I had done…
This is a story of two of my daughters who were interviewed by the same Bishop. One daughter was asked if she masturbated and what objects she used. This daughter was adopted and was abused by men as a young girl. She felt molested emotionally by the Bishop. This was traumatizing for her and turned…
My 11, almost 12 year old grandson, came across a picture of a naked woman on the internet. Having been taught that pornography was a sin, he had a lot of guilt. However, being a curious preteen, a few weeks passed and he went searching for a similar picture. He felt “prompted to confess.” I…
My story is probably typical of many Mormons who came of age in the 80s. In the early to mid 80s, I was asked about law of chastity questions on an annual basis. I was introduced to the concept of masturbation largely by my Bishop (though we covered it briefly in 5th grade sex-ed). I…
At the age of 17, I was raped by an acquaintance of mine. I told my bishop, hoping to get some sort of help. Instead, because of his invasive and unnecessary questions, I was made to relive that horrible day, forced to tell this man I barely knew explicit details of whether I had ever…
My first “worthiness” interview happened when I was 12 years old. Worthiness was assessed by answering questions from the Bishop, an older man who, we were told represented Christ. My parents encouraged this interview and it was a standard practice for young people to have these interviews every six months. I had no idea what…
Not sure if it matters because t happened when I was an adult. After I had finally told my parents that I had been raped they convinced me to go to the bishop to hopefully get a recommendation to a counselor through the church. I did get the recommendation, but was also told I needed…
I wish I could share the details but the victims don’t want to go public. A man I loved and trusted as much as my own dad was a Bishop while he was molesting his own children. There is no question about this, he admitted to it when he was confronted. Who knows how many…
Three stories in one… When I was young, I anticipated the day I would drive a car. I would sit in the car in the driveway and practice shifting the gears. When I became a scout (12-13), I had an assistant scoutmaster who was just one of the older boys (somewhere in the 16-18 age…